Metro Transit provided 1.063 million rides on the Green Line during September, the highest monthly total since the 11-mile line that runs between downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis began operating in June according to numbers released Tuesday by the Metropolitan Council.

The line's average weekday ridership of 37,178 was 35 percent above 2015 projections and not far below the 41,000 predicted for 2030, the council said. The year-to-date ridership was 3,477,945 at the end of last month.

"We are thrilled the community is embracing the Green Line for all types of travel," Metro Transit General Manager Brian Lamb said. "The excitement surrounding the Green Line has obviously lasted well beyond opening weekend and will continue to build as the corridor develops in the years ahead."

The Met Council also said ridership along the University Avenue corridor has doubled since September 2013 when buses carried 653,208. This year, buses -routes 16 and 94 - along with the Green Line ridership totaled 1,185,217 during September.

The most active stop on the Green Line was the University of Minnesota's East Bank Station with an average of 4,655 weekday boardings.

Fans attending Vikings and Gophers football games at TCF Bank Stadium have helped boost ridership, the council said. In an earlier blog post, I reported that 25 percent of Vikings fans arrived at the team's September home games by light rail.

Here are the average weekday ridership numbers for the Green Line's first three months, according to Metro Transit.:

July: 31,309
August: 33,994
September: 37,178