San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency

Bus at San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency

San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency carried 77,857,337 bus boardings in FY2024 at $6.59 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus San Francisco, CA
FY2024 boardings
77.9M
+8.4% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$6.59
+9.4% nationwide $8.24
Subsidy per ride
$6.09
+10.5% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
7.6%
-10.7% nationwide 11%
Passenger miles
168.8M
average trip 2.17 miles
Operating cost
$513.4M
Vehicles in service
364
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
45.73
1.7M 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 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, 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 77,857,337 168,811,279 1,702,426 $513,444,763 $6.59 $6.09 7.6% 364

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 San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2024 77,857,337 168,811,279 13,378,563 1,702,426 $513,444,763 $39,113,086 $6.59 $6.09 7.6%
2023 71,851,901 144,667,638 13,046,816 1,661,223 $433,123,945 $36,940,495 $6.03 $5.51 8.5%
2022 54,363,946 109,579,631 12,259,450 1,555,039 $412,244,509 $27,198,541 $7.58 $7.08 6.6%
2021 40,938,405 82,487,632 11,750,407 1,504,908 $443,788,142 $12,907,694 $10.84 $10.53 2.9%
2020 86,174,760 176,249,299 12,943,156 1,644,393 $394,688,420 $70,679,813 $4.58 $3.76 17.9%
2019 110,802,986 225,220,879 13,259,120 1,714,493 $353,352,973 $87,346,370 $3.19 $2.40 24.7%
2018 111,809,076 220,051,925 14,626,744 1,868,233 $341,478,471 $89,852,474 $3.05 $2.25 26.3%
2017 107,795,832 231,620,604 14,922,469 1,910,010 $329,281,264 $82,908,312 $3.05 $2.29 25.2%
2016 101,846,949 230,498,077 13,497,051 1,669,527 $311,440,005 $79,223,774 $3.06 $2.28 25.4%
2015 95,005,347 209,848,686 11,806,194 1,491,118 $290,970,598 $82,663,946 $3.06 $2.19 28.4%