City of Madison
Demand Response at City of Madison
City of Madison carried 136,404 demand response boardings in FY2025 at $44.51 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.
Demand Response
Madison, WI
FY2025 boardings
136.4K
+12.7%
vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$44.51
+5%
nationwide $52.35
Subsidy per ride
$35.53
+8.3%
operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
20.2%
-10.8%
nationwide 6.7%
Passenger miles
782.4K
average trip 5.74 miles
Operating cost
$6.07M
Vehicles in service
30
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
2.81
48.6K 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Directly operated | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Purchased transportation | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Purchased transportation - taxi | 136,404 | 782,405 | 48,564 | $6,071,351 | $44.51 | $35.53 | 20.2% | 30 |
Safety and reliability
For this service alone.
Events by year
Complete calendar years only
Full series
Every year City of Madison reported this service.
| Year | Boardings | Passenger miles | Revenue miles | Revenue hours | Operating cost | Fares | Cost / ride | Subsidy / ride | Fare recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 136,404 | 782,405 | 587,827 | 48,564 | $6,071,351 | $1,225,259 | $44.51 | $35.53 | 20.2% |
| 2024 | 120,989 | 669,811 | 517,470 | 43,408 | $5,128,059 | $1,160,844 | $42.38 | $32.79 | 22.6% |
| 2023 | 110,735 | 537,486 | 467,406 | 42,183 | $4,584,650 | $957,976 | $41.40 | $32.75 | 20.9% |
| 2022 | 92,341 | 440,467 | 401,069 | 40,337 | $3,372,498 | $702,399 | $36.52 | $28.92 | 20.8% |
| 2021 | 67,993 | 415,887 | 465,970 | 48,881 | $2,641,322 | $592,906 | $38.85 | $30.13 | 22.4% |
| 2020 | 61,949 | 457,963 | 451,850 | 41,209 | $2,236,949 | $652,694 | $36.11 | $25.57 | 29.2% |
| 2019 | 113,301 | 660,839 | 658,817 | 56,632 | $3,155,280 | $1,502,854 | $27.85 | $14.58 | 47.6% |
| 2018 | 154,930 | 1,238,700 | 850,592 | 71,929 | $4,286,440 | $1,737,929 | $27.67 | $16.45 | 40.5% |
| 2017 | 291,018 | 1,708,834 | 1,741,048 | 107,356 | $7,230,755 | $314,090 | $24.85 | $23.77 | 4.3% |
| 2016 | 279,226 | 1,493,788 | 1,701,539 | 103,793 | $6,931,183 | $309,417 | $24.82 | $23.71 | 4.5% |
| 2015 | 273,968 | 1,467,645 | 1,669,829 | 101,229 | $6,854,122 | $311,713 | $25.02 | $23.88 | 4.5% |