Highest-Ridership Bus Agencies

US bus operators ranked by annual unlinked passenger trips. · 2024 report year

This table ranks 40 US bus operators by annual ridership for 2024. 1,162 agencies reported bus service in total, carrying 3.66 billion trips between them.

MTA New York City Transit leads at 648 million trips.

#	Agency	Location	Annual trips	Annual trips	Operating expense	Farebox
1	MTA New York City Transit	Brooklyn, NY	647,859,171	647,859,171	$3.47 billion	16%
2	Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority	Los Angeles, CA	229,710,972	229,710,972	$1.48 billion	7%
3	Chicago Transit Authority	Chicago, IL	181,733,617	181,733,617	$1.08 billion	18%
4	New Jersey Transit Corporation	Newark, NJ	138,844,764	138,844,764	$1.24 billion	27%
5	MTA Bus Company	New York, NY	126,616,665	126,616,665	$974 million	19%
6	Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority	Washington, DC	117,539,605	117,539,605	$1.05 billion	5%
7	Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority	Philadelphia, PA	105,093,533	105,093,533	$756 million	16%
8	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority	Boston, MA	88,822,890	88,822,890	$675 million	11%
9	City and County of San Francisco	San Francisco, CA	77,857,337	77,857,337	$513 million	8%
10	King County	Seattle, WA	73,119,292	73,119,292	$784 million	8%
11	County of Miami-Dade	Miami, FL	64,081,459	64,081,459	$434 million	12%
12	Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas	Houston, TX	55,839,849	55,839,849	$523 million	5%
13	Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada	Las Vegas, NV	52,203,687	52,203,687	$242 million	24%
14	Maryland Transit Administration	Baltimore, MD	48,038,092	48,038,092	$453 million	7%
15	Denver Regional Transportation District	Denver, CO	44,041,734	44,041,734	$514 million	7%
16	City and County of Honolulu	Honolulu, HI	41,052,559	41,052,559	$245 million	19%
17	Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon	Portland, OR	40,600,671	40,600,671	$394 million	8%
18	San Diego Metropolitan Transit System	San Diego, CA	35,613,514	35,613,514	$220 million	19%
19	Orange County Transportation Authority	Orange, CA	34,960,054	34,960,054	$252 million	11%
20	Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District	Oakland, CA	34,128,581	34,128,581	$477 million	9%
21	Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority	Atlanta, GA	33,417,833	33,417,833	$310 million	10%
22	Pittsburgh Regional Transit	Pittsburgh, PA	33,269,678	33,269,678	$382 million	13%
23	Metro Transit	Minneapolis, MN	31,941,893	31,941,893	$400 million	8%
24	Dallas Area Rapid Transit	Dallas, TX	29,091,210	29,091,210	$376 million	5%
25	VIA Metropolitan Transit	San Antonio, TX	28,947,825	28,947,825	$207 million	7%
26	Milwaukee County	Milwaukee, WI	25,300,648	25,300,648	$148 million	15%
27	Westchester County	White Plains, NY	24,343,996	24,343,996	$170 million	15%
28	Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority	Austin, TX	24,335,001	24,335,001	$271 million	4%
29	Broward County Board of County Commissioners	Fort Lauderdale, FL	24,206,791	24,206,791	$176 million	14%
30	City of Phoenix	Phoenix, AZ	23,730,179	23,730,179	$219 million	6%
31	Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority	San Jose, CA	22,626,518	22,626,518	$323 million	7%
32	County of Nassau	Mineola, NY	21,787,293	21,787,293	$147 million	23%
33	Utah Transit Authority	Salt Lake City, UT	19,745,601	19,745,601	$219 million	8%
34	Long Beach Transit	Long Beach, CA	18,481,114	18,481,114	$122 million	8%
35	Montgomery County, Maryland	Rockville, MD	18,422,520	18,422,520	$170 million	2%
36	Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority	Orlando, FL	18,217,346	18,217,346	$156 million	12%
37	The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority	Cleveland, OH	18,187,961	18,187,961	$193 million	12%
38	Pace, the Suburban Bus Division of the Regional Transportation Authority	Arlington Heights, IL	16,966,341	16,966,341	$241 million	8%
39	Capital District Transportation Authority	Albany, NY	15,918,164	15,918,164	$100 million	20%
40	City of Tucson	Tucson, AZ	15,792,573	15,792,573	$73.7 million	12%

Other rankings

Cheapest Heavy Rail Systems by Cost per Rider 16 systems
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
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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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.