As more and more people hop on the Green Line, Metro Transit is rewriting its record books. In September, the agency provided nearly 1.25 million rides on the 11-mile line that runs between downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul. That beat the previous high water mark of 1,076,045 set in July.

As of the end of September, yearly ridership on the line was at 8.94 million rides,Metro Transit said Wednesday.

September saw an average daily ridership of 45, 644, which passed projections of 41,000 that forecast for 2030. Prior to September, the Green Line's highest monthly ridership came in October 2014, when there were 38,597 average weekday rides.

September's strong light-rail ridership can party be attributed to special events. More than 193,000 light-rail rides were taken to home sporting events last month, transit agency officials said.

On Sept. 3, Metro Transit set a single-day ridership on the Green and Blue lines when more than 100,000 rides were provided. The St. Paul Saints, Twins and Gopher football team all had home games that day. The State Fair was also in progress.

Overall, ridership on all modes of transportation for the first nine months of the year was at 64.5 million. That represents a 3 percent increase compared to the January to September period last year.

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