![Transit officers Noah LaBathe, left, and LaFayette Temple checked for valid passes or receipts from riders at the East Bank Station Tuesday afternoon in Minneapolis. ] JEFF WHEELER ï jeff.wheeler@startribune.com A new report shows that light rail fare dodgers cost the Met Council about $28,000 a week in lost revenues. Riders rarely see anyone checking for compliance, but Tuesday afternoon, April 7, 2015 Transit Police were at the East Bank station at the U of M asking for proof of payment.](https://arc.stimg.co/startribunemedia/IVOC6VMXC6UGMFCTV2WDTT4LEM.jpg?&w=1080)
More riders are getting on the Green Line at the East Bank Station than anywhere else along the 11-mile light-rail line connecting downtown Minneapolis and downtown St. Paul.
Numbers released this week by Metro Transit show that through March more than 1,021,000 riders have boarded the Green Line at the East Bank Station since trains started running last June. That made it the first of the 23 stations along the line to pass the 1 million mark. An average of 4,468 boardings take place there daily.
Many of those boarding at East Bank, in the heart of the University of Minnesota campus, are likely U students, faculty or staff. More than 16,000 U Passes, which provide unlimited rides for a per-semester cost of $100, have been sold, Metro Transit said.
"Being in the middle of campus and near several major destinations, we knew East Bank Station would be a popular boarding location," said Brian Funk, Metro Transit's director of light rail. "We're excited to see students and others using the Green Line as part of their daily travels."
Adding in the number of boardings at the U's other two stations — Stadium Village across from TCF Bank Stadium and West Bank — and the combined total of passengers boarding on campus totals more than 2 million. That's about 22 percent of boardings since service began, Metro Transit said.
Behind East Bank in second place was the Nicollet Mall Station with 757,537 boardings. The rest of the top 10 are:
Central Station: 642,583
Snelling Avenue: 581,625
