This is a list of North American rapid transit systems by ridership. These heavy rail or rapid transit systems are also known as metro or subway systems. This list of systems in North America does not include light rail, even when they are integrated with heavy rail. Daily and annual ridership figures are based on "average weekday unlinked passenger trips" (where transfers between lines are counted as two separate passenger "boardings" or "trips"), unless otherwise indicated. For metro systems in the United States (including Puerto Rico) and Canada, the annual ridership figures for 2023 and average weekday ridership figures for the First Quarter (Q1) of 2024 come from the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) ridership reports statistics, [1] unless otherwise noted. Ridership figures for Mexico come from the National Institute of Geography and Statistics (INEGI), specifically the Economy and Productive Sectors - Passenger Transit information. [2] Ridership figures for the Dominican Republic come from the Directorate of Operations Santo Domingo Metro report for the year 2013. [3]
System | Country | City/area served | Annual ridership (2023) [1] [4] | Avg. daily weekday boardings (Q1 2024) [1] [4] | System length | Avg. daily boardings per mile (Q3 2023) | Year opened | Stations | Lines | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | New York City Subway | United States | New York City | 2,027,286,000 | 6,408,300 | 248 miles (399 km) [5] | 25,251 | 1904 [note 1] | 472 [6] | 24 [6] |
2 | Mexico City Metro | Mexico | Mexico City | 1,115,300,000 [4] | 2,397,892 [7] | 140.75 miles (226.5 km) [8] | 17,037 | 1969 | 195 [9] | 12 [9] |
3 | Montreal Metro | Canada | Montreal | 303,969,500 | 1,029,300 | 43 miles (69 km) [10] | 21,816 | 1966 | 68 | 4 |
4 | Toronto subway | Canada | Toronto | 302,527,000 | 1,064,700 | 47.8 miles (76.9 km) [11] | 20,305 | 1954 [11] | 70 | 3 |
5 | SkyTrain | Canada | Vancouver | 141,339,300 | 456,300 | 49.5 miles (79.6 km) | 9,030 | 1985 | 53 [12] | 3 [12] |
6 | Washington Metro | United States | Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area | 136,303,200 | 576,300 | 129 miles (208 km) [13] | 3,683 | 1976 [13] | 98 [13] | 6 |
7 | Chicago 'L' | United States | Chicago | 117,447,000 | 400,000 | 102.8 miles (165.4 km) [14] | 3,780 | 1892 [14] | 145 [14] | 8 [14] |
8 | Metrorrey | Mexico | Monterrey | 138,709,000 [4] | 380,024 [note 2] | 25 miles (40 km) [15] | 25,605 | 1991 [16] | 40 [15] | 3 [15] |
9 | MBTA subway [note 3] (Blue, Orange, and Red Lines) | United States | Boston | 85,397,200 | 265,900 | 39.5 miles (63.6 km) [17] | 7,187 | 1901 | 53 [17] | 4 [17] |
10 | BART | United States | San Francisco Bay Area | 48,119,400 | 152,500 | 131.4 miles (211.5 km) [18] | 1,280 | 1972 [18] | 48 [18] | 6 [19] |
11 | SEPTA Metro [20] [21] [note 3] (L, B, and M) | United States | Philadelphia | 90,240,800 | 173,700 | 36.7 miles (59.1 km) [20] [22] | 4,733 | 1907 | 75 [21] | 3 [21] |
12 | PATH | United States | Jersey City, Newark, NJ | 55,109,100 | 185,600 | 13.8 miles (22.2 km) [23] | 13,449 | 1908 | 13 [24] | 5 [24] |
13 | MARTA | United States | Atlanta | 63,998,500 | 92,900 | 48 miles (77 km) [25] | 1,952 | 1979 | 38 [25] | 4 |
14 | Panama Metro | Panama | Panama City | 91,932,890 [26] | 180,000 [27] [ needs update ] | 22.9 miles (36.9 km) [28] | 21,176 | 2014 | 31 [29] | 2 [30] |
15 | Santo Domingo Metro | Dominican Republic | Santo Domingo | 61,270,054 [3] [ needs update ] | 177,844 [3] [note 4] [ needs update ] | 17.0 miles (27.4 km) [31] [32] | 10,461 | 2009 | 30 [31] [32] | 2 [31] [32] |
16 | Metro Rail [note 3] (B and D Lines) | United States | Los Angeles | 41,775,100 | 63,800 | 17.4 miles (28.0 km) [33] | 3,667 | 1993 [33] | 16 [33] | 2 [33] |
17 | Miami Metrorail | United States | Miami | 13,439,300 | 50,900 | 24.9 miles (40.1 km) [34] | 2,111 | 1984 | 23 [34] | 2 |
18 | PATCO Speedline | United States | Philadelphia | 11,107,500 | 18,000 | 14.2 miles (22.9 km) [35] | 1,268 | 1936 [35] | 13 [35] | 1 [35] |
19 | Staten Island Railway | United States | New York City | 7,741,000 | 17,900 | 14.0 miles (22.5 km) [5] | 1,279 | 1860 | 22 [5] | 1 [5] |
20 | Baltimore Metro SubwayLink [note 3] | United States | Baltimore | 7,325,500 | 14,400 | 15.5 miles (24.9 km) [36] | 884 | 1983 | 14 [36] | 1 [36] |
21 | RTA Rapid Transit [note 3] (Red Line) | United States | Cleveland | 5,958,000 | 10,500 | 19 miles (31 km) [37] | 553 | 1955 | 18 [37] | 1 [37] |
22 | Tren Urbano | Puerto Rico (United States) | San Juan | 5,233,900 | 14,100 | 10.7 miles (17.2 km) | 1,318 | 2004 | 16 | 1 |
The Norristown High Speed Line (NHSL), currently rebranding as the M, is a 13.4-mile (21.6 km) interurban light rapid transit line in the SEPTA Metro network, running between the 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby and the Norristown Transportation Center in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Service is operated by the Suburban Transit Division of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. Originally the Philadelphia and Western Railroad line, the line runs entirely on its own right-of-way. By 2020, the Norristown High Speed Line had an average weekday ridership approaching 11,000 passengers.
Buenavista is a station on the Mexico City Metro, in the Colonia Buenavista neighborhood of the Cuauhtémoc borough. It is the southwestern terminal station of Line B. It also offers connections to the Insurgentes Metrobús bus rapid transit line. In 2019, the station had an average ridership of 66,804 passengers per day, making it the tenth busiest station in the network.
Commuter rail services in the United States, Canada, Cuba, Mexico, Panama, and Costa Rica provide common carrier passenger transportation along railway tracks, with scheduled service on fixed routes on a non-reservation basis, primarily for short-distance (local) travel between a central business district and adjacent suburbs and regional travel between cities of a conurbation. It does not include rapid transit or light rail service.
The SEPTA Regional Rail system is a commuter rail network owned by SEPTA and serving the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The system has 13 branches and more than 150 active stations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, its suburbs and satellite towns and cities. It is the sixth-busiest commuter railroad in the United States. In 2016, the Regional Rail system had an average of 132,000 daily riders and 118,800 daily riders as of 2019.
Metrorrey, officially Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metrorrey, is a rapid transit system that serves the metropolitan area of Monterrey. It is operated by the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo Metrorrey, which is part of the decentralized public administration of Nuevo León. In 2022, it was the sixth largest metro system in North America by ridership.
Light rail is a commonly used mode of public transit in North America. The term light rail was coined in 1972 by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration to describe new streetcar transformations which were taking place in Europe and the United States. The Germans used the term Stadtbahn, which is the predecessor to North American light rail, to describe the concept, and many in UMTA wanted to adopt the direct translation, which is city rail. However, in its reports, UMTA finally adopted the term light rail instead.
Ciudad Azteca metro station is a station of the Mexico City Metro along Carlos Hank González Avenue, in Ecatepec de Morelos, State of Mexico, in the metropolitan area of Mexico City. It is an at-grade station with two island platforms that serves as the northern terminus of Line B. It is followed by Plaza Aragón metro station. It serves the colonia (neighborhood) of Ciudad Azteca (es), from which the station takes its name. It is also adjacent to the north end of Mexico's busiest mall, Multiplaza Aragón. The station's pictogram features the silhouette of the neighborhood's glyph.
The Santo Domingo Metro is a rapid transit system in Greater Santo Domingo. Serving the capital of the Dominican Republic, it is the most extensive metro system in the insular Caribbean and Central American region by length and number of stations. It began operation on January 30, 2009.
A medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. MCS trains are usually 1 to 4 cars. Most medium-capacity rail systems are automated or use light-rail type vehicles.
The Panama Metro is a rapid transit system in Panama City, Panama. It links neighborhoods north and the east of the metropolitan area to the city center.