Fans heading to metro area sporting events helped Metro Transit set a single-day ridership record on light-rail trains.
The agency provided more than 109,900 rides on the Green and Blue lines on Sept. 3. Passengers took more than 64,000 rides on the Green Line and 37,000 on the Blue Line. It was the first time daily ridership has topped the 100,000 mark since Blue Line trains started running in 2004 and Green Line trains started rolling last year.
Metro Transit attributed more than one-third of the rides to fans who took trains to a Gophers football game at the University of Minnesota, a Twins game at Target Field and a Saints game at CHS Field in downtown St. Paul.
Event ridership has been strong on both the Green and Blue lines this year., the agency said.
Saints fans took an estimated 52,990 Green Line rides to home games at CHS Field this season, an average of 981 rides per game. Through the end of August, Twins fans had taken nearly 512,000 rides, a 14 percent increase over last year.
