Rapid Transit System
Bus at Rapid Transit System
Rapid Transit System carried 239,984 bus boardings in FY2025 at $6.88 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.
Bus
Rapid City, SD
FY2025 boardings
240K
+10.5%
vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$6.88
-12%
nationwide $8.57
Subsidy per ride
$6.33
-12.2%
operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
7.9%
+3.3%
nationwide 10.4%
Passenger miles
—
average trip — miles
Operating cost
$1.65M
Vehicles in service
6
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
12.43
19.3K 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 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, 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 | 239,984 | — | 19,303 | $1,651,262 | $6.88 | $6.33 | 7.9% | 6 |
Full series
Every year Rapid Transit System reported this service.
| Year | Boardings | Passenger miles | Revenue miles | Revenue hours | Operating cost | Fares | Cost / ride | Subsidy / ride | Fare recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 239,984 | — | 258,850 | 19,303 | $1,651,262 | $131,092 | $6.88 | $6.33 | 7.9% |
| 2024 | 217,193 | — | 259,973 | 19,400 | $1,698,397 | $130,543 | $7.82 | $7.22 | 7.7% |
| 2023 | 204,828 | — | 256,372 | 19,124 | $1,636,587 | $142,531 | $7.99 | $7.29 | 8.7% |
| 2022 | 165,163 | — | 263,975 | 19,679 | $1,457,772 | $131,775 | $8.83 | $8.03 | 9% |
| 2021 | 162,083 | — | 265,416 | 19,764 | $1,331,038 | $114,583 | $8.21 | $7.51 | 8.6% |
| 2020 | 213,004 | — | 259,918 | 18,605 | $1,167,539 | $116,336 | $5.48 | $4.94 | 10% |
| 2019 | 418,085 | — | 284,625 | 20,752 | $1,380,153 | $194,389 | $3.30 | $2.84 | 14.1% |
| 2018 | 369,697 | — | 287,944 | 20,987 | $1,211,152 | $209,652 | $3.28 | $2.71 | 17.3% |
| 2017 | 348,210 | — | 289,031 | 21,043 | $997,384 | $174,897 | $2.86 | $2.36 | 17.5% |
| 2016 | 295,060 | — | 289,699 | 19,755 | $988,280 | $226,710 | $3.35 | $2.58 | 22.9% |
| 2015 | 291,026 | — | 290,101 | 19,452 | $1,009,286 | $229,542 | $3.47 | $2.68 | 22.7% |