ROCHESTER, Minn. – President Trump’s visit on Thursday resulting in some “winning” for Rochester Public Transit.

RPT declared it to be a fare holiday so anyone heading to see the MAGA rally at the Mayo Civic Center could ride for free. On Friday, RPT announced they more than doubled their daily ridership.

There were 16,617 boardings of public transit buses on Thursday, an all-time high and far more than the weekday average of 7,500.
RPT and Rochester Community and Technical College turned a 750-space Park & Ride lot on the west side of campus into an event parking site with frequent shuttle service to the rally and that produced over 3,500 boardings alone.

RPT says it also doubled ridership on 14 other routes that serve Rochester’s neighborhoods, which Bryan Law, principal transit planner for the city, says “demonstrates that there is a great potential for more Rochester residents to use public transit on a regular basis.”