Portland Streetcar logged ridership record in April

The Portland Streetcar last month averaged 16,650 weekday riders, marking a new record.

The streetcar system also reported an 84 percent on-time performance rating for April, according to a Portland Streetcar press release.

The 17-year-old system logged its previous highest average weekday ridership in February 2017, when it averaged 16,351 riders each weekday.

"With ridership growing, the streetcar remains an important tool to fight congestion in our growing city," said Portland City Commissioner Dan Saltzman.

In 2017, the system's overall ridership grew 10 percent over the previous year. The Portland Streetcar logged the ridership increase even as total U.S. public transit ridership dipped 2.9 percent in 2017.

To boost frequency and reliability, the Portland City Council in March approved the purchase of two new streetcars.