The City of Maple Grove established Maple Grove Transit (MGT) in June 1990 under the Replacement Transit Service Demonstration legislation commonly referred as “opt-out” transit. The City contracts with transit companies to provide the transit service. The City’s Transit Administrator conducts transit planning, administration, customer service, and marketing. MGT has an eight-member Transit Commission to provide user input into the operation and planning of the system. Presently, MGT has commuter express service to and from Minneapolis utilizing 45 round trips on five routes. (780, 781, 782, 783, 785 and 789). The commuter service utilizes five park-and-rides lots. The Maple Grove Transit Station opened in December 2003 on Route 781. This facility has a three-level 926-stall parking ramp and an indoor, climate-controlled waiting area. The ramp usage is at 95 percent of capacity. Parkway Station, a 500-stall park-and-ride facility opened in October 2010. MGT also offers a dial-a-ride program using four vans for paratransit service within Maple Grove. The express bus fleet consists of ten 66-passenger articulated buses nineteen, nineteen 45-passenger buses, five 38-passenger buses and one 25-passenger shuttle bus. There are six mini-buses for the dial-a-ride. Presently, Maple Grove Transit averages 3,000 riders per day, and since 1990 has provided 9 million rides. Riders cite the following reasons why they use Maple Grove Transit: frequent and convenient service, faster commute than driving, hassle free commute, economical, environmentally friendly, Guaranteed Ride Home program, and great customer service. The express bus base fare is $3.00 and the dial-a-ride base fare $1.75. MGT consistently ranks at the top in Met Council performance measures for efficiency and productivity for express routes in the metro area. For example, the MGT Route 781 is the most productive express route in the region with 68 passengers per service hour operated. Between 2006 and 2010, Maple Grove Transit has had an average system farebox recovery ratio of 47 percent. The regional goal is 30 percent.  2011 Budget and Service Plan Summary Expenses $4,249,618 Fare Revenue    $1,950,400 MVST Funds $2,299,218 Ridership 770,900 Service Hours 28,878 Service Miles 619,500        Ridership History                    Year   Ridership    Year  Ridership  Year  Ridership 1990 110,000    2000  452,397 2010  752,608  1991 174,000    2001  473,791     1992 201,000    2002  467,441     1993 218,000    2003  463,138     1994 245,991    2004  410,268 (bus strike in March/April)     1995 245,187    2005  507,904      1996  289,642    2006  598,837      1997  304,953    2007  680,276      1998  345,266    2008  807,437      1999  406,085    2009  756,592            Total  8,908,102