DETROIT (Michigan News Source) – The city of Detroit’s bus agency was at less than half of its pre-pandemic ridership levels 2023, according to data recently released by the Federal Transit Agency.

The city’s bus service is provided by the Detroit Department of Transportation. The annual ridership reached 22,751,799 passenger trips in 2019, the year before the pandemic. The passenger trips dropped to 10,471,273 in 2023. Although the 2023 ridership was less than half of the 2019 ridership, it was a 19% increase over the previous year’s ridership. The bus system had 8,812,457 passenger trips in 2022.

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The drop in ridership has led to a decrease in fare revenues.

Passenger fare revenue has dropped from $19.08 million in 2019 to $8.25 million in 2023.

The Detroit bus system has relied on a huge influx of federal money to cover its costs. The Detroit Department of Transportation received $16.3 million in federal funds to its operating budget in 2019 but due to the pandemic, that federal money increased to $40.3 million in 2022 and $43.5 million in 2023.

The bus system had $126.9 million in operating fund expenses in 2023.

In May, the city opened the Jason Hargrove Transit Center at the State Fairgrounds. It is part of a $31 million redevelopment of the abandoned Michigan State Fairgrounds.