National Transit Database · FY2024

U.S. public transit, agency by agency

Ridership, operating cost, subsidy per ride, safety and fuel use for 3,133 transit agencies, drawn straight from the Federal Transit Administration's National Transit Database. Ten years of annual data, monthly figures since 2014.

Annual boardings
7.67B
+9.7% vs FY2023
Operating cost
$65.63B
+8.5% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$8.56
-1.2% operating cost ÷ boardings
Fare recovery
17.3%
-0.1% share of cost covered by fares

This year against the last five

Nationwide boardings by month, so seasonality does not read as a trend

Recovery detail →

Where the rides are

Share of FY2024 boardings by mode

Every month since 2014

Through July 2026 · 603.7M boardings that month

-0.2% year over year

Recovery since 2019

Each month against the same month before the pandemic

Ten years of cost and ridership

Dollar figures are shown both as reported and restated in current dollars, because a decade of nominal costs is mostly a picture of inflation.

Cost per ride

Nationwide operating cost divided by boardings

Boardings and service

Annual boardings against vehicle revenue hours operated

Boardings by mode

Annual, stacked

Who pays

Fare revenue against the subsidy that covers the rest

The largest systems

Ranked by FY2024 boardings. Every agency has its own page.

All rankings →
# Agency Modes Boardings Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery Share of U.S. rides
1
Heavy Rail Bus Bus Rapid Transit +2
2.9B $3.68 $2.47 33%
37.8%
2
Heavy Rail Bus
309.2M $6.20 $5.06 18.5%
4%
3
Los Angeles Metro
Los Angeles, CA
Heavy Rail Light Rail Bus +3
302.6M $7.99 $7.51 6.1%
3.9%
4
Washington Metro
Washington, DC
Heavy Rail Bus Demand Response
262.5M $11.25 $9.89 12%
3.4%
5
Heavy Rail Light Rail Commuter Rail +5
251.7M $8.59 $6.93 19.2%
3.3%
6
Light Rail Commuter Rail Hybrid Rail +3
222.5M $13.25 $9.84 25.7%
2.9%
7
Heavy Rail Commuter Rail Streetcar +3
200.7M $7.73 $6.34 18%
2.6%
8
Light Rail Streetcar Bus +3
160.5M $7.03 $6.42 8.6%
2.1%
9
MTA Bus Company
New York, NY
Bus
126.6M $7.69 $6.24 18.9%
1.7%
10
Commuter Rail
97.2M $22.76 $16.08 29.4%
1.3%
11
Streetcar Bus Trolleybus +3
88.6M $11.39 $9.89 13.1%
1.2%
12
Heavy Rail Bus Commuter Bus +3
88.2M $7.39 $6.57 11.2%
1.2%
13
Houston METRO
Houston, TX
Light Rail Bus Bus Rapid Transit +3
75.9M $10.71 $10.15 5.3%
1%
14
Light Rail Bus Commuter Bus +1
75.7M $5.05 $4.10 18.9%
1%
15
Commuter Rail Bus Ferryboat
74.4M $23.03 $14.62 36.5%
1%

Safety events

Reported to NTD each month, all modes

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Rankings Cheapest and costliest rides in the country Compare agencies Put any systems side by side Fuel and energy What the fleet burns, and how that is changing By state Every agency, grouped by where it runs