Iowa City Transit

Bus at Iowa City Transit

Iowa City Transit carried 1,505,184 bus boardings in FY2024 at $4.93 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Iowa City, IA
FY2024 boardings
1.51M
+43.3% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$4.93
-21.6% nationwide $8.24
Subsidy per ride
$4.86
-3% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
1.5%
-92.8% nationwide 11%
Passenger miles
3.49M
average trip 2.32 miles
Operating cost
$7.42M
Vehicles in service
21
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
22.62
66.5K 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
Directly operated 1,505,184 3,491,691 66,533 $7,419,298 $4.93 $4.86 1.5% 21

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 Iowa City Transit reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2024 1,505,184 3,491,691 777,789 66,533 $7,419,298 $109,870 $4.93 $4.86 1.5%
2023 1,050,132 2,435,682 700,682 53,160 $6,606,297 $1,351,567 $6.29 $5.00 20.5%
2022 851,383 1,833,774 717,837 47,895 $6,502,213 $919,435 $7.64 $6.56 14.1%
2021 525,416 1,132,968 689,324 54,787 $5,816,354 $668,695 $11.07 $9.80 11.5%
2020 1,156,346 2,491,185 634,526 51,710 $5,870,856 $968,974 $5.08 $4.24 16.5%
2019 1,486,351 3,201,875 691,279 54,967 $5,635,683 $1,258,128 $3.79 $2.95 22.3%
2018 1,498,468 3,231,165 704,185 53,954 $5,311,048 $1,263,310 $3.54 $2.70 23.8%
2017 1,571,818 3,391,874 713,188 54,636 $4,972,829 $1,260,923 $3.16 $2.36 25.4%
2016 1,683,634 3,586,140 708,473 54,403 $5,100,638 $1,296,204 $3.03 $2.26 25.4%
2015 1,902,226 4,046,778 707,362 53,845 $5,223,304 $1,445,831 $2.75 $1.99 27.7%