List of North American rapid transit systems by ridership

[marmar]

List of North American rapid transit systems by ridership
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



The following is a list of all heavy rail rapid transit systems in North America, ranked by ridership. All figures are average weekday unlinked passenger trips. In the United States, these come from the American Public Transit Association's Ridership Reports Statistics<1> for the fourth quarter of 2007, unless otherwise noted. Dates are given for all figures; the most recent available are used.

Readers should note that the question of which systems would count as 'heavy rail rapid transit systems' is debatable.

Rank System Largest city served Weekday
ridership Date Route miles Year opened

1 New York City Subway New York City 6,432,700 Fourth quarter of 2007 656(2) 1868
2 Mexico City Metro Mexico City 4,400,000 1993 110(3) 1969
3 Toronto Subway* Toronto 1,168,910 2007 38(4) 1954
4 Metrorail (Washington, D.C.) Washington 933,200 Fourth quarter of 2007 106.3(5) 1976
5 Montreal Metro Montreal 835,000 2007 40.59(6) 1966
6 Chicago 'L' Chicago 610,300 Fourth quarter of 2007 136.7(7) 1892
7 Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (or "T")* Boston 461,900 Fourth quarter of 2007 65.5(8) 1901
8 BART San Francisco 374,800 Fourth quarter of 2007 104(9) 1972
9 SEPTA* Philadelphia 315,500 Fourth quarter of 2007 25(10) 1907
11 MARTA Atlanta 262,800 Fourth quarter of 2007 47.6(11) 1979
12 PATH New York City 246,000 Fourth quarter of 2007 13.8(12) 1908
13 Vancouver SkyTrain Vancouver 205,000 2002 31(13) 1985
15 Metro Rail* Los Angeles 128,400 Fourth quarter of 2007 17.4(14) 1990
16 Metrorail Miami 59,300 Fourth quarter of 2007 22(15) 1984
17 Baltimore Metro Subway* Baltimore 53,000 Fourth quarter of 2007 15.5(16) 1983
18 PATCO Speedline Philadelphia 33,400 Fourth quarter of 2007 14.2(17) 1936
19 Tren Urbano San Juan 31,900 Fourth quarter of 2007 10.7(18) 2004
20 RTA Rapid Transit* Cleveland 29,800<19> Third quarter of 2007 19(20) 1955
21 Staten Island Railway New York City 14,200 Fourth quarter of 2007 14(21) 1971
22 Detroit People Mover Detroit 4,500<22> Fourth quarter of 2007 2.9(23) 1987


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_North_American_rapid_transit_systems_by_ridership

[KamaAina]

1. I guess Dallas DART is considered light rail

if it counted, it would have to be above at least the bottom two there.

[nxylas]

2. Never been quite clear of the difference myself

At what point does light rail become "heavy"? Apologies for my ignorance.

[happyslug]

3. Defined in 1972 by the US Government, Light rail was the preferred new name for streetcars.

For details see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_rail

[nxylas]

4. I thought that a light rail system was slightly different from a modern streetcar

Portland, for example, has both a light rail system and a modern streetcar line.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. The difference is that a light rail system is a sort of hybrid

For example, Portland's lines run like streetcars in the downtown area, but they act more like commuter rail in the suburbs. Portland's West Side line runs on streets until it enters a tunnel just west of the Goose Hollow stop. From then on, it runs on dedicated tracks separate from the streets.

[nxylas]

6. Are you talking about MAX light rail or the Portland Streetcar?

My point was that both exist.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

7. I'm talking about MAX

which acts like a streetcar while it's in the city and like a train (with dedicated tracks independent of streets) while it's in the suburbs.

The Streetcar is strictly within the city limits and always runs on streets, except for where it crosses the Park Blocks.