Professional sports and the State Fair helped propel Metro Transit to its highest single-day ridership “in recent memory,” it said Friday.

The transit agency registered 370,000 rides Thursday, Sept. 1, as the Twins, Vikings, Gophers and Saints hosted home games while the Fair also was under way.

Light rail also set a Sept. 1 ridership record with the Blue and Green lines collectively logging more than 117,000 rides. The Blue Line saw its busiest day ever with nearly 59,000 rides, the agency said. Related Articles Metro Transit’s $1 bus fare program to accept 3,000 riders

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The light-rail system set its previous record Sept. 3, 2015, also during that year’s Fair, with nearly 101,000 rides.

Metro Transit said it also saw a record number of express-bus and regular-route rides to and from the Fair, serving 16 percent of the Fair’s record 1.9 million visitors.

The agency logged just over 632,500 rides to and from the Fair, surpassing last year’s record ridership by nearly 10 percent.

The highest single-day Fair ridership was Saturday, Sept. 3, as the agency logged 73,667 rides to and from the fairgrounds.

Average weekday ridership on the new A Line on Snelling Avenue was just over 6,100 during the State Fair — a 42 percent increase compared to August’s pre-State Fair average.

The agency recently received the American Public Transportation Association’s 2016 Outstanding Public Transportation System Achievement Award. The award, also known as System of the Year, reflects the agency’s ridership growth, expanded access, sustainability improvements and other accomplishments between 2013 and 2015.

Metro Transit will celebrate the award at Target Field Station on Saturday, Sept. 24, with public activities starting at 3 p.m. and through that night’s Twins game against the Seattle Mariners.