Los Angeles Metro

Bus at Los Angeles Metro

Los Angeles Metro carried 229,710,972 bus boardings in FY2024 at $6.44 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Los Angeles, CA
FY2024 boardings
229.7M
+11.4% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$6.44
-6% nationwide $8.24
Subsidy per ride
$6.02
-6.4% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
6.7%
+6.3% nationwide 11%
Passenger miles
789.3M
average trip 3.44 miles
Operating cost
$1.48B
Vehicles in service
1,583
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
33.68
6.82M 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 218,918,383 744,567,940 6,346,045 $1,406,470,190 $6.42 $5.99 6.8% 1,476
Purchased transportation 10,792,589 44,752,043 474,382 $73,936,696 $6.85 $6.59 3.8% 107

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 Los Angeles Metro reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2024 229,710,972 789,319,983 69,615,711 6,820,427 $1,480,406,886 $98,674,585 $6.44 $6.02 6.7%
2023 206,240,433 717,395,442 66,288,883 6,457,517 $1,414,106,281 $88,687,238 $6.86 $6.43 6.3%
2022 193,446,174 606,555,391 62,630,019 6,016,524 $1,149,588,524 $47,197,050 $5.94 $5.70 4.1%
2021 148,832,389 431,866,001 55,803,497 5,262,956 $1,049,064,944 $15,898,229 $7.05 $6.94 1.5%
2020 222,178,869 891,494,074 65,158,654 6,251,719 $1,218,058,173 $134,466,011 $5.48 $4.88 11%
2019 266,887,614 1,103,847,455 71,371,581 6,837,390 $1,262,773,407 $185,879,090 $4.73 $4.04 14.7%
2018 273,625,420 1,111,245,188 71,248,297 6,791,957 $1,179,155,941 $213,302,368 $4.31 $3.53 18.1%
2017 282,450,965 1,146,791,816 72,156,968 6,811,962 $1,166,199,835 $225,283,171 $4.13 $3.33 19.3%
2016 312,787,609 1,285,627,351 74,183,317 6,938,327 $1,066,649,496 $250,432,251 $3.41 $2.61 23.5%
2015 334,381,438 1,389,212,331 73,236,948 6,844,734 $968,346,678 $260,936,714 $2.90 $2.12 26.9%