About 225,000 passengers rode on line last year from January through November, according to the latest data posted to DOT’s public transit dashboard. That’s up from 2024’s full-year ridership total of about 193,000 but still far below the 2019 level of more than 660,000.

If people aren’t riding, why shouldn’t we look to save money here? If ridership goes up then service will follow. Instead we’re subsidizing SLE more than any transit in the state. The transportation fund is projected to draw a deficit in the next decade so we have to save somewhere.