AC Transit

Bus at AC Transit

AC Transit carried 34,766,776 bus boardings in FY2025 at $14.44 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Oakland, CA
FY2025 boardings
34.8M
+1.9% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$14.44
+3.4% nationwide $8.57
Subsidy per ride
$13.28
+4% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
8.1%
-6% nationwide 10.4%
Passenger miles
119.3M
average trip 3.43 miles
Operating cost
$502.2M
Vehicles in service
395
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
20.79
1.67M hours operated

Ridership

Monthly data through August 2026.

This year against the last five

Same months on one axis, so seasonality does not read as a trend

Annual boardings

Ten-year series

Cost

This service against every bus operator in the country.

Cost per ride

This agency against the national figure for the same mode

Fare recovery

Share of operating cost covered by fares

Directly operated and purchased service, FY2025

NTD reports these separately. An agency that contracts a service out reports the contract price, which bundles costs a directly operating agency reports line by line.

Service Boardings Passenger miles Revenue hours Operating cost Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery Vehicles
Directly operated 34,580,054 117,064,920 1,650,274 $498,811,024 $14.42 $13.27 8% 384
Purchased transportation 186,722 2,218,702 22,120 $3,340,223 $17.89 $15.57 13% 11

Safety and reliability

For this service alone.

Events by year

Complete calendar years only

Miles between failures

Revenue miles divided by mechanical failures. Higher is better.

Full series

Every year AC Transit reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 34,766,776 119,283,622 16,903,740 1,672,394 $502,151,247 $40,442,051 $14.44 $13.28 8.1%
2024 34,128,581 116,027,669 16,812,927 1,666,364 $476,818,238 $40,851,903 $13.97 $12.77 8.6%
2023 30,196,978 102,348,896 16,797,841 1,619,628 $457,765,738 $37,373,851 $15.16 $13.92 8.2%
2022 25,233,782 89,154,309 16,122,729 1,542,476 $395,056,921 $32,074,737 $15.66 $14.38 8.1%
2021 18,888,036 74,362,168 16,307,520 1,598,196 $405,816,715 $22,583,009 $21.49 $20.29 5.6%
2020 42,363,148 140,313,893 17,958,882 1,788,907 $427,340,661 $53,779,854 $10.09 $8.82 12.6%
2019 50,484,392 171,067,988 19,693,383 1,953,923 $396,377,292 $63,102,898 $7.85 $6.60 15.9%
2018 49,473,394 164,833,293 19,219,178 1,936,189 $374,930,917 $59,787,601 $7.58 $6.37 15.9%
2017 50,161,247 167,114,683 18,767,594 1,847,824 $359,467,137 $68,267,732 $7.17 $5.81 19%
2016 51,307,634 182,376,885 18,105,981 1,699,472 $350,793,313 $64,213,054 $6.84 $5.59 18.3%
2015 52,899,696 181,142,319 17,305,725 1,612,481 $295,109,593 $59,773,709 $5.58 $4.45 20.3%