HIRTA Public Transit

Demand Response at HIRTA Public Transit

HIRTA Public Transit carried 108,408 demand response boardings in FY2024 at $33.67 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Demand Response Urbandale, IA
FY2024 boardings
108.4K
+17.5% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$33.67
-15% nationwide $50.62
Subsidy per ride
$25.70
-17.8% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
23.7%
+12.3% nationwide 6.8%
Passenger miles
441.5K
average trip 4.07 miles
Operating cost
$3.65M
Vehicles in service
28
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
2.43
44.7K 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
Directly operated 108,408 441,511 44,686 $3,650,120 $33.67 $25.70 23.7% 28

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 HIRTA Public Transit reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2024 108,408 441,511 543,999 44,686 $3,650,120 $863,729 $33.67 $25.70 23.7%
2023 92,295 603,212 443,835 40,816 $3,654,954 $770,018 $39.60 $31.26 21.1%
2022 71,409 631,961 311,034 34,604 $3,391,025 $704,809 $47.49 $37.62 20.8%
2021 56,105 176,078 264,105 29,357 $1,788,890 $778,073 $31.88 $18.02 43.5%
2020 177,686 1,325,027 709,934 60,489 $3,454,968 $1,195,467 $19.44 $12.72 34.6%
2019 212,407 850,744 65,349 $3,173,667 $187,674 $14.94 $14.06 5.9%
2018 253,217 1,145,795 91,234 $3,284,072 $221,617 $12.97 $12.09 6.7%
2017 296,490 1,308,112 94,023 $4,548,349 $225,294 $15.34 $14.58 5%
2016 295,537 1,219,230 99,823 $4,493,387 $229,630 $15.20 $14.43 5.1%
2015 318,255 1,481,156 113,620 $4,424,941 $238,827 $13.90 $13.15 5.4%