I don’t know how passenger numbers were arrived at. MRide provides free passage for all holders of valid yellow MCards. Unless each person boarding with one of those cards is recorded, it would seem difficult to make that estimation. Instructions merely say to “show” the MCard.

The total AATA budget includes service to other municipalities and the “demand” services too (like A-Ride, door-to-door service for people with disabilities), so simple percentage comparisons are probably misleading.

With regard to the relative costs, it’s not all about saving money, of course. Providing quality service, serving a broad population and geographical area, paying employees a living wage, and limiting greenhouse gas emissions are among the other considerations.

Where did you get those numbers–both for costs and ridership?

I have not seen sufficient detail in accounting to reproduce either of these numbers.

Presumably some of the University $55/hr costs are lower because they use student drivers, and don’t have to pay the same health care costs since student healthcare is otherwise subsidized.

I’m also not sure that any of the performance committee’s “efficiency” metrics capture rider satisfaction adequately. They divide up route usage by route, not by time of day, so they don’t have any visibility into the number of times that buses are packed standing room only to the point that no additional riders can get on.

Ted Annis actually hypothesized that giving the AATA extra money actually would make them less efficient than they are. The cost to operate a bus in AA is $110 per hour. By comparison the University is $55 per hour. If we really wanted to save money we would let the University operate more of the routes.

A further note, the University makes up 40% of the ridership and and only pays 10% of the costs.

On the other hand, from Packard/Stadium to Jackson/Stadium is a 47 minute trip (says Google) for an effective speed on that 3.3 mile trip of just over 4 mph.