The COMET

Commuter Bus at The COMET

The COMET carried 9,754 commuter bus boardings in FY2025 at $68.39 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Commuter Bus Columbia, SC
FY2025 boardings
9.8K
+41.6% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$68.39
-23.1% nationwide $24.15
Subsidy per ride
$66.69
-23.5% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
2.5%
+29.9% nationwide 26.5%
Passenger miles
78.8K
average trip 8.08 miles
Operating cost
$667.1K
Vehicles in service
3
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
3.05
3.2K hours operated

Ridership

Monthly data through June 2025.

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
Purchased transportation 9,754 78,775 3,197 $667,088 $68.39 $66.69 2.5% 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 The COMET reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 9,754 78,775 64,275 3,197 $667,088 $16,578 $68.39 $66.69 2.5%
2024 6,888 55,629 65,699 3,214 $612,318 $11,710 $88.90 $87.20 1.9%
2023 6,399 59,701 149,472 6,027 $856,936 $10,909 $133.92 $132.21 1.3%
2022 1,411 60,362 144,574 5,356 $889,760 $7,419 $630.59 $625.33 0.8%
2021 1,176 62,128 15,120 443 $782,841 $2,166 $665.68 $663.84 0.3%
2020 8,793 154,838 150,334 4,760 $287,982 $26,378 $32.75 $29.75 9.2%
2019 — — — — — — — — —
2018 — — — — — — — — —
2017 — — — — — — — — —
2016 — — — — $108 $2,686 — — 2487%
2015 — — — — $6 $15,849 — — 264150%