Big Blue Bus

Demand Response at Big Blue Bus

Big Blue Bus carried 23,045 demand response boardings in FY2025 at $29.62 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Demand Response Santa Monica, CA
FY2025 boardings
23K
-21.2% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$29.62
+12.5% nationwide $52.35
Subsidy per ride
$28.88
+11.2% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
2.5%
+84.5% nationwide 6.7%
Passenger miles
46K
average trip 2 miles
Operating cost
$682.6K
Vehicles in service
38
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
6.13
3.8K 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 demand response 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
Purchased transportation — — — — — — — —
Purchased transportation - taxi — — — — — — — —
Purchased transportation - taxi 23,045 45,991 3,761 $682,649 $29.62 $28.88 2.5% 38

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
2025 23,045 45,991 45,311 3,761 $682,649 $17,133 $29.62 $28.88 2.5%
2024 29,258 56,090 62,148 6,476 $770,239 $10,477 $26.33 $25.97 1.4%
2023 26,467 52,980 59,398 6,237 $644,253 $10,826 $24.34 $23.93 1.7%
2022 21,755 42,142 48,432 4,945 $645,906 $13,477 $29.69 $29.07 2.1%
2021 13,288 21,228 24,319 2,940 $455,737 $7,572 $34.30 $33.73 1.7%
2020 34,334 54,553 60,897 8,026 $662,582 $18,583 $19.30 $18.76 2.8%
2019 31,923 64,349 73,151 8,655 $504,041 $17,043 $15.79 $15.26 3.4%
2018 21,392 44,850 60,472 9,320 $499,454 $8,932 $23.35 $22.93 1.8%
2017 22,928 52,018 63,095 9,968 $492,207 $9,336 $21.47 $21.06 1.9%
2016 24,328 60,523 66,298 10,062 $463,439 — $19.05 — —
2015 25,118 62,587 68,520 10,113 $480,411 — $19.13 — —