Public transit in the United States delivered 7.6 billion passenger trips in 2024, an increase of 9.8% from 2023. The 2024 system also carried passengers about 38.1 billion miles. APTA later estimated 2,063,419,000 U.S. trips for the second quarter of 2025, with ridership 7.26% above the same quarter in 2024.
Contents
- National ridership at a glance
- How ridership has changed
- Where transit trips occur
- Transit modes and occupancy
- Trip length and operating speed
- The 2025 quarterly picture
National ridership at a glance
The 2024 National Transit Summaries & Trends describes a large, distributed operating network. Nearly 3,000 public transit agencies submitted annual reports in 2024, and public transit service operated in 502 urbanized areas. Systems employed approximately 380,000 workers each day, while the U.S. transit fleet exceeded 177,000 vehicles.
National ridership density reached 390 trips per capita in 2024. This measure puts total use in population terms, which is useful when comparing years with different population sizes. The 2024 level was well above the 227 trips per capita recorded in 2021, but below the 573 trips per capita peak recorded in 2014.
The same annual source reports approximately 411,000 public transportation workers at year end in 2024. These two workforce figures use different measurement points: approximately 380,000 workers were employed each day, while approximately 411,000 workers were reported at year end. They should not be treated as interchangeable counts.
In May 2024, there were 148,980 bus drivers in the United States, excluding schools and hospitals. About 114,000 of those bus drivers worked in public transportation. The occupational figure provides context for the labor supporting bus service, but it is not itself a ridership measure.
How ridership has changed
The national density series shows a sharp difference between the 2014 high point, the 2021 low point, and the 2024 recovery. In 2014, national ridership density was 573 trips per capita. In 2021, it was 227 trips per capita. By 2024, it had reached 390 trips per capita.
Those figures describe three specific annual observations, not a complete year-by-year series. They show that 2024 density remained below the 2014 peak while standing substantially above the 2021 bottom. The annual total also rose 9.8% from 2023 to 2024, according to the 2024 National Transit Summaries & Trends.
Urban examples show that the national pattern was not identical across major markets. New York City recorded 233 trips per capita in 2014 and 181 in 2024. Los Angeles recorded 56 trips per capita in 2014 and 34 in 2024. Both reported lower 2024 density than in 2014, although their levels were very different from one another.
The New York and Los Angeles figures are city or urbanized-area observations as reported by the annual source. They should not be read as a claim that every U.S. system followed the same trajectory. National density combines many geographies and operating environments.
Where transit trips occur
Ridership is concentrated in a small number of major urbanized areas. New York City accounted for 46% of national ridership in 2024 and generated 3,510 million trips. The next seven largest urbanized areas accounted for 27% and generated 2,023 million trips.
All other urbanized areas accounted for 26% of national ridership and generated 1,991 million trips. Rural areas accounted for 2% and generated 47 million trips. The shares and trip counts are presented below as reported in the 2024 National Transit Summaries & Trends.
| Geography grouping | 2024 share of national ridership | 2024 trips |
|---|---|---|
| New York City | 46% | 3,510 million |
| Next seven largest urbanized areas | 27% | 2,023 million |
| All other urbanized areas | 26% | 1,991 million |
| Rural areas | 2% | 47 million |
The grouping is useful for understanding scale. New York City alone represented a larger reported share than the next seven largest urbanized areas combined individually, while all other urbanized areas together represented a similarly large portion of total use. Rural transit made up a small share of national trips, but its 47 million reported trips remain part of the national total.
Transit modes and occupancy
Seating occupancy varied widely by mode in 2024. Vanpool posted the highest seating occupancy among the listed modes at 54%. Heavy rail was 32%, followed by light rail and bus rapid transit at 30% each. Commuter rail was 28%.
Bus and demand response each recorded 26% seating occupancy. Streetcar rail was 25%, while trolleybus was 24%. The annual source also reported an average load factor of 88.7 for ferryboat service, identifying it as an outlier. Because the ferryboat measure is presented as a load factor while the other figures are seating occupancy, the measures should not be merged into one direct ranking without preserving that distinction.
| Mode or service | 2024 reported occupancy measure |
|---|---|
| Ferryboat | 88.7 average load factor |
| Vanpool | 54% seating occupancy |
| Heavy rail | 32% seating occupancy |
| Light rail | 30% seating occupancy |
| Bus rapid transit | 30% seating occupancy |
| Commuter rail | 28% seating occupancy |
| Bus | 26% seating occupancy |
| Demand response | 26% seating occupancy |
| Streetcar rail | 25% seating occupancy |
| Trolleybus | 24% seating occupancy |
These statistics describe average use relative to available seating or the source’s stated load-factor measure. They are not the same as the number of passenger trips. A mode can have many trips nationally and a different occupancy profile from a mode with fewer trips.
Trip length and operating speed
The 2024 annual data also report average passenger trip length and average revenue speed for selected modes. Vanpool had an average passenger trip length of 38.8 miles and an average revenue speed of 41.3 mph. Those figures describe the average trip and operating speed reported for vanpool service, not a national average across every transit mode.
Trolleybus had the shortest average passenger trip length among the selected modes at 1.6 miles. It also had the slowest average revenue speed among the selected modes at 6.6 mph. The two trolleybus observations describe different dimensions: the first is distance traveled by passengers, while the second is the service’s reported revenue speed.
Taken together, the mode statistics show why ridership counts need operating context. Passenger trips, passenger miles, seating occupancy, trip length, and revenue speed measure different parts of transit performance. The national system carried about 38.1 billion passenger miles in 2024, but that total does not indicate that every trip was long or that every mode operated at the same speed.
The 2024 National Transit Summaries & Trends also reported that the national fleet exceeded 177,000 vehicles and that service operated in 502 urbanized areas. A larger fleet or wider geographic footprint does not automatically translate into a particular occupancy level; the measures answer different questions about capacity and use.
The 2025 quarterly picture
APTA estimated 2,063,419,000 U.S. trips in the second quarter of 2025. The estimate covers April, May, and June 2025 and was 7.26% higher than U.S. ridership in the second quarter of 2024, according to the APTA 2025 Q2 Ridership Report.
Monthly estimated trips were 704,138,000 in April 2025, 705,669,000 in May, and 653,612,000 in June. May was the highest of the three reported months, while June was the lowest. These are monthly observations within the quarter, not a forecast for the rest of 2025.
APTA’s second-quarter mode totals show where the quarterly estimate was concentrated:
| Mode or grouping | Q2 2025 trips | Change from Q2 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Bus total | 986,838,000 | 1.88% higher |
| Heavy rail | 774,721,000 | 15.26% higher |
| Light rail | 100,187,000 | 4.83% higher |
| Commuter rail | 97,534,000 | 9.42% higher |
| Demand response | 49,720,000 | Not stated |
| Other transit modes combined | 38,220,000 | Not stated |
Bus total ridership was 986,838,000 trips in the quarter, 1.88% above Q2 2024. Heavy rail recorded 774,721,000 trips, up 15.26%. Light rail recorded 100,187,000 trips, up 4.83%, while commuter rail recorded 97,534,000 trips, up 9.42%.
Demand response accounted for 49,720,000 trips, and other transit modes combined accounted for 38,220,000. APTA did not provide a year-over-year percentage in the supplied figures for those two groupings, so their growth should not be inferred from the available data.
The annual 2024 figures and the quarterly 2025 estimates use different reporting periods and source publications. The annual statistics describe the full calendar year 2024, while APTA’s figures describe April through June 2025. Keeping those periods separate makes the comparisons more meaningful and avoids treating a quarter as a full-year total.