Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority

Bus at Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority

Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority carried 113,876,069 bus boardings in FY2025 at $6.91 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Philadelphia, PA
FY2025 boardings
113.9M
+8.4% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$6.91
-4% nationwide $8.57
Subsidy per ride
$6.04
+0.2% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
12.6%
-22.2% nationwide 10.4%
Passenger miles
315.7M
average trip 2.77 miles
Operating cost
$787M
Vehicles in service
1,010
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
31.84
3.58M 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 113,844,026 315,531,187 3,569,039 $785,910,150 $6.90 $6.03 12.7% 1,007
Purchased transportation 32,043 191,727 7,825 $1,040,769 $32.48 $31.19 4% 3

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 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 113,876,069 315,722,914 36,689,509 3,576,864 $786,950,919 $99,537,486 $6.91 $6.04 12.6%
2024 105,093,533 295,673,397 37,315,997 3,650,656 $756,209,161 $122,928,038 $7.20 $6.03 16.3%
2023 101,457,440 280,733,231 38,857,617 3,815,692 $730,795,356 $111,372,158 $7.20 $6.11 15.2%
2022 91,193,686 260,968,256 39,316,921 3,884,156 $693,070,836 $101,519,176 $7.60 $6.49 14.6%
2021 60,307,213 187,935,266 38,841,729 3,888,182 $655,390,739 $75,564,650 $10.87 $9.61 11.5%
2020 118,826,128 369,473,558 38,059,542 3,807,150 $649,456,479 $129,986,083 $5.47 $4.37 20%
2019 153,956,354 479,782,635 41,307,488 4,133,391 $649,703,440 $168,096,462 $4.22 $3.13 25.9%
2018 161,535,177 455,641,154 40,330,203 4,070,068 $630,851,254 $172,268,526 $3.91 $2.84 27.3%
2017 163,236,065 532,244,156 39,615,495 3,982,023 $629,403,953 $170,689,036 $3.86 $2.81 27.1%
2016 182,484,615 587,747,642 39,793,477 3,966,008 $628,216,161 $174,306,296 $3.44 $2.49 27.7%
2015 171,287,633 502,619,260 39,751,731 3,932,468 $620,119,946 $180,086,911 $3.62 $2.57 29%