University of Iowa

Demand Response at University of Iowa

University of Iowa carried 13,563 demand response boardings in FY2025 at $34.81 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Demand Response Iowa City, IA
FY2025 boardings
13.6K
+15.8% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$34.81
-9.5% nationwide $52.35
Subsidy per ride
—
operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
—
nationwide 6.7%
Passenger miles
29.8K
average trip 2.19 miles
Operating cost
$472.2K
Vehicles in service
4
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
2.4
5.6K 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 13,563 29,759 5,649 $472,176 $34.81 — — 4

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 University of Iowa reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 13,563 29,759 44,797 5,649 $472,176 — $34.81 — —
2024 11,708 44,607 38,961 5,023 $450,250 — $38.46 — —
2023 6,019 22,944 23,773 5,165 $475,969 — $79.08 — —
2022 5,193 18,794 22,428 4,416 $483,446 — $93.10 — —
2021 2,950 10,663 18,353 9,315 $489,612 — $165.97 — —
2020 6,441 23,307 32,728 8,866 $453,701 — $70.44 — —
2019 8,654 31,760 49,631 10,124 $436,783 — $50.47 — —
2018 9,063 32,834 51,868 10,192 $408,812 — $45.11 — —
2017 9,057 32,814 50,308 9,902 $407,461 $3,689 $44.99 $44.58 0.9%
2016 9,492 33,222 56,786 9,999 $380,713 $3,247 $40.11 $39.77 0.9%
2015 9,413 32,945 57,459 9,850 $389,972 $3,065 $41.43 $41.10 0.8%