Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority

Demand Response at Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority

Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority carried 86,660 demand response boardings in FY2024 at $53.10 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Demand Response North Charleston, SC
FY2024 boardings
86.7K
+23.5% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$53.10
+4.7% nationwide $50.62
Subsidy per ride
$49.29
+4.6% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
7.2%
+1.9% nationwide 6.8%
Passenger miles
664.5K
average trip 7.67 miles
Operating cost
$4.6M
Vehicles in service
25
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
2.18
39.7K 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 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, 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 59,079 506,801 32,929 $4,157,127 $70.37 $66.83 5% 20
Purchased transportation - taxi 27,581 157,715 6,766 $444,549 $16.12 $11.72 27.3% 5

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 Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2024 86,660 664,516 676,605 39,695 $4,601,676 $329,973 $53.10 $49.29 7.2%
2023 70,196 602,345 572,972 34,671 $3,560,013 $250,586 $50.72 $47.15 7%
2022 67,942 605,163 578,377 35,982 $3,496,756 $271,768 $51.47 $47.47 7.8%
2021 62,568 577,998 561,171 35,737 $2,655,294 $79,586 $42.44 $41.17 3%
2020 60,561 505,298 470,036 33,501 $2,530,401 $172,851 $41.78 $38.93 6.8%
2019 75,790 651,283 579,329 41,544 $3,013,366 $209,860 $39.76 $36.99 7%
2018 72,084 635,837 564,340 40,074 $2,795,082 $204,718 $38.78 $35.94 7.3%
2017 71,279 639,007 549,867 39,408 $2,492,847 $323,875 $34.97 $30.43 13%
2016 70,074 692,331 550,229 41,067 $2,753,063 $375,200 $39.29 $33.93 13.6%
2015 78,921 764,185 589,009 42,064 $2,851,378 $688,402 $36.13 $27.41 24.1%