Last year’s numbers have been released for the Northstar Commuter Rail line and Commuter Bus service.

According to a press release from Northstar, ridership for the bus service connecting St. Cloud to the Big Lake rail station grew 9.4 percent in 2013. 55,213 passengers rode the bus linking them to the Big Lake station.

Chair of the Northstar Corridor Development Authority, Leigh Lenzmeier, says the Sunday evening buses are frequently filled with SCSU students heading back up to St. Cloud.

The Northstar train commuters traveling to or from Minneapolis also grew in 2013, by 12 percent. Last year’s total number of riders reached the highest in Northsatr’s four year history with 787,239 riders.