Jul 8, 2024 | By: Miles Walker

Baxter City Council Notes Steep Decrease in Public Transit Ridership

Last month, the Baxter City Council received an update from the Brainerd City Council regarding public transit, where there was a noticeable decline in ridership.

The report detailed a 19.2% decrease in total riders, from 7,044 riders in 2022 to 5,694 in 2023.

Baxter works with both Brainerd and Crow Wing County regarding public transit, and each entity collectively raised its fares from $2.25 to $7.

“We feel like the structure of the service is in a pretty good spot. The Dial-a-Ride seems to work really well,” said Brainerd City Engineer Jessie Dehn. “The fare structure is something that we would probably look at first. We needed to first get an idea of what we’re going to be granted for 2025 from MnDOT as well as the federal grant as well.”

Dehn said that the fare price will be revisited once a year’s worth of ridership data has been collected.

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