The results are in and the Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) set a single day ridership record on Saturday, July 4, providing 7,126 rides across all BATA services (Bayline, Loop and Link).
BATA provided 26,876 free rides to residents and visitors during the 2026 National Cherry Festival. Part of the 26,000+ ride total included 2,197 rides to the Coast Guard Open Ramp event on July 3 and 424 rides to the MSU Orchard Tours at the Leelanau County Horticulture Station.
This year the first day of the Cherry Festival was Independence Day and included the Air Show and the 4th of July fireworks providing the perfect combination for people to use BATA’s free Bayline Cherry Festival transportation. Thousands of riders were able to avoid parking congestion while enjoying a safe, convenient ride to festival events and utilizing BATA’s Park-n-Ride lots at Meijer on US-31, NMC’s Maple Lot and BATA’s new LaFranier Park-n-Ride.
