Wednesday, September 25, 2013

2011 Minnesota Transit Systems Cost Per Ride Comparison

Every year the Minnesota Department of Transportation Transit division publishes an annual report providing an overview of Minnesota public transit systems. This report includes a concise and simple look at each system operating in the state, including achievements or highlights, system information, ridership, and expenditures.

Towards the end of the report, operating statistics for each system are provided in a table format. While this is somewhat useful for comparing one specific system against another, or comparing Twin City area operators, it's not ranked specifically by cost per ride. To get a better idea of how Minnesota transit compares on a cost per ride basis, here are Twin Cities Metropolitan area systems compared with greater Minnesota urbanized area systems. A few smaller systems are included as well with an overall focus being on fixed-route service.


2011 Cost Per Ride Comparison for Minnesota Fixed-Route Transit Providers
Provider Operating Expenditures Ridership Cost/Ride
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TRANSIT $5,375,406 3,533,871 1.52
WINONA TRANSIT SERVICE* $601,026 251,721 2.39
METRO TRANSIT: LRT $25,755,340 10,400,864 2.48
ST. CLOUD METRO BUS $6,047,630 2,286,392 2.65
ROCHESTER PUBLIC TRANSIT $5,150,838 1,645,272 3.13
MOORHEAD METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT $1,476,225 432,703 3.41
METRO TRANSIT: BUS $240,340,513 69,023,716 3.48
DULUTH TRANSIT AUTHORITY $11,733,880 3,081,791 3.81
GREATER MANKATO TRANSIT SYSTEM $1,504,091 363,401 4.14
METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION SERVICES $12,921,070 2,928,301 4.41
MAPLE GROVE TRANSIT $4,129,402 801,442 5.15
MINNESOTA VALLEY TRANSIT AUTHORITY $17,369,699 2,588,183 6.71
RAMSEY STAR EXPRESS $377,505 54,097 6.98
SOUTHWEST TRANSIT $7,401,936 1,030,018 7.19
PLYMOUTH METROLINK $3,871,010 515,522 7.51
METRO VAN POOL** $1,481,345 189,825 7.80
EAST GRAND FORKS TRANSIT*** $252,736 28,789 8.78
LA CRESCENT APPLE EXPRESS**** $262,064 25,996 10.08
SHAKOPEE TRANSIT $1,202,226 116,595 10.31
LAKER LINES $950,770 87,213 10.90
RUSH LINE $405,739 32,410 12.52
TRANSIT LINK** $6,774,245 329,857 20.54
METRO TRANSIT: NORTHSTAR $15,636,739 703,427 22.23
Notes: *Winona operates service under contract for WSU and St. Marys  **Not fixed-route service, included due to being part of overall Twin Cities Metro area system structure  ***EGFT service operated under contract by Cities Area Transit  ****Apple Express operated under contract by La Crosse MTU
Source: 2012 Transit Report - A Guide to Minnesota’s Public Transit Systems (MnDot)
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/transit/reports/transitreports/12/index-2012.html