What a great deal, free rides on the North Star Line!  As pointed out here , "Metro Transit hopes to entice commuters by offering free rides (italics added) on the Northstar line Tuesday and Wednesday. The dates were selected not only to commemorate the line's first anniversary, but also to give riders a feel for rail transit during fair weather — ridership tends to increase when weather forecasts are bad" 

Beyond the folly of calling it a free ride, why are they doing it?  Simple, ridership is far below the initial projections that were used to justify the nearly $1 billion project.  Bob Geiger reports in Finance and Commerce that "Ridership of the 40-mile Northstar line, which now connects Big Lake and Minneapolis, is running below expected volume...rather than the 890,000 passengers projected this year, Metro Transit now expects only 790,000 passengers to board the train. That’s about 11.2 percent below projected 2010 passenger volume."  The Forgotten Man is not surprised by this, the only time any of the light rail lines seem to be full is when there is a Twins game at 'The Bank' or a Vikings game at the 'Mall of America Field.'  That's actually a bit ironic since I doubt many of the 'railniks' are friendly towards wealthy sports team owners. It gets worse though as Geiger reports, "Metro Transit officials have downgraded their 2011 passenger forecast to 750,000, a decrease of 40,000 rides that represents nearly a 5.1 percent drop from the disappointing 2010 rider figures."

There may some light at the end of the tunnel though as the NCDA said last Friday that it will not apply for federal funds to extend the 40-mile line, which currently runs from downtown Minneapolis to Big Lake. The agency said the decision was made because the projected ridership of such an expansion did not meet the Federal Transit Authority's "strict standards."   Maybe this will slow down some of the other light rail projects that are driving up taxes and debt in Henneping County and the rest of Minnesota.