public transportation Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

or ridership refers to the number of people using a transit service. It is often summed or otherwise aggregated over some period of time for a given service or set of services and used as a benchmark of success or usefulness. Common statistics include the number of people served by an entire transit system in a year and the number of people served each day by a single transit line. The concept should not be confused with the maximum capacity of a particular vehicle or transit line.

See also