Chapel Hill Transit

Bus at Chapel Hill Transit

Chapel Hill Transit carried 3,827,284 bus boardings in FY2024 at $6.53 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Chapel Hill, NC
FY2024 boardings
3.83M
+4.4% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$6.53
+3.3% nationwide $8.24
Subsidy per ride
operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
nationwide 11%
Passenger miles
7.42M
average trip 1.94 miles
Operating cost
$25M
Vehicles in service
74
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
26.75
143.1K 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
Purchased transportation
Directly operated 3,827,284 7,420,978 143,061 $24,978,842 $6.53 74

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 Chapel Hill Transit reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2024 3,827,284 7,420,978 1,701,069 143,061 $24,978,842 $6.53
2023 3,664,740 6,242,245 1,666,962 143,993 $23,155,047 $6.32
2022 3,372,578 5,923,829 1,567,493 124,032 $19,019,998 $5.64
2021 1,559,434 3,120,730 1,461,750 106,797 $15,747,736 $10.10
2020 4,655,723 7,946,293 1,485,355 129,266 $17,111,610 $3,507 $3.68 $3.67 0%
2019 6,573,353 11,760,560 1,790,736 162,690 $16,885,815 $5,845 $2.57 $2.57 0%
2018 6,523,418 12,133,936 1,852,255 163,427 $15,452,180 $7,679,265 $2.37 $1.19 49.7%
2017 6,092,877 11,861,996 1,780,813 155,410 $15,611,363 $7,525,274 $2.56 $1.33 48.2%
2016 6,299,994 12,500,541 1,790,266 158,220 $15,096,548 $8,251,848 $2.40 $1.09 54.7%
2015 6,533,944 12,488,474 1,791,192 155,480 $15,633,374 $9,655,765 $2.39 $0.91 61.8%