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The Hop, Milwaukee’s streetcar system, announced its December ridership numbers Tuesday, with a slight uptick in the average amount of daily rides compared to the inaugural month of November.
An average of 2,453 rides were taken per day in December, growing from 2,297 rides taken per day during the previous month (excluding the 16,409 opening weekend rides). The Mayor’s office partly attributes the increase to more people riding early in the week, with Monday ridership going from 1,357 to 1,789 and Tuesday ridership jumping from 1,622 to 1,952 (excluding holidays).
The streetcar’s single highest ridership day thus far was on Saturday, Dec. 15, when 4,882 rides were taken throughout the system. Overall, 76,044 rides were taken in December.
“Our ridership numbers show that the city is embracing this new asset, and that people are riding for a wide variety of reasons,” Mayor Tom Barrett said in a press release. “We’ve seen some fantastic crowds on weekends as the streetcar attracts business and activity downtown, and we’re also seeing an uptick during the week as more and more riders utilize the system to connect with their jobs, residences and other destinations. The early returns on The Hop have been very encouraging, and we look forward to seeing continued ridership in the year ahead.”
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The current streetcar route runs 2.1 miles, beginning on the Lower East Side at Burns Commons and running through Downtown to the Milwaukee Intermodal Station. A lakefront expansion is expected to open in late 2020.
The city was recently denied a federal grant to expand to the Fiserv Forum, but officials are currently discussing the possibility of using funds already allocated to the streetcar to extend the line to the Wisconsin Center District.
Credit: TheHopMKE.com
The 2.1 mile streetcar route runs from the Lower East Side to the Milwaukee Intermodal Station
