The Penn Avenue Metro C Line surpassed one million rides at the beginning of December. This milestone occurred only five months after the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line opened in June 2019. To help celebrate, a bus operator performed a rap under an alter ego.
Average weekday ridership in the C Line corridor is about 30 percent higher than typical Route 19 ridership before construction on the C Line and other Penn Avenue improvements began. Combined, the C Line and Route 19 had nearly 8,300 average weekday rides in October.
With expanded weekend service, ridership is up about 25 percent on Saturdays and 40 percent on Sundays.
Similar ridership increases have been seen on the corridor served by the METRO A Line, which opened in 2016.
The success of Metro Transit’s BRT lines is remarkable in part because it comes amid a general decline in bus ridership. Through the end of October, bus ridership was down nearly 6 percent.
Across all modes, nearly 66 million rides were provided through the end of October, down about 3 percent compared to the same time last year.
Ridership on the Blue Line and Northstar is down slightly, but ridership on the Green Line is up more than 4 percent.
The C Line provides fast, frequent service between the Brooklyn Center Transit Center (BCTC) and downtown Minneapolis, operating largely along Penn Avenue. The C Line has significantly replaced and improved Route 19.