Vital Signs: Transit Cost-Effectiveness by Operator (2022) DRAFT

Vital Signs: Transit Cost-Effectiveness by Operator (2022) DRAFT VITAL SIGNS INDICATOR Transit Cost-Effectiveness (T13) FULL MEASURE NAME Net cost per transit boarding (cost per boarding minus fare per boarding) LAST UPDATED June 2022 DESCRIPTION Transit cost-effectiveness refers to both the total and net costs per transit boarding, both of which are adjusted to reflect inflation over time. Net costs reflect total operating costs minus farebox revenue (i.e. operating costs that are not directly funded by system users). The dataset includes metropolitan area, regional, mode, and system tables for net cost per boarding, total cost per boarding, and farebox recovery ratio. DATA SOURCE Federal Transit Administration: National Transit Database http://www.ntdprogram.gov/ntdprogram/data.htm Bureau of Labor Statistics: Consumer Price Index http://www.bls.gov/data/ CONTACT INFORMATION [e-mail] METHODOLOGY NOTES (across all datasets for this indicator) Simple modes were aggregated to combine the various bus modes (e.g. rapid bus, express bus, local bus) into a single mode to avoid incorrect conclusions resulting from mode recoding over the lifespan of NTD. For other metro areas, operators were identified by developing a list of all urbanized areas within a current MSA boundary and then using that UZA list to flag relevant operators; this means that all operators (both large and small) were included in the metro comparison data. Financial data was inflation-adjusted to match 2015 dollar values using metro-specific Consumer Price Indices.