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The rail’s ridership is up 57 percent since last year, with people taking more than 32,000 rides in January.

Capital Metro CEO Linda Watson attributes the increase of riders to the benefits riding the rail has over taking a car.

"People recognize the tremendous savings because of fuel, insurance, parking, the ease of taking transit and, of course, the stress that you don't have from battling traffic every day," she said.

It takes Max Force about 40 minutes to take the MetroRail into Downtown from his North Austin home.

"This is more economical, saves me on gas, gets me where I need to go as quickly as I can,” he said.

The increase in ridership means more money for Capital Metro. The public transit company typically recoups 20 percent of its operating costs through fares. Right now, MetroRail is only covering 3.1 percent, but Watson reinforced the rail’s role as a long-term investment.

"We're running the agency like a business, we're making some good, tough decisions to make sure we're strong--not just today, but well into the future as well," Watson said.

MetroRail first opened in March of 2010. It currently runs from around 5 a.m. until 8 p.m. on weekdays. Capital Metro is in talks with the city of Austin to extend service to weekends.