The COMET

Vanpool at The COMET

The COMET carried 48,814 vanpool boardings in FY2025 at $6.19 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Vanpool Columbia, SC
FY2025 boardings
48.8K
-1.4% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$6.19
+10.6% nationwide $8.07
Subsidy per ride
$-0.91
-170.3% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
114.7%
+8.2% nationwide 73.2%
Passenger miles
2.06M
average trip 42.13 miles
Operating cost
$302K
Vehicles in service
26
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
4.28
11.4K 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 vanpool 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 48,814 2,056,446 11,397 $302,042 $6.19 $-0.91 114.7% 26

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 48,814 2,056,446 561,469 11,397 $302,042 $346,513 $6.19 $-0.91 114.7%
2024 49,485 2,101,863 498,966 10,110 $276,968 $293,649 $5.60 $-0.34 106%
2023 38,021 1,833,882 429,616 8,602 $203,456 $220,841 $5.35 $-0.46 108.5%
2022 31,584 1,646,774 429,358 8,404 $195,326 $214,768 $6.18 $-0.62 110%
2021 31,059 1,871,117 434,395 8,065 $151,977 $180,843 $4.89 $-0.93 119%
2020 5,829 298,035 65,314 1,439 $35,507 $32,007 $6.09 $0.60 90.1%
2019 1,121 11,930 2,388 241 $54,064 $3,989 $48.23 $44.67 7.4%
2018 — — — — — — — — —
2017 — — — — — — — — —
2016 — — — — — — — — —
2015 — — — — — — — — —