Sioux Area Metro

Bus at Sioux Area Metro

Sioux Area Metro carried 573,421 bus boardings in FY2025 at $12.72 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Sioux Falls, SD
FY2025 boardings
573.4K
+15.5% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$12.72
-12.5% nationwide $8.57
Subsidy per ride
$12.28
-12.4% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
3.5%
-0.6% nationwide 10.4%
Passenger miles
1.69M
average trip 2.95 miles
Operating cost
$7.3M
Vehicles in service
18
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
11.88
48.3K 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 — — — — — — — —
Purchased transportation 573,421 1,689,456 48,266 $7,296,417 $12.72 $12.28 3.5% 18

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 Sioux Area Metro reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 573,421 1,689,456 543,914 48,266 $7,296,417 $257,312 $12.72 $12.28 3.5%
2024 496,460 1,550,629 540,645 46,097 $7,216,243 $256,102 $14.54 $14.02 3.5%
2023 499,713 1,731,121 515,790 43,451 $6,295,106 $369,203 $12.60 $11.86 5.9%
2022 385,565 1,482,957 487,831 39,697 $5,902,222 $271,797 $15.31 $14.60 4.6%
2021 389,816 1,629,431 611,408 51,756 $6,039,335 $270,421 $15.49 $14.80 4.5%
2020 445,205 1,861,146 656,713 54,264 $5,299,572 $277,640 $11.90 $11.28 5.2%
2019 769,437 3,216,514 736,271 62,344 $4,923,397 $431,576 $6.40 $5.84 8.8%
2018 782,129 3,270,399 736,227 61,935 $4,794,455 $434,313 $6.13 $5.57 9.1%
2017 795,026 3,325,540 747,194 61,894 $4,543,786 $435,163 $5.72 $5.17 9.6%
2016 837,474 3,764,278 763,809 64,389 $4,462,489 $497,250 $5.33 $4.73 11.1%
2015 885,104 3,987,631 766,028 65,640 $4,436,811 $527,297 $5.01 $4.42 11.9%