2012 Minnesota Transit Systems Cost Per Ride Comparison

It is time once again for my annual Minnesota Dept. of Transportation Transit Report system cost comparison. As before the overall focus of this bit of information is on comparing fixed-route operations from the various agencies across the state. A comparison of 2011 costs can be seen here. This is only a small part of the information contained in the report. If you have an interest in learning more about these and other transit providers in Minnesota I recommend reading the report in its entirety.

2012 Cost Per Ride Comparison for Minnesota Fixed-Route Transit Providers
Provider	Operating Expenditures	Ridership	Cost/Ride
UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA TRANSIT	$6,080,021	3,197,701	1.90
WINONA TRANSIT SERVICE*	$597,320	255,132	2.34
METRO TRANSIT: LRT	$27,886,232	10,498,236	2.66
ST. CLOUD METRO BUS	$6,295,883	2,230,106	2.82
GREATER MANKATO TRANSIT SYSTEM	$1,556,183	449,930	3.46
ROCHESTER PUBLIC TRANSIT	$6,083,428	1,739,071	3.50
MOORHEAD METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT	$1,533,055	436,285	3.51
METRO TRANSIT: BUS	$245,215,781	69,069,539	3.55
DULUTH TRANSIT AUTHORITY	$12,390,741	3,155,423	3.93
METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION SERVICES	$13,477,072	3,033,902	4.44
MAPLE GROVE TRANSIT	$4,220,797	826,879	5.10
MINNESOTA VALLEY TRANSIT AUTHORITY	$17,936,636	2,575,363	6.96
PLYMOUTH METROLINK	$3,589,498	496,964	7.22
EAST GRAND FORKS TRANSIT***	$266,588	36,847	7.23
SOUTHWEST TRANSIT	$7,799,059	998,960	7.81
METRO VAN POOL**	$1,416,216	179,013	7.91
LAKER LINES	$945,816	96,513	9.80
LA CRESCENT APPLE EXPRESS****	$260,690	25,749	10.12
SHAKOPEE TRANSIT	$1,276,055	125,557	10.16
RUSH LINE	$385,081	37,015	10.40
RAMSEY STAR EXPRESS*****	$567,616	42,263	13.43
TRANSIT LINK**	$6,658,057	312,639	21.30
METRO TRANSIT: NORTHSTAR	$16,419,740	700,276	23.45
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 ***** Ramsey service discontinued with opening of Ramsey Northstar station
Source: 2013 Transit Report - A Guide to Minnesota’s Public Transit Systems (MnDot)
http://www.dot.state.mn.us/transit/reports/reports-publications/report-2013.pdf