Los Angeles Metro

Light Rail at Los Angeles Metro

Los Angeles Metro carried 43,287,009 light rail boardings in FY2024 at $14.50 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Light Rail Los Angeles, CA
FY2024 boardings
43.3M
+18.3% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$14.50
+6.6% nationwide $9.88
Subsidy per ride
$14.00
+5.8% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
3.4%
+29.9% nationwide 9.5%
Passenger miles
314M
average trip 7.25 miles
Operating cost
$627.6M
Vehicles in service
199
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
47.68
907.9K 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 light rail 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 43,287,009 313,952,298 907,884 $627,644,423 $14.50 $14.00 3.4% 199

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 43,287,009 313,952,298 18,473,214 907,884 $627,644,423 $21,570,824 $14.50 $14.00 3.4%
2023 36,587,977 240,434,763 14,618,325 722,180 $497,457,985 $13,161,651 $13.60 $13.24 2.6%
2022 30,660,760 183,686,405 13,476,172 660,958 $410,761,191 $8,731,769 $13.40 $13.11 2.1%
2021 22,871,129 151,162,455 12,421,319 593,233 $393,871,053 $3,053,610 $17.22 $17.09 0.8%
2020 42,098,255 318,737,668 15,536,688 755,749 $433,455,380 $26,593,581 $10.30 $9.66 6.1%
2019 59,655,365 462,756,222 17,757,242 866,517 $446,368,668 $42,986,478 $7.48 $6.76 9.6%
2018 66,387,207 495,011,734 17,999,250 866,272 $377,416,763 $49,115,930 $5.69 $4.95 13%
2017 67,764,920 495,532,352 16,699,100 789,513 $366,354,851 $52,570,228 $5.41 $4.63 14.3%
2016 62,085,975 427,260,143 13,746,952 663,023 $318,210,204 $47,807,077 $5.13 $4.36 15%
2015 62,775,109 386,900,844 13,702,192 680,077 $265,702,234 $47,901,749 $4.23 $3.47 18%