Metro Transit reports about 75,000 Monona rides in first year, outlines trends and outreach plans

Madison Metro Transit staff updated the Monona Common Council on the first year of expanded service in the city, reporting roughly 75,000 rides within Monona since the March 2025 launch and the addition of 37 new stops.

"The Monona service has generated over 75,000 rides in the past year," said Connor Mountford, transit planner at Metro Transit, presenting ridership charts that showed Route G especially strong on weekdays and peaking in the afternoon as LaFollette High School students ride home. Route 38, introduced as weekday commuter service, averaged about 50–60 weekday boardings, the presentation said. Metro staff noted seasonal fluctuations with fall peaks and holiday slowdowns.

Mick Roosh, Metro's chief development officer, said the agency has seen increased paratransit demand since the service launch and is working to encourage riders to use more cost-effective fixed routes. Roosh and Mountford described paratransit as substantially more expensive to provide — "close to a $100 a ride" — and said Metro can offer help setting up reduced-fare registrations and outreach.

Council members pressed Metro on how much of the new ridership simply reflected preexisting boardings at legacy stops near LaFollette and West Broadway. Mountford said Metro could break out legacy-stop historical counts and follow up with revised figures to clarify how much net growth the city contributed.

Metro offered marketing options — social-media boosts, posters and coordinated communications with Monona staff — and said the agency is preparing a system-wide "report card" of route-level statistics it will share with partners. The presentation closed with an offer to provide the council a stop-by-stop comparison and legacy-stop adjustment upon request.

The council thanked Metro staff for the update and opened a short question-and-answer period before moving to other business.