Wire Policy: Sound Transit delays West Seattle Link extension three years
Sunday, September 27, 2026 · Transit411 Intelligence The Wire — free newsletter
TRANSIT411

Highest-Ridership Bus Rapid Transit Systems

US BRT systems ranked by annual unlinked passenger trips. · 2024 report year

This table ranks 20 US bus rapid transit operators by annual ridership for 2024. 20 agencies reported bus rapid transit service in total, carrying 71.4 million trips between them.

MTA New York City Transit leads at 35.0 million trips.

#AgencyLocation Annual tripsAnnual trips Operating expenseFarebox
1 MTA New York City Transit Brooklyn, NY 35,007,720 35,007,720 $126 million 16%
2 Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Boston, MA 9,955,393 9,955,393 $65.2 million 10%
3 Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District Oakland, CA 4,798,970 4,798,970 $23.0 million 8%
4 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority Los Angeles, CA 4,412,865 4,412,865 $27.7 million 10%
5 Lane Transit District Eugene, OR 2,786,403 2,786,403 $15.4 million 12%
6 City of Albuquerque Albuquerque, NM 2,315,206 2,315,206 $8.0 million —
7 The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority Cleveland, OH 2,080,030 2,080,030 $10.0 million 23%
8 Greater Richmond Transit Company Richmond, VA 1,786,357 1,786,357 $5.4 million 8%
9 Indianapolis and Marion County Public Transportation Indianapolis, IN 1,402,365 1,402,365 $15.0 million 8%
10 Connecticut Department of Transportation - CTTRANSIT - Hartford Division Hartford, CT 1,224,730 1,224,730 $7.8 million 11%
11 Roaring Fork Transportation Authority Glenwood Springs, CO 1,109,421 1,109,421 $14.7 million 12%
12 Kansas City Area Transportation Authority Kansas City, MO 953,101 953,101 $6.1 million —
13 Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority Saint Petersburg, FL 761,145 761,145 $5.1 million 7%
14 City of Fort Collins Fort Collins, CO 564,545 564,545 $2.7 million —
15 City of Madison Madison, WI 527,222 527,222 $2.8 million 17%
16 Interurban Transit Partnership Grand Rapids, MI 421,150 421,150 $2.6 million 15%
17 Central Florida Regional Transportation Authority Orlando, FL 416,414 416,414 $3.9 million —
18 Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority Birmingham, AL 389,911 389,911 $3.9 million —
19 Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority Oklahoma City, OK 238,663 238,663 $4.5 million 0%
20 Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas Houston, TX 238,215 238,215 $4.1 million 1%

Other rankings

Ask a different question

This is one cut of the data. Ask NTD answers the rest in plain English — any mode, any metric, any year.

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.