Cheapest Heavy Rail Systems by Cost per Rider
US heavy rail (subway and metro) systems ranked by operating cost per passenger trip, cheapest first. · 2024 report year
This table ranks 16 US heavy rail operators by cost per rider for 2024, limited to systems carrying at least 1.0 million trips a year so that a very small operator cannot top the list on a handful of rides. 16 agencies reported heavy rail service in total, carrying 2.82 billion trips between them.
MTA New York City Transit runs the cheapest heavy rail service on this list at $2.95 per rider, against $71.61 at City and County of Honolulu — a spread of 24.3×. The national median for heavy rail is $10.50 per rider.
A high cost per rider is not by itself a sign of waste: a system covering long distances, running at low density, or carrying fewer riders than the service it operates was built for will show a higher figure than a dense, heavily used one. The number is a starting point for a question, not the answer to it.
| # | Agency | Location | Cost per rider | Annual trips | Operating expense | Farebox |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MTA New York City Transit | Brooklyn, NY | $2.95 | 2,207,269,846 | $6.50 billion | 44% |
| 2 | Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority | Boston, MA | $4.80 | 84,772,414 | $407 million | 34% |
| 3 | Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority | Philadelphia, PA | $5.26 | 54,877,338 | $289 million | 17% |
| 4 | Chicago Transit Authority | Chicago, IL | $6.55 | 127,463,409 | $835 million | 20% |
| 5 | County of Miami-Dade | Miami, FL | $8.06 | 14,515,543 | $117 million | 12% |
| 6 | Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority | Atlanta, GA | $8.89 | 31,126,899 | $277 million | 15% |
| 7 | Port Authority Trans-Hudson Corporation | New York, NY | $9.58 | 62,489,580 | $599 million | 25% |
| 8 | Port Authority Transit Corporation | Camden, NJ | $10.22 | 5,643,435 | $57.7 million | 23% |
| 9 | Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority | Los Angeles, CA | $10.79 | 22,841,584 | $246 million | 5% |
| 10 | Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | Washington, DC | $11.93 | 143,537,550 | $1.71 billion | 18% |
| 11 | The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority | Cleveland, OH | $13.69 | 3,151,597 | $43.1 million | 10% |
| 12 | San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District | Oakland, CA | $16.00 | 53,222,212 | $852 million | 25% |
| 13 | Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority | Staten Island, NY | $16.69 | 5,343,041 | $89.2 million | 5% |
| 14 | Alternativa de Transporte Integrado | San Juan, PR | $21.05 | 3,309,381 | $69.7 million | 4% |
| 15 | Maryland Transit Administration | Baltimore, MD | $26.34 | 3,658,312 | $96.4 million | 2% |
| 16 | City and County of Honolulu | Honolulu, HI | $71.61 | 1,157,841 | $82.9 million | 2% |
Other rankings
- Most Expensive Heavy Rail Systems by Cost per Rider 16 systems
- Highest-Ridership Heavy Rail Systems 16 systems
- Best Farebox Recovery Among Heavy Rail Systems 16 systems
- Cheapest Light Rail Systems by Cost per Rider 22 systems
- Most Expensive Light Rail Systems by Cost per Rider 22 systems
- Highest-Ridership Light Rail Systems 22 systems
- Cheapest Commuter Rail Systems by Cost per Rider 24 systems
- Most Expensive Commuter Rail Systems by Cost per Rider 24 systems
- Highest-Ridership Commuter Rail Systems 27 systems
- Best Farebox Recovery Among Commuter Rail Systems 24 systems
- Cheapest Bus Systems by Cost per Rider 40 systems
- Most Expensive Bus Systems by Cost per Rider 40 systems
- Highest-Ridership Bus Agencies 40 systems
- Best Farebox Recovery Among Large Bus Systems 40 systems
- Highest-Ridership Bus Rapid Transit Systems 20 systems
- Highest-Ridership Streetcar Systems 25 systems
- Highest-Ridership Ferry Systems 39 systems
- Most Expensive Demand-Response (Paratransit) Services by Cost per Rider 40 systems
- Highest-Ridership Demand-Response (Paratransit) Services 40 systems
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Open this in Ask NTD →Source & method. Figures are from the Federal Transit Administration's National Transit Database (NTD) annual reporting for 2024, the most recent published report year. Cost per rider is operating expense divided by unlinked passenger trips. Farebox recovery is fare revenue divided by operating expense. Ten-year trends are adjusted for inflation to 2024 dollars; single-year figures are as reported. Agencies self-report to the NTD, and reporting practice varies, so figures are best read as comparable in magnitude rather than to the cent. This table is limited to systems carrying at least 1.0 million trips a year.