Valley Metro

Bus at Valley Metro

Valley Metro carried 8,477,785 bus boardings in FY2024 at $15.80 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Phoenix, AZ
FY2024 boardings
8.48M
+6.3% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$15.80
+5.5% nationwide $8.24
Subsidy per ride
$15.24
+5.8% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
3.6%
-8.3% nationwide 11%
Passenger miles
31.4M
average trip 3.7 miles
Operating cost
$134M
Vehicles in service
290
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
8.64
981.6K hours operated

Ridership

Monthly data through July 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, FY2024

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 8,477,785 31,367,805 981,565 $133,985,409 $15.80 $15.24 3.6% 290

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 Valley Metro reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2024 8,477,785 31,367,805 12,085,712 981,565 $133,985,409 $4,775,678 $15.80 $15.24 3.6%
2023 7,978,325 33,907,881 12,059,131 952,212 $119,526,038 $4,647,682 $14.98 $14.40 3.9%
2022 6,375,964 28,118,001 12,114,801 968,808 $107,234,973 $3,277,514 $16.82 $16.30 3.1%
2021 5,537,099 24,418,607 12,337,840 1,008,201 $97,315,840 $688,482 $17.58 $17.45 0.7%
2020 11,137,195 49,115,030 12,810,179 1,025,220 $105,362,873 $6,447,545 $9.46 $8.88 6.1%
2019 13,875,664 61,191,678 12,806,718 1,030,318 $103,889,728 $9,104,573 $7.49 $6.83 8.8%
2018 14,730,245 65,696,893 12,823,615 1,016,910 $90,722,984 $10,120,526 $6.16 $5.47 11.2%
2017 14,787,086 72,308,851 12,272,634 965,252 $82,591,537 $11,015,834 $5.59 $4.84 13.3%
2016 16,207,646 73,096,483 11,932,744 944,905 $80,190,277 $12,457,957 $4.95 $4.18 15.5%
2015 17,168,400 79,241,372 11,856,976 932,102 $79,089,270 $13,820,402 $4.61 $3.80 17.5%