The Covid-19 pandemic greatly reduced transit ridership and agency operational funds for raised through ridership fares. Transit ridership numbers have gradually recovered from the start of the pandemic, although nationally they remain around 20% below 2019 levels. At the same time, the cost of transit operations has increased due to inflation and labor and material constraints. In addition to a decrease in ridership, there have also been shifts in ridership behaviors including increased usage outside of traditional commuting hours and greater ridership resiliency for riders in the service industry. With the end of federal pandemic relief dollars, transit agencies are adapting to the new budgetary environment and new ridership behaviors. These changes have included rerouting and rescheduling to enhance frequency and reliability, enhancing ridership experience, strategic capital expansions, and special promotions for targeted ridership groups. Transit agencies must also look for new funding sources, including increased state and local funding through dedicating tax dollars for transit.

Post-Pandemic Ridership Recovery

Total national transit ridership measured in number of unlinked trips peaked in 2014, after steadily increasing throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Leading into the pandemic, trip numbers were declining but then dramatically dropped during the first lockdowns. By 2024, ridership nationally returned to around 78% of 2019 levels. In 2024 there were 7.7 billion unlinked passenger trips in comparison to 10.6 billion at the 2014 peak.

Public transit ridership was greatly impacted by the pandemic. Across transit systems, there have been differing levels of ridership recovery. Nationally as of Q1 2025, rail ridership was lower than 75% of pre-pandemic ridership. Bus ridership has remained more resilient, with ridership numbers around 85% of pre-pandemic ridership as of Q1 2025. Bus ridership has likely been more resilient given that more essential workers are more likely to utilize bus services and have less telework options. Bus ridership also includes younger riders and those with less access to cars. Following bus and demand response recovery, light rail has generally had a stronger recovery than commuter rail. As of the start of 2024, commuter rail recovery reached 65% of pre-pandemic ridership, heavy rail reached 70%, light rail reached 73%, and bus and demand response reached 81%.

As of December 2024, only six out of 31 of the US commuter rail systems’ ridership levels had returned to 2019 pre-pandemic levels. Across all systems, commuter rail ridership returned to 70% of 2019 levels. For commuter rail, variation in the level of recovery, from lower than 50% recovery to complete recovery, exists across the systems and is not correlated to the size of the system. For 19 out of 31 of the commuter rail systems, service levels have returned to 2019 levels while for the other 12 systems service levels were under 25% of pre-pandemic levels (as of the end of 2024).

At the start of the pandemic, ridership initially dropped to 19% of 2019 levels. From the summer of 2020 through the end of the year, national ridership was around 37% of 2019 levels. Between April 2021 and July 2021, ridership numbers increased from 42 to 53%, and by the end of 2021 ridership was around 58% of 2019 levels. By the spring of 2022 ridership hit 60% of 2019 levels. By the start of 2023, ridership was at 71% of 2019 levels. By the start of 2024, ridership was near 74% of 2019 levels. By the start of 2025, ridership had returned to 79% of 2019 levels. According to APTA, the beginning of 2025 saw ridership recovery between 80 and 87%.

Ridership recovery has also varied across geographies. Metro areas heavily reliant on technology sector jobs such as the Bay Area have had slower recoveries, likely due to more flexible work from home policies. Ridership increases have also been correlated with job growth, particularly in the service sector. For college towns, ridership fluctuations have been tied to students returning to campus. According to APTA, smaller cities have outperformed larger and medium-sized cities in ridership recovery, potentially due to less telework options. By the end of 2023, smaller cities saw an increase of 79% of 2019 levels in comparison to a return to 74% of 2019 levels in medium and large cities. By the end of 2024, smaller cities had 82% recovery whereas larger cities had 78% recovery.

Due to increased levels of telework, transit agencies have seen faster recovery of weekend ridership in comparison to traditional commuting hours. In response, some transit agencies have increased service throughout the day and during weekends. In several metro areas, recovery is driven by trips from residential to commercial areas rather than residential to office areas. Transit agencies have focused on improving customer experience through increasing reliability and frequency and providing safety enhancements.

To adapt to shifts in ridership, commuter rail systems interviewed by the GAO identified expanding service beyond traditional commuting hours, providing flexible passes to target ridership groups, and strategically expanding stations and connections to bus routes.

At the start of the pandemic, transit agencies cut vehicle service revenue miles by 44%. By September 2023, vehicle service revenue miles had recovered by 91% of per pandemic levels. However, the FTA found that Census block groups with higher measures of socioeconomic disadvantages were more likely to see service cuts. At the same time, ridership recovery numbers emphasized the importance of transit services for user groups without access to cars and/or telework options.

Lost Fare Revenues and Increasing Costs

In 2024, transit agencies covered 51% of operating expenses through state and local funding; 17% through federal funds; and 32% through direct revenues such as advertising, passenger fares, rentals, and investments. In the same year, 46% of capital expenses were covered by federal dollars, and 54% were covered by state and local dollars. State and local funds include those that transit agencies receive through fuel, income, sales, property and other taxes. Around 47% of state and local transit funding comes from sales taxes.

The decline in ridership and slow recovery has reduced fare revenues which many transit agencies utilize to cover portions of their operating budgets. Adjusted for inflation, between 2019 and 2023 average fares collected by transit agencies declined from $2 to $1.50. The total fare revenue collected by transit agencies in this period was cut in half in this period, from $20 billion in 2019 to $10 billion in 2023. Across all commuter rail systems, fare revenues were down 31% from 2019 to 2023 while nominal operating costs were up 28% (real operating costs up 9%). Resultingly, fare revenues as a portion of total funding for commuter rail decreased from 43 to 24% from 2019 to 2023.

Additionally, transit agencies faced increasing costs for operations and new projects given a tight labor market and increasing inflation. The fare box recovery ratio measures how much of a transit agency’s operating costs are covered by passenger fares. Between 2021 and 2024, the fare box recovery ratio nationally has increased from 12.7 cents recovered through fares to 17.3 cents recovered through fares. Federal pandemic relief distributed during this period helped to fill in the operating budget gap but given the limited nature of this funding, systems indicated that they are looking for additional non-federal funding sources.

How Transit Agencies are Responding

Philadelphia’s transit agency, SEPTA cited efforts to improve ridership experience and numbers including improvements to safety, reliability, and cleanliness it its FY2027 operational and capital spending plan. It also cited austerity measures taken to reduce its structural budget deficit and to increase revenues through advertising and parking. Due to the reduction of their deficit the agency will be able to restart bus replacement schedule. However, the plan also emphasized the continued need for SEPTA to have a long-term funding solution, with its rail car replacements relying on borrowing $4.3 billion over the next 12 years. At the end of 2024, SEPTA received emergency funding through the state legislature and the transfer of capital funds for operational spending. The agency is now in its second and final year of utilizing capital funds to support operational funds. SEPTA’s 2025 budget proposal without the additional support called for 45% cuts to service along with 22% increases in fares.

In Washington DC, WMATA implemented its “Better Bus Network” to more efficiently meet the needs of ridership in 2025 and is working to increase frequently, reliability, and hours. WMATA also shifted scheduling to better meet the needs of users throughout the day, rather than focusing on commuting hours.

In Chicago, CTA’s 2026 operational budget, two-year financial plan, and five-year capital program document acknowledged shifts in travel and ridership following the pandemic and stated that ridership has performed the best in areas with service improvements such as increased frequency and a more “welcoming” experience. The 2026 operating budget includes the last of the agency Covid relief funds, $256.9 million. Legislation in line with CTA’s Transforming Transportation vision was signed into state law at the 2025, increasing state transit funding including through funds from the state fuel tax. CTA is seeking to utilize the additional state funding to optimize routes and strategically expand to grow ridership.

In Massachusetts, a new millionaire’s tax is supporting increased transportation funding. The MBTA has been able to fill in gaps from the end of COVID operational federal funding through a 50% increase in state contract assistance revenue and increased fare revenue. MBTA has worked to increase ridership through capital improvements, including the Track Improvement Program and improvements to rolling stock. MBTA is also working on capital improvements for signal modernization, accessibility, and upgrades to maintenance facilities. MBTA is also continuing to work on improving frequency and reliability and is working to increase operator hiring.

In New York City, the MTA’s FY2025-2029 plan focuses on using dollars efficiently to enhance ridership experience and frequency. Projects include making stations more accessible, new fare gates, improving station environments, building the interborough express, rebuilding the Grand Central artery, and upgrading maintenance facilities. MTA’s operating budget is supported by a mixture of taxes including the payroll mobility tax, sales taxes, petroleum business taxes, and real estate taxes. Rider fares support 40% of the operating budget. Capital spending is supported by dedicated funds from selected taxes along with bonds and funds from the state and city and federal funding. Congestion pricing tolls are also a new revenue source for MTA’s capital budget.

In January 2026, Maricopa County in Arizona increased its sales tax percentage dedicated to transit funding from 33 to 37%. Valley Metro has seen ridership increases through its light-rail extensions and is continuing capital projects to connect downtown Phoenix to the state capital and to expand its streetcar system.

In San Francisco, BART has faced a slow ridership recovery but has put longer trains into service to expand capacity as ridership has started to grow for certain service hours, especially on weekends. However, the agency is also contending with filling in structural deficit as its COVID funds are fully used up. Without a solution such as passage of a November 2026 regional tax ballot initiative, the agency will need to make service cuts for FY27.