Central Ohio Transit Authority

Bus at Central Ohio Transit Authority

Central Ohio Transit Authority carried 12,407,746 bus boardings in FY2025 at $17.71 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Columbus, OH
FY2025 boardings
12.4M
+4.7% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$17.71
+10.1% nationwide $8.57
Subsidy per ride
$16.73
+12.2% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
5.5%
-24% nationwide 10.4%
Passenger miles
55.1M
average trip 4.44 miles
Operating cost
$219.7M
Vehicles in service
198
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
12.51
991.4K 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 12,407,746 55,065,361 991,439 $219,749,531 $17.71 $16.73 5.5% 198

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 Central Ohio Transit Authority reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 12,407,746 55,065,361 12,037,993 991,439 $219,749,531 $12,178,906 $17.71 $16.73 5.5%
2024 11,853,423 54,542,418 11,089,087 909,197 $190,644,471 $13,897,084 $16.08 $14.91 7.3%
2023 11,128,906 48,130,550 9,692,809 802,617 $167,997,746 $12,619,844 $15.10 $13.96 7.5%
2022 9,947,527 40,192,169 10,338,688 819,675 $127,112,513 $11,024,676 $12.78 $11.67 8.7%
2021 8,899,769 36,048,940 11,809,700 951,163 $146,845,560 $10,185,740 $16.50 $15.36 6.9%
2020 10,322,492 40,149,895 10,703,310 855,804 $167,448,121 $4,166,012 $16.22 $15.82 2.5%
2019 19,141,454 74,351,660 14,204,174 1,159,200 $158,164,925 $18,208,917 $8.26 $7.31 11.5%
2018 18,913,789 73,617,347 13,619,995 1,143,094 $143,977,908 $18,576,271 $7.61 $6.63 12.9%
2017 18,401,546 68,304,612 13,036,419 1,072,219 $134,095,530 $18,816,434 $7.29 $6.26 14%
2016 18,549,436 71,088,866 12,298,599 1,013,167 $114,656,168 $18,663,499 $6.18 $5.17 16.3%
2015 18,920,014 71,677,603 11,443,670 948,298 $101,762,725 $19,165,487 $5.38 $4.37 18.8%