ANN ARBOR, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority is still down 33% in ridership from pre-pandemic levels while its operating expenses have increased by 4.4% when adjusted for inflation.

The Ann Arbor transit company had ridership of 6.96 million in 2019 with operating costs of $41.8 million. By 2023, its ridership was at 4.68 million while operating expenses came in at $52 million. Labor costs had increased from $25.2 million in 2019 to $29.3 million in 2023. The data comes from the Federal Transit Administration’s recently released annual report.

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While ridership was down compared to before the pandemic, the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority did have a 28% increase in ridership from 2022 to 2023.

Ann Arbor is not different from the vast majority of transit companies in the U.S. who are seeing ridership recovery from 2020 but have not recaptured all of their prepandemic riders.

Ann Arbor Transit Authority expanded service in 2024 with the aid of a 5-year, 2.38 mill property tax that was approved in 2022 but didn’t go into effect until this year.