RTD-Denver

Light Rail at RTD-Denver

RTD-Denver carried 11,161,755 light rail boardings in FY2024 at $14.64 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Light Rail Denver, CO
← All of RTD-Denver
FY2024 boardings
11.2M
-12.4% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$14.64
+15.5% nationwide $9.88
Subsidy per ride
$13.85
+18.1% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
5.4%
-27.3% nationwide 9.5%
Passenger miles
72.8M
average trip 6.52 miles
Operating cost
$163.4M
Vehicles in service
116
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
21.27
524.9K 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 11,161,755 72,805,413 524,860 $163,376,837 $14.64 $13.85 5.4% 116

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 RTD-Denver reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2024 11,161,755 72,805,413 7,401,073 524,860 $163,376,837 $8,817,202 $14.64 $13.85 5.4%
2023 12,740,358 80,870,770 8,367,657 489,089 $161,388,757 $11,981,942 $12.67 $11.73 7.4%
2022 13,604,641 90,802,280 10,061,868 562,126 $144,224,453 $16,596,217 $10.60 $9.38 11.5%
2021 10,016,239 67,364,585 9,585,582 525,795 $120,613,585 $15,798,262 $12.04 $10.46 13.1%
2020 10,464,678 72,910,951 9,063,803 526,960 $120,807,086 $15,967,688 $11.54 $10.02 13.2%
2019 24,585,300 178,266,835 14,053,945 797,784 $134,501,571 $38,362,200 $5.47 $3.91 28.5%
2018 25,322,058 180,411,468 11,758,421 720,150 $122,305,271 $37,636,009 $4.83 $3.34 30.8%
2017 24,645,459 175,410,880 12,602,637 793,856 $115,181,118 $38,157,473 $4.67 $3.13 33.1%
2016 24,585,082 211,213,395 11,355,973 674,315 $104,625,498 $43,808,216 $4.26 $2.47 41.9%
2015 25,518,578 181,980,558 11,101,915 628,459 $111,045,122 $37,548,705 $4.35 $2.88 33.8%