Surge in Bus Riders Tied to Presidential Visit
Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - President Trump’s stop in Rochester on Thursday pushed ridership on the city’s public transit system to a new record high. Rochester Public Transit says the expected traffic and parking disruptions connected to the president’s rally at the Mayo Civic Center and the fare holiday aimed at encouraging ridership boosted the number of boardings on RPT buses for the day to 16,617. By comparison, average weekday ridership on the system results in around 7500 boarding.
RPT says 3,500 of the boardings yesterday were linked to the special park and ride site established at the RCTC campus to help address parking concerns in downtown Rochester. Officials also noted a doubling of ridership on 14 other routes serving various Rochester neighborhoods.
So far this year, RPT ridership is up over 10-percent from last year and is on track to exceed 2 million annual trips for the first time. RPT officials say that would represent a 25-percent jump in ridership since 2015.