Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Trolleybus at Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority carried 905,096 trolleybus boardings in FY2022 at $20.30 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Trolleybus Boston, MA
FY2022 boardings
905.1K
+8.5% vs FY2021
Cost per ride
$20.30
+5.6% nationwide $7.01
Subsidy per ride
$19.12
+3.5% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
5.8%
+49.5% nationwide 9.6%
Passenger miles
2.12M
average trip 2.35 miles
Operating cost
$18.4M
Vehicles in service
13
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
31.96
28.3K hours operated

Ridership

Monthly data through June 2022.

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 trolleybus 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, FY2022

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 905,096 2,123,790 28,322 $18,370,594 $20.30 $19.12 5.8% 13

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 Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2022 905,096 2,123,790 272,820 28,322 $18,370,594 $1,066,929 $20.30 $19.12 5.8%
2021 833,836 1,996,401 378,401 42,138 $16,022,500 $622,495 $19.22 $18.47 3.9%
2020 2,048,150 4,759,117 375,096 44,820 $21,792,337 $1,511,126 $10.64 $9.90 6.9%
2019 3,021,243 7,133,649 540,018 63,743 $23,555,601 $1,899,150 $7.80 $7.17 8.1%
2018 2,570,292 5,976,543 549,870 64,758 $31,542,892 $1,888,300 $12.27 $11.54 6%
2017 1,988,765 4,559,747 427,322 46,202 $12,062,585 $1,916,535 $6.07 $5.10 15.9%
2016 1,313,820 2,846,617 257,499 28,446 $9,742,913 $1,666,656 $7.42 $6.15 17.1%
2015 1,347,733 2,940,910 238,787 26,501 $9,634,570 $1,794,057 $7.15 $5.82 18.6%