Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District

Commuter Bus at Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District

Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District carried 172,041 commuter bus boardings in FY2025 at $30.45 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Commuter Bus Santa Cruz, CA
FY2025 boardings
172K
+27.9% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$30.45
-10.6% nationwide $24.15
Subsidy per ride
$20.43
-7.7% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
32.9%
-5.9% nationwide 26.5%
Passenger miles
5.7M
average trip 33.13 miles
Operating cost
$5.24M
Vehicles in service
11
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
7.75
22.2K 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 commuter 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 172,041 5,699,718 22,188 $5,238,733 $30.45 $20.43 32.9% 11

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 Santa Cruz Metropolitan Transit District reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 172,041 5,699,718 564,639 22,188 $5,238,733 $1,723,547 $30.45 $20.43 32.9%
2024 134,499 3,996,209 424,962 15,644 $4,578,614 $1,601,416 $34.04 $22.14 35%
2023 134,741 3,934,875 392,785 14,082 $3,495,821 $1,495,425 $25.94 $14.85 42.8%
2022 115,354 3,528,679 374,187 13,222 $3,503,299 $1,244,850 $30.37 $19.58 35.5%
2021 46,081 1,409,618 329,477 12,086 $6,216,842 $204,022 $134.91 $130.48 3.3%
2020 200,249 6,124,791 500,933 18,029 $4,710,171 $1,068,136 $23.52 $18.19 22.7%
2019 285,508 8,671,632 606,296 23,271 $4,537,039 $1,549,496 $15.89 $10.46 34.2%
2018 290,419 8,629,571 603,288 23,296 $4,521,454 $1,564,281 $15.57 $10.18 34.6%
2017 303,667 9,478,138 611,806 22,732 $4,100,413 $1,644,388 $13.50 $8.09 40.1%
2016 336,809 10,512,575 686,891 24,021 $4,438,475 $1,816,162 $13.18 $7.79 40.9%
2015 379,205 16,282,063 683,260 23,893 $3,912,876 $1,547,791 $10.32 $6.24 39.6%