Valley Transit

Bus at Valley Transit

Valley Transit carried 559,485 bus boardings in FY2025 at $11.06 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Appleton, WI
FY2025 boardings
559.5K
-11% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$11.06
+11.4% nationwide $8.57
Subsidy per ride
$10.15
+13.8% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
8.2%
-19.3% nationwide 10.4%
Passenger miles
2.1M
average trip 3.75 miles
Operating cost
$6.19M
Vehicles in service
22
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
13.53
41.3K 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 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
Directly operated 555,479 2,087,098 40,945 $6,156,593 $11.08 $10.17 8.2% 21
Purchased transportation 4,006 11,462 401 $31,006 $7.74 — — 1

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 Transit reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 559,485 2,098,560 647,793 41,346 $6,187,599 $507,798 $11.06 $10.15 8.2%
2024 628,735 2,424,016 748,588 48,020 $6,242,044 $634,951 $9.93 $8.92 10.2%
2023 684,013 2,635,995 839,274 54,061 $6,633,568 $687,032 $9.70 $8.69 10.4%
2022 647,941 2,919,536 841,353 54,371 $5,846,368 $629,854 $9.02 $8.05 10.8%
2021 544,030 2,451,121 880,811 58,247 $5,525,950 $530,064 $10.16 $9.18 9.6%
2020 555,807 2,633,990 1,010,805 64,769 $5,710,697 $549,338 $10.27 $9.29 9.6%
2019 961,978 4,525,653 1,030,379 65,658 $5,989,944 $790,740 $6.23 $5.40 13.2%
2018 1,002,620 4,715,716 1,035,951 66,475 $5,973,687 $801,959 $5.96 $5.16 13.4%
2017 989,422 4,706,393 1,059,972 67,188 $5,555,456 $788,481 $5.61 $4.82 14.2%
2016 1,036,081 4,540,689 1,062,668 67,186 $5,359,564 $847,420 $5.17 $4.36 15.8%
2015 1,092,988 4,840,935 1,084,019 69,093 $5,487,973 $814,025 $5.02 $4.28 14.8%