The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority, also known as TheRide, clocks millions of passenger trips every year, helping people get around the community.

Riders hopped aboard TheRide’s buses 5.4 million times in fiscal year 2025, the public transit agency reported.

The taxpayer-funded agency also paid out millions of dollars to the hundreds of workers who made those trips happen.

There were 385 people on TheRide’s payroll in 2025, netting nearly $26 million in total pay, per records obtained by MLive/The Ann Arbor News via the Freedom of Information Act.

That includes 41 six-figure earners, with CEO Matt Carpenter topping the list at $257,743, followed by three deputy CEOs who make $208,561, $201,831 and $196,743.

The deputy CEOs oversee three different areas: operations, planning and innovation, and finance and administration.

The agency also has several mid-level managers for areas such as finance, fleet services and bus operations who make over $100,000 and up to over $160,000.

But managers and executives aren’t the only ones pulling in that level of pay. Twenty bus drivers, fleet service technicians and paint and body repair workers also made six figures last year.

One bus driver made over $150,000, counting nearly $77,000 in regular earnings and about $74,000 in overtime.

The agency, with a mix of union and nonunion workers, paid nearly $2.4 million in OT, counting dozens who made tens of thousands of dollars in extra pay at 1.5 times their regular rate.

Search the data table below for a look at the 2025 total pay and 2026 base salaries for TheRide employees.

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