Metro Transit: Over 30K rode Northstar line in November

Metro Transit says the Northstar Commuter Rail averaged about 2,200 rides per day during November.

The agency said Thursday that customers rode Northstar commuter rail trains more than 33,000 times last month. Those ridership numbers cover only 15 days of service in the train's first month.

Metro Transit spokesman Bob Gibbons says it's hard to draw conclusions from that short a time, but he says the first month's ridership numbers are not that far from the targeted average.

"That said, we won't get established ridership patterns for Northstar in November or December because November had the Thanksgiving holiday," Gibbons said. "December is full of extended vacations. We really have to get into next year and see how the ridership settles out in the January February timeframe, but really off to a really nice start, we think."

Gibbons says during the season's first snowstorm on Tuesday, there were about 2,700 rides on Northstar. The Big Lake park and ride lot had an increased number of parked cars, about 80 more than usual.