The latest System-Wide Passenger Survey data is now available on mbta.com. The System-Wide Passenger Survey, also known as the Rider Census, is an annual surveying of the people who use the MBTA system and informs us how they rely on the services provided. This newest release includes an Executive Summary, a report and technical document, an updated dataset, and an interactive dashboard. Data from the 2025 survey collection is pooled with data from the 2022 through 2024 surveys in order to get statistically valid sample sizes at the station and route level, in a manner similar to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey datasets.
Having an annual, rolling survey collection and pooled datasets rather than a larger survey collection every five years has several advantages, one of which is that it provides insight on changes in service within months. Not needing to wait up to five years for this data allows us to better understand riders on new services and helps to inform any potential adjustments to service. In 2025, service began on the South Coast Rail expansion, and late-night service on weekends was restarted for the first time in about a decade. Data from riders surveyed on these services is available in this new release.
Preliminary analysis of the data has revealed a couple of interesting findings. First, 40% of late-night passengers surveyed responded that their trip was a “Home-based Work” trip. Though a little smaller than the overall system-wide proportion, it is by far the most common trip purpose among late-night riders, and indicates that a large proportion of late-night riders are using the MBTA to get to or from their job (see Figure 1).
Second, at the newly-opened stations on the South Coast Rail lines, a much larger proportion of riders access the station by driving alone than at the stations that were already in service on the former Middleborough/Lakeville Line. At the new stations, 40% of passengers arrive at the station by a personal vehicle (24% driving alone, and 14% carpooling or getting dropped off), compared to 13% at the existing stations on the line (4% driving alone and 9% carpooling or getting dropped off). This pattern also holds for passengers arriving by Taxi or Rideshare (8% vs. 3%) and The RIDE (7% vs. 1%). Figure 2 shows this comparison. This is likely because the new stations are further away from residential areas and have fewer connections to other services.
For more findings and information about the survey, please read the report. There is also much more to learn about our riders from this data, so please explore the dashboard or download the data to see what you can find.
