San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority

Bus at San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority

San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority carried 783,229 bus boardings in FY2025 at $13.58 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus San Luis Obispo, CA
FY2025 boardings
783.2K
+3% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$13.58
+0.6% nationwide $8.57
Subsidy per ride
$11.83
-0.8% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
12.9%
+10.6% nationwide 10.4%
Passenger miles
7.88M
average trip 10.06 miles
Operating cost
$10.6M
Vehicles in service
24
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
14.76
53.1K hours operated

Ridership

Monthly data through August 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, 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 783,229 7,880,900 53,058 $10,640,078 $13.58 $11.83 12.9% 24

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 Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 783,229 7,880,900 1,188,743 53,058 $10,640,078 $1,372,174 $13.58 $11.83 12.9%
2024 760,618 7,680,800 1,196,409 52,468 $10,270,974 $1,197,926 $13.50 $11.93 11.7%
2023 703,777 7,653,963 1,220,351 52,359 $10,600,150 $798,477 $15.06 $13.93 7.5%
2022 620,385 6,868,841 1,199,539 51,169 $9,763,945 $798,550 $15.74 $14.45 8.2%
2021 500,946 6,055,109 1,183,782 49,797 $8,711,559 $310,939 $17.39 $16.77 3.6%
2020 802,612 9,234,327 1,199,399 50,087 $8,193,069 $967,074 $10.21 $9.00 11.8%
2019 1,039,546 11,471,361 1,361,513 57,008 $7,284,538 $1,337,263 $7.01 $5.72 18.4%
2018 1,060,551 11,896,511 1,353,223 56,617 $7,263,705 $1,439,732 $6.85 $5.49 19.8%
2017 1,118,532 12,358,463 1,401,986 57,796 $6,657,190 $1,465,699 $5.95 $4.64 22%
2016 1,022,323 12,717,698 1,286,371 52,444 $5,858,562 $1,388,607 $5.73 $4.37 23.7%
2015 1,105,389 13,750,898 1,297,822 52,108 $5,607,103 $1,425,948 $5.07 $3.78 25.4%