Big Blue Bus

Bus at Big Blue Bus

Big Blue Bus carried 8,604,201 bus boardings in FY2024 at $10.29 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Santa Monica, CA
FY2024 boardings
8.6M
+11.1% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$10.29
-0.5% nationwide $8.24
Subsidy per ride
$9.55
-0.6% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
7.2%
+0.5% nationwide 11%
Passenger miles
29.9M
average trip 3.47 miles
Operating cost
$88.6M
Vehicles in service
124
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
20.03
429.6K hours operated

Ridership

Monthly data through July 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, FY2024

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 8,604,201 29,853,720 429,615 $88,575,877 $10.29 $9.55 7.2% 124

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 Big Blue Bus reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2024 8,604,201 29,853,720 3,925,400 429,615 $88,575,877 $6,419,348 $10.29 $9.55 7.2%
2023 7,741,258 27,245,573 3,860,997 410,707 $80,133,019 $5,779,723 $10.35 $9.60 7.2%
2022 6,312,168 22,325,873 3,921,249 413,078 $74,036,446 $5,617,870 $11.73 $10.84 7.6%
2021 5,027,105 16,877,929 3,700,401 396,706 $72,513,333 $1,989,658 $14.42 $14.03 2.7%
2020 10,285,930 34,359,494 4,405,975 499,201 $80,595,683 $8,970,417 $7.84 $6.96 11.1%
2019 12,536,069 45,792,187 4,978,667 557,473 $81,169,730 $11,413,768 $6.47 $5.56 14.1%
2018 13,187,418 49,197,389 5,024,449 561,840 $79,692,328 $11,721,083 $6.04 $5.15 14.7%
2017 13,333,812 50,808,723 4,969,546 552,352 $74,331,513 $11,809,016 $5.57 $4.69 15.9%
2016 16,576,943 70,181,023 4,862,782 525,842 $72,626,314 $12,841,034 $4.38 $3.61 17.7%
2015 18,748,868 76,058,696 4,734,209 499,426 $68,958,903 $13,361,718 $3.68 $2.97 19.4%