THE WAVE TRANSIT SYSTEM

Demand Response at THE WAVE TRANSIT SYSTEM

THE WAVE TRANSIT SYSTEM carried 63,534 demand response boardings in FY2025 at $54.78 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Demand Response Mobile, AL
FY2025 boardings
63.5K
-9.7% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$54.78
+13.9% nationwide $52.35
Subsidy per ride
$52.60
+14.5% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
4%
-12.1% nationwide 6.7%
Passenger miles
494.9K
average trip 7.79 miles
Operating cost
$3.48M
Vehicles in service
20
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
1.61
39.5K 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 demand response 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 63,534 494,867 39,506 $3,480,419 $54.78 $52.60 4% 20

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 WAVE TRANSIT SYSTEM reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 63,534 494,867 508,739 39,506 $3,480,419 $138,791 $54.78 $52.60 4%
2024 70,338 547,932 522,675 37,052 $3,384,036 $153,505 $48.11 $45.93 4.5%
2023 65,218 508,048 558,045 37,646 $3,069,529 $146,598 $47.07 $44.82 4.8%
2022 57,389 459,686 502,115 33,590 $2,873,662 $130,171 $50.07 $47.81 4.5%
2021 51,767 414,654 460,946 33,185 $2,552,358 $94,931 $49.30 $47.47 3.7%
2020 63,323 507,471 556,372 40,505 $2,722,049 $116,372 $42.99 $41.15 4.3%
2019 88,149 706,514 716,910 47,570 $2,838,582 $205,127 $32.20 $29.88 7.2%
2018 84,183 674,762 617,646 41,802 $2,876,179 $223,363 $34.17 $31.51 7.8%
2017 82,021 690,535 573,290 40,012 $2,928,685 $204,614 $35.71 $33.21 7%
2016 84,919 715,017 606,565 40,858 $2,996,572 $218,183 $35.29 $32.72 7.3%
2015 83,100 699,702 704,587 48,277 $2,915,341 $234,078 $35.08 $32.27 8%