Polk County Transportation Authority

Demand Response at Polk County Transportation Authority

Polk County Transportation Authority carried 20,742 demand response boardings in FY2025 at $29.19 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Demand Response Columbus, NC
FY2025 boardings
20.7K
-6% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$29.19
+8.1% nationwide $52.35
Subsidy per ride
$28.27
+8.1% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
3.1%
-1.9% nationwide 6.7%
Passenger miles
—
average trip — miles
Operating cost
$605.5K
Vehicles in service
8
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
1.38
15.1K hours operated

Ridership

This service reports annually.

Monthly boardings

NTD publishes monthly figures for full reporters only, so this service has annual data alone.

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, FY2025

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 20,742 — 15,072 $605,486 $29.19 $28.27 3.1% 8

Full series

Every year Polk County Transportation Authority reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 20,742 — 207,653 15,072 $605,486 $19,015 $29.19 $28.27 3.1%
2024 22,074 — 246,966 15,490 $596,300 $19,097 $27.01 $26.15 3.2%
2023 21,284 — 239,316 15,338 $568,292 $15,816 $26.70 $25.96 2.8%
2022 18,640 — 187,504 12,282 $512,458 $8,625 $27.49 $27.03 1.7%
2021 14,815 — 223,911 12,637 $404,286 $17,628 $27.29 $26.10 4.4%
2020 27,772 — 308,928 17,274 $533,558 $24,989 $19.21 $18.31 4.7%
2019 39,662 — 434,257 23,241 $622,848 $39,751 $15.70 $14.70 6.4%
2018 39,005 — 391,193 21,456 $661,649 $34,523 $16.96 $16.08 5.2%
2017 38,999 — 360,757 19,250 $649,939 $26,129 $16.67 $16.00 4%
2016 40,329 — 351,948 19,428 $588,117 $20,929 $14.58 $14.06 3.6%
2015 39,520 — 356,307 19,305 $661,365 $17,800 $16.73 $16.28 2.7%