In March of 2025, Metrolink set its all time weekend ridership record, but just one year later, Metrolink is now proposing eliminating all weekend service as it stares down the barrel of a budget crisis. Cuts could also eliminate evening and mid-day service and reduce rush hour trains, for a total service reduction of 40% – and that’s on top of the dozens of trains already removed from service. 6 million people ride Metrolink every year, but with these cuts many will be forced into their cars, as gas prices are topping $6/gallon and California runs out of Gulf oil. How did things get this bad? And how can you help save our vital regional rail?
Originally, Metrolink was solely a commuter service, with limited weekend and midday service. But in this post-pandemic world of remote work, the suburban commuter market Metrolink traditionally relied on simply commutes less often. In response, Metrolink created Metrolink Reimagined and the Southern California Optimized Rail Expansion (SCORE) Plan, with better schedules and $10 billion of capital investment to deliver 30 minute systemwide frequencies. While ridership has grown under Metrolink Reimagined, it hasn’t grown enough to meet Metrolink’s projections. Historically, a majority of funding for Metrolink comes from fares, and with high maintenance and operating costs and funding cuts from Metro and OCTA, Metrolink now has a $30M budget deficit.
January 4th, 2026 marked the end of a similar commuter-focused rail line, Minneapolis’s Northstar service. Built in 2010 around a peak hour connection between Minneapolis, MN and the outlying suburb in Big Lake, the line had seen steady ridership up until the COVID-19 pandemic, with around 750,000 annual riders. In response to the pandemic, the total number of weekly train trips was reduced from 72 to 20, eliminating weekend service and severely reducing weekday service to peak directions only. Ridership never recovered, with under 100,000 riders a year. Small improvements led to increased ridership, but by 2025 the state legislature advanced a bill to terminate Northstar service instead, rather than advancing modifications to Northstar which would have better matched travel patterns…