Worcester Regional Transit Authority

Bus at Worcester Regional Transit Authority

Worcester Regional Transit Authority carried 4,879,460 bus boardings in FY2025 at $5.62 per ride. Ten years of National Transit Database figures for this service, with safety, reliability and the national comparison.

Bus Worcester, MA
FY2025 boardings
4.88M
+6.9% vs FY2024
Cost per ride
$5.62
-2.1% nationwide $8.57
Subsidy per ride
—
operating cost less fares
Fare recovery
—
nationwide 10.4%
Passenger miles
18.7M
average trip 3.84 miles
Operating cost
$27.4M
Vehicles in service
45
at maximum service
Rides per revenue hour
28.7
170K 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
Purchased transportation — — — — — — — —
Directly operated 4,879,460 18,742,306 169,994 $27,405,184 $5.62 — — 45

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 Worcester Regional Transit Authority reported this service.

Year Boardings Passenger miles Revenue miles Revenue hours Operating cost Fares Cost / ride Subsidy / ride Fare recovery
2025 4,879,460 18,742,306 2,084,600 169,994 $27,405,184 — $5.62 — —
2024 4,565,909 16,391,270 2,030,245 165,604 $26,198,756 — $5.74 — —
2023 3,935,481 15,575,560 2,054,466 168,084 $25,277,209 — $6.42 — —
2022 3,064,750 12,684,552 2,019,637 170,656 $24,257,795 — $7.92 — —
2021 2,196,138 9,368,237 1,842,754 157,474 $22,266,953 — $10.14 — —
2020 2,421,591 9,931,200 1,679,708 141,017 $20,833,738 $2,042,456 $8.60 $7.76 9.8%
2019 3,013,268 13,078,228 1,896,120 161,086 $20,250,045 $2,847,838 $6.72 $5.78 14.1%
2018 3,131,083 13,053,317 1,900,064 162,278 $19,016,626 $3,022,538 $6.07 $5.11 15.9%
2017 3,599,241 13,595,176 2,022,697 172,635 $19,788,364 $3,074,308 $5.50 $4.64 15.5%
2016 4,049,499 13,949,898 2,015,790 172,013 $19,148,962 $3,348,710 $4.73 $3.90 17.5%
2015 3,814,451 13,239,554 1,936,909 165,847 $18,623,068 $3,372,971 $4.88 $4.00 18.1%