Wave Transit

Demand Response at Wave Transit

Wave Transit carried 47,030 demand response boardings in FY2025 at $38.42 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Demand Response Wilmington, NC
FY2025 boardings
47K
-15.9% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$38.42
+21.7% nationwide $52.35
Subsidy per ride
$23.95
+22.6% operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
37.7%
-1.2% nationwide 6.7%
Passenger miles
271.9K
average trip 5.78 miles
Operating cost
$1.81M
Vehicles in service
18
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
1.83
25.7K 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 47,030 271,931 25,742 $1,806,985 $38.42 $23.95 37.7% 18

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 Wave Transit reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 47,030 271,931 317,017 25,742 $1,806,985 $680,742 $38.42 $23.95 37.7%
2024 55,939 286,594 362,321 27,577 $1,766,128 $673,108 $31.57 $19.54 38.1%
2023 52,809 268,711 344,211 26,727 $1,682,444 $527,313 $31.86 $21.87 31.3%
2022 47,774 231,697 335,435 25,260 $1,693,527 $441,893 $35.45 $26.20 26.1%
2021 35,843 175,161 175,961 8,589 $1,398,360 $317,845 $39.01 $30.15 22.7%
2020 49,100 271,240 272,960 14,173 $1,262,112 $483,087 $25.70 $15.87 38.3%
2019 59,594 347,656 349,770 18,175 $1,495,644 $595,127 $25.10 $15.11 39.8%
2018 60,690 370,618 370,588 19,940 $1,448,003 $621,036 $23.86 $13.63 42.9%
2017 57,963 386,299 383,425 20,523 $1,349,082 $693,837 $23.27 $11.30 51.4%
2016 61,458 428,215 453,239 28,586 $1,318,628 $742,519 $21.46 $9.37 56.3%
2015 58,253 436,759 436,760 22,874 $1,291,406 $678,989 $22.17 $10.51 52.6%