As the gas prices go...

...so goes mass transit ridership.

1st-quarter Metro Transit use is up 7.2%

Riders boarded Metro Transit buses and trains 19.2 million times in the first three months of the year, the highest January-March total for the Twin Cities system since 1984, transit officials reported Wednesday.

The total for the first quarter of the year is also an increase of 7.2 percent, or 1.3 million rides, over last year.

Light rail fueled the increased ridership rate, with a one-year jump in the quarter of 16.4 percent (2.1 million rides). It's the first time light-rail ridership has topped 2 million.

In 2007, Metro Transit had its highest annual ridership in 25 years, with more than 77 million rides.

Those are some pretty impressive numbers. I take the bus to and from work every day. When I need to get to a baseball game in St. Paul (I work in Minneapolis), I take a bus, and it's rare that those buses aren't full.

I hope more people in metropolitan areas pick up on the trend.