FY2025
U.S. transit by mode
NTD sorts every service into a mode: bus, heavy rail, commuter rail, demand response, ferry and a dozen more. Cost per ride only means something within a mode, because the modes are doing different jobs.
Boardings by mode
Ten-year series, stacked
How full, and how fast
FY2025. Passengers aboard is passenger miles over vehicle miles: how many people are on board on average, at any moment.
This is the number that makes cost per ride legible. Demand response costs what it does because it carries less than one passenger per vehicle mile, by design: a booked trip for one person is the service.
Cost per ride by mode
FY2025. Modes carrying less than a tenth of a percent of U.S. boardings are left out of the chart; they are all in the table below.
Every mode, FY2025
| Mode | Boardings | Share of U.S. rides | Passenger miles | Average trip | Passengers aboard | Speed | Operating cost | Cost / ride | Subsidy / ride | Fare recovery | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bus | 3.79B |
|
12.99B | 3.42 mi | 6.66 | 11.97 mph | $32.5B | $8.57 | $7.68 | 10.4% | Detail → |
| Heavy Rail | 3B |
|
12.14B | 4.04 mi | 17.23 | 17.91 mph | $12.84B | $4.28 | $2.85 | 33.3% | Detail → |
| Commuter Rail | 388.9M |
|
8.94B | 22.99 mi | 24.76 | 29.9 mph | $9.34B | $24.01 | $17.48 | 27.2% | Detail → |
| Light Rail | 369.1M |
|
1.93B | 5.22 mi | 15.96 | 15.6 mph | $3.61B | $9.77 | $8.83 | 9.7% | Detail → |
| Demand Response | 148M |
|
839.3M | 5.67 mi | 0.72 | 15.33 mph | $7.75B | $52.35 | $48.86 | 6.7% | Detail → |
| Bus Rapid Transit | 74.8M |
|
193.6M | 2.59 mi | 11.51 | 10.72 mph | $405.9M | $5.43 | $4.85 | 10.6% | Detail → |
| Ferryboat | 72.5M |
|
491.1M | 6.78 mi | 81.82 | 9.58 mph | $1.25B | $17.28 | $12.64 | 26.8% | Detail → |
| Trolleybus | 64.4M |
|
100.4M | 1.56 mi | 11.49 | 6.57 mph | $355.4M | $5.51 | $4.87 | 11.6% | Detail → |
| Commuter Bus | 46.6M |
|
984.2M | 21.14 mi | 10.09 | 24.49 mph | $1.12B | $24.15 | $17.75 | 26.5% | Detail → |
| Streetcar | 40M |
|
68.8M | 1.72 mi | 11.39 | 6.81 mph | $319M | $7.98 | $7.43 | 6.9% | Detail → |
| Vanpool | 24.2M |
|
913.3M | 37.66 mi | 4.54 | 41.1 mph | $195.6M | $8.07 | $2.16 | 73.2% | Detail → |
| Monorail / Automated Guideway | 12.9M |
|
14.5M | 1.13 mi | 7.16 | 8.4 mph | $85.6M | $6.65 | $5.84 | 12.2% | Detail → |
| Hybrid Rail | 5.9M |
|
62.9M | 10.66 mi | 15.48 | 23.84 mph | $163M | $27.63 | $26.26 | 5% | Detail → |
| Aerial Tramway | 4.29M |
|
775K | 0.18 mi | 0.19 | 10.96 mph | $9.92M | $2.31 | $2.11 | 8.8% | Detail → |
| Cable Car | 3.31M |
|
4.29M | 1.3 mi | 21.5 | 2.15 mph | $85.3M | $25.76 | $20.58 | 20.1% | Detail → |
| Inclined Plane | 515.2K |
|
232.5K | 0.45 mi | 7.63 | 2.46 mph | $4.69M | $9.11 | $4.15 | 54.5% | Detail → |
| Alaska Railroad | 227.3K |
|
29.9M | 131.39 mi | 24.68 | 26.49 mph | $69.9M | $307.59 | $133.81 | 56.5% | Detail → |
| Other Rail | 0 |
|
0 | — mi | — | — mph | — | — | — | — | Detail → |
| Publico | 0 |
|
0 | — mi | — | — mph | — | — | — | — | Detail → |