The COMET

Bus at The COMET

The COMET carried 1,930,498 bus boardings in FY2025 at $11.07 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Columbia, SC
FY2025 boardings
1.93M
-0.5% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$11.07
-0.2% nationwide $8.57
Subsidy per ride
$9.12
-0% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
17.6%
-0.9% nationwide 10.4%
Passenger miles
9.13M
average trip 4.73 miles
Operating cost
$21.4M
Vehicles in service
50
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
10.35
186.5K 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
Purchased transportation 1,930,498 9,125,210 186,481 $21,365,448 $11.07 $9.12 17.6% 50

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 The COMET reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 1,930,498 9,125,210 2,304,326 186,481 $21,365,448 $3,756,706 $11.07 $9.12 17.6%
2024 1,939,968 9,641,079 2,348,840 188,703 $21,515,573 $3,818,821 $11.09 $9.12 17.7%
2023 1,783,814 9,558,520 2,334,605 187,247 $21,704,327 $3,632,007 $12.17 $10.13 16.7%
2022 1,546,211 6,482,762 2,396,952 181,953 $21,899,597 $3,457,659 $14.16 $11.93 15.8%
2021 2,028,056 6,558,087 2,239,801 164,260 $21,352,668 $1,837,418 $10.53 $9.62 8.6%
2020 2,350,222 6,760,915 2,627,936 196,524 $16,291,303 $1,795,046 $6.93 $6.17 11%
2019 2,654,874 6,789,840 2,648,355 199,031 $16,305,894 $2,167,351 $6.14 $5.33 13.3%
2018 2,575,627 6,587,166 2,604,374 184,691 $15,637,722 $2,042,589 $6.07 $5.28 13.1%
2017 2,432,463 6,221,042 2,333,427 174,169 $13,900,013 $1,932,618 $5.71 $4.92 13.9%
2016 2,356,278 6,101,022 2,233,328 171,568 $12,829,670 $1,794,902 $5.44 $4.68 14%
2015 2,059,884 4,751,310 1,596,625 138,974 $12,727,003 $1,846,166 $6.18 $5.28 14.5%