Rapid City’s public transit system continues to see significant growth, with ridership topping 130,000 passenger trips during the first six months of 2026.
Rapid Transit System (RTS), which operates both RapidRide and Dial-A-Ride services, recorded 132,500 passenger trips from January through June. Combined with the first-half total from 2025, ridership over the past two years reached 269,076 trips.
RTS Manager Megan Gould said the numbers reflect a steady increase in transit use since 2022.
“We’ve seen quite a spike in ridership when comparing the numbers from just a few years ago,” Gould said. “After 2022, we’ve seen steady growth in both youth and total ridership.”
For comparison, RTS recorded 99,253 trips during the first half of 2022, more than 30,000 fewer trips than the totals seen in both 2025 and 2026.
In June, the system logged 19,148 passenger trips, slightly below the 19,590 trips recorded in June 2025. Youth ridership continued to rise, however, with 3,220 youth trips reported in June, up from 3,020 a year earlier.
City transit officials say the continued growth highlights increasing
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