Valley Transportation Authority

Light Rail at Valley Transportation Authority

Valley Transportation Authority carried 4,723,010 light rail boardings in FY2024 at $28.88 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Light Rail San Jose, CA
FY2024 boardings
4.72M
+13.9% vs FY2023
Cost per ride
$28.88
-2.2% nationwide $9.88
Subsidy per ride
$27.83
-2% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
3.6%
-3.9% nationwide 9.5%
Passenger miles
24.4M
average trip 5.17 miles
Operating cost
$136.4M
Vehicles in service
38
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
25.35
186.3K 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 light rail 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
Directly operated 4,723,010 24,410,341 186,281 $136,390,816 $28.88 $27.83 3.6% 38

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 Transportation Authority reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2024 4,723,010 24,410,341 2,618,995 186,281 $136,390,816 $4,945,552 $28.88 $27.83 3.6%
2023 4,147,807 22,191,575 3,202,370 227,892 $122,428,199 $4,617,615 $29.52 $28.40 3.8%
2022 2,301,457 12,485,050 1,584,635 117,560 $116,619,835 $2,804,855 $50.67 $49.45 2.4%
2021 2,168,096 13,970,922 2,831,553 216,045 $115,792,171 $2,386,194 $53.41 $52.31 2.1%
2020 6,281,578 33,535,077 2,886,997 196,560 $121,214,969 $6,119,200 $19.30 $18.32 5%
2019 8,437,926 49,376,217 3,539,847 223,054 $127,886,958 $8,872,457 $15.16 $14.10 6.9%
2018 8,507,096 46,981,059 3,314,903 220,589 $128,622,203 $8,031,206 $15.12 $14.18 6.2%
2017 9,132,084 47,937,329 3,349,372 217,434 $106,017,010 $8,062,916 $11.61 $10.73 7.6%
2016 10,721,047 54,654,921 3,470,427 218,459 $92,428,467 $9,408,722 $8.62 $7.74 10.2%
2015 11,341,207 61,313,970 3,519,186 221,778 $81,316,886 $10,053,619 $7.17 $6.28 12.4%