U.S. public transportation recorded 6.892 billion unlinked passenger trips in 2023, a 17% increase from 2022. The same year, transit systems employed 269,747 people at year-end and received $94.693 billion from all funding sources. Together, these figures show the scale of the network that supports everyday travel, including commuting, local trips, regional connections, and specialized service.
Contents
- Ridership and travel volume
- The transit workforce
- Agencies, facilities, and modes
- Vehicle miles and passenger capacity
- Public transportation funding
- Fares, expenses, and operating performance
Ridership and travel volume
The Federal Transit Administration’s 2023 National Transit Summaries & Trends reported 6.892 billion unlinked passenger trips across U.S. public transit. An unlinked passenger trip counts a boarding, so a journey involving a transfer can produce more than one unlinked trip. The 2023 total was 17% higher than the 2022 figure, making the annual change an important marker of post-pandemic recovery in transit use.
Public transportation also represented a large travel volume beside other major passenger modes. Domestic aviation recorded 8,193 million trips in 2023, compared with 6,892 million public transit trips. Transit trips therefore remained below domestic air trips in this comparison, but the two totals were of a similar order of magnitude. Amtrak recorded 294 million trips, far below public transit’s 6.892 billion.
The average public-transit trip length reported for full reporters was 5.1 miles. This measure describes the average distance of a transit trip in the reported data; it should not be treated as a national average for every rider or every transit mode. It does, however, provide useful scale for understanding transit’s role in short and medium-distance travel.
| Travel measure, 2023 | Reported total |
|---|---|
| Public transit unlinked passenger trips | 6.892 billion |
| Domestic aviation trips | 8,193 million |
| Amtrak trips | 294 million |
| Average public-transit trip length for full reporters | 5.1 miles |
The source for these figures is the FTA 2023 National Transit Summaries & Trends. The aviation and Amtrak comparisons are presented as the source reports them; they use different transportation systems and should not be interpreted as identical measures of travel demand.
The transit workforce
Transit’s reported workforce varied depending on the measure used. The FTA reported approximately 388,000 workers employed by public transit systems in 2023. Separately, the year-end transit workforce totaled 269,747 employees, including 258,334 full-time employees and 11,413 part-time employees. The two totals describe different workforce scopes, so they should not be added together or treated as interchangeable.
Year-end transit employment increased by 10,605 jobs from 2022 to 2023. The full-time total accounted for the overwhelming majority of the 269,747 year-end employees, while the part-time total represented the remainder. These figures describe employment at the end of the year rather than the number of people who worked at any point during the year.
Bus driving was one of the most specifically measured occupations. In May 2023, the U.S. had 184,990 bus drivers, according to BLS data presented through the FTA. About 148,000 of those bus drivers worked in public transportation. The occupation therefore included drivers outside public transportation as well as drivers serving transit operations.
The BLS categories reported through the FTA showed different employment and wage levels:
- Local government bus drivers: 117,610 workers, with a $31.40 hourly mean wage and a $65,300 annual mean wage.
- Urban transit system bus drivers: 23,240 workers, with a $24.87 hourly mean wage and a $51,730 annual mean wage.
- Interurban and rural bus transportation: 7,290 workers, with a $23.56 hourly mean wage and a $49,000 annual mean wage.
- Other transit and ground passenger transportation: 6,580 workers, with a $21.70 hourly mean wage and a $45,140 annual mean wage.
These are May 2023 occupational estimates, while the 269,747 employee count is a year-end transit workforce measure. The different dates and definitions matter when using the figures to understand hiring, staffing, or pay.
Agencies, facilities, and modes
The National Transit Database counted 3,365 transit agency fiscal-year reporters in 2023. More than 10,000 passenger facilities were used in transit revenue service during the year. The reporting system therefore covered a broad collection of agencies and operating locations rather than one centralized national operator.
Transit providers had several organizational forms. Transit authorities made up about 16% of providers, while nearly half of all transit operators were departments within a city or county government. Private operators accounted for 25% of all NTD reporters. These percentages describe provider or reporter shares and should not be read as shares of passenger trips, funding, or vehicle miles.
Rail service was available in 87 urbanized areas served by at least one rail mode in 2023. Rail activity was concentrated in several large systems. New York, New York, recorded 525 million rail vehicle revenue miles. Chicago, Illinois, recorded 106.5 million total rail vehicle revenue miles, and Washington, D.C., recorded 79 million total rail vehicle revenue miles.
Fixed-route bus modes accounted for about 50% of all vehicle revenue miles in 2023. Rail modes accounted for about 30%. Ferryboat vehicle revenue miles rose 58% during the year, from 3.29 million to 5.18 million. The ferry increase was measured from the reported 2023 comparison values and does not describe ridership growth.
Vehicle miles and passenger capacity
Vehicle revenue miles measure how far transit vehicles operated in revenue service. A related measure, capacity-equivalent vehicle revenue miles, adjusts service for the carrying capacity of different modes. Across modes, capacity-equivalent vehicle revenue miles totaled 5,754 million in 2023.
Rail supplied 3,558 million capacity-equivalent vehicle revenue miles, the largest of the listed mode totals. Bus supplied 1,771 million. Demand response supplied 193 million, ferryboat supplied 62 million, and vanpool supplied 34 million.
| Mode | Capacity-equivalent vehicle revenue miles, 2023 |
|---|---|
| Rail | 3,558 million |
| Bus | 1,771 million |
| Demand response | 193 million |
| Ferryboat | 62 million |
| Vanpool | 34 million |
| All modes | 5,754 million |
The average 2023 bus capacity was reported as 28 seated riders plus 21 standing riders, or 49 riders in total. That capacity figure describes the vehicle design measure, not the average number of passengers on every trip. Actual occupancy varied by route, time, vehicle, and mode.
Across all modes, the source reported 35,018.2 million passenger miles of travel, or PMT, and an average occupancy of 9.3 PMT per vehicle revenue mile, or VRM. PMT measures passenger travel distance, while VRM measures vehicle travel in revenue service. Because the measures describe different units, the occupancy statistic is a system-level operating measure rather than a seat count.
Public transportation funding
Total public transit funding from all sources reached $94.693 billion in 2023. Directly generated transit funding contributed $16.524 billion, including $10.172 billion in passenger fare revenue. Local funding totaled $23.940 billion, state funding totaled $24.274 billion, and federal funding totaled $20.632 billion.
The funding categories provide several views of how transit was financed. Public and dedicated tax funds supplied $74.213 billion. Within that total, general fund revenue supplied $36.024 billion, sales tax revenue supplied $17.303 billion, and property tax revenue supplied $2.130 billion. Other public funds supplied $18.338 billion, while reduced and rural reporter funds contributed $3.673 billion.
| Funding measure, 2023 | Amount |
|---|---|
| Total funding from all sources | $94.693 billion |
| Directly generated funding | $16.524 billion |
| Passenger fare revenue | $10.172 billion |
| Local funding | $23.940 billion |
| State funding | $24.274 billion |
| Federal funding | $20.632 billion |
| Public and dedicated tax funds | $74.213 billion |
The categories are not all additive alternatives. For example, passenger fares are part of directly generated funding, while general fund, sales tax, property tax, and other public funds are components of public and dedicated tax funding. Reading them as overlapping accounting views avoids double-counting.
Fares, expenses, and operating performance
Transit operations recorded $57,566.3 million in total operating expenses across modes in 2023. Total fares across modes were $10,127.5 million. The fare figure in this operating table differs from the $10.172 billion passenger fare revenue figure reported in the broader funding summary, so the two values should remain labeled according to their respective measures rather than combined or reconciled without additional source detail.
The difference between operating expenses and fares illustrates that passenger payments were one component of transit finance, not the whole operating resource base. The broader funding summary also included local, state, federal, tax, and other public sources. Those funding streams helped support the service represented by 35,018.2 million passenger miles and 5,754 million capacity-equivalent vehicle revenue miles.
Public transportation statistics are most useful when the unit and time period stay visible. Passenger trips measure boardings, passenger miles measure rider distance, vehicle revenue miles measure vehicle service, and capacity-equivalent miles account for differences among modes. Likewise, May occupational estimates, year-end employment counts, fiscal-year reporters, and annual funding totals describe different parts of the 2023 transit system. The FTA 2023 National Transit Summaries & Trends is the named source for the transit measures, while the bus-driver wage and employment figures are BLS data presented through that FTA report.