4 Facts About DART Ridership

How many rides does DART provide? The number can sometimes surprise those who are less familiar with our local bus system. During our current fiscal year that began July 1, we have provided nearly 12,000 trips on a typical weekday with most trips helping people get to and from work.

Here are a few other facts to put DART ridership into context. 
 

Fact #1: DART provides more trips than the DSM Airport.

During the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2023, DART provided 3.2 million trips. Ridership also is up about 10% year over year through April 2024, following a trend of double-digit growth over the past three years. In comparison, the Des Moines International Airport surpassed 3 million annual passengers for the first time in the 2023 calendar year. 
 

Fact #2: DART continues to adapt to evolving transit patterns.

Consistent with national trends, DART is seeing steadier ridership throughout the day and on weekends, as well as commuters traveling from the suburbs to downtown for work leaving earlier and returning home earlier in the day. Residents are also staying closer to home. DART has been testing new ways of meeting residents’ needs, including adding weekend service along the Merle Hay Road corridor and implementing an On Demand zone for those traveling within Ankeny. Both these efforts have supported increased ridership.  
 

Fact #3: DART plans its fleet to efficiently meet ridership.

DART carries an average of 17 passengers per hour on our fixed-route service, but the number of people riding a bus at a given time can vary. Many DART routes service dozens of destinations along the route. This means people are constantly getting on and off along the route. Just like families purchase vehicles to accommodate the entire family even though the entire family isn’t riding for every trip, transit agencies must plan their buses and operations for the maximum number of people on a bus at one time.  
 

Fact #4: Paratransit demand is increasing at a faster rate than other DART services.

In our current fiscal year that began July 1, DART has provided more than 100,000 Paratransit rides and is trending up about 11% compared with the previous year. As a door-to-door, ADA accessible option, Paratransit is our most expensive service to provide, but we also know it’s critically important to a growing aging population in central Iowa. 
 

Planning for Our Future

Looking at ridership data and trends will help us continue to proactively plan for what our transit system should look like in the years ahead. As we begin to examine how we redesign our system over the next year, we look forward to sharing more of what we are learning and how the service we provide benefits the entire region.