List of United States light rail systems by ridership

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See also: List of North American light rail systems by ridership and List of United States rapid transit systems by ridership

The following is a list of all light rail systems in the United States, ranked by ridership. Also included are those urban streetcar/trolley systems that are providing regular public transit service (i.e. operating year-round and at least five days/week). This list does not include statistics for metro/rapid transit systems (see: the List of United States rapid transit systems by ridership for those). 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"). The annual ridership figures for 2019 and average weekday ridership figures for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019 come from the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) Ridership Reports statistics for the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019,[1] unless otherwise noted (e.g. NJ Transit systems). References with supplementary (i.e. non-APTA) ridership figures are included in the System column.

List[]

System Largest city
served 		Annual
ridership
(2019)[1] 		Avg. daily
weekday
boardings
(Q4 2019)[1] 		System
length 		Avg. daily
boardings
per mile
(Q4 2019) 		Year
opened 		Stations Lines Year
last
expanded
1 Metro Rail light rail:[note 1]
A, C, E & L Lines 		Los Angeles 51,395,800 161,300 83.6 miles (134.5 km)[2] 1,929 1990[2] 80[2] 4[2] 2016[2]
2 Muni Metro[note 1][3]
(incl. E Embarcadero[note 2] & F Market[4][5][note 2]) 		San Francisco 49,519,600 157,700 35.7 miles (57.5 km)[6] 4,417 1912;[7]
1980[6] 		152[5][6] 9[4][6] 2015
3 MBTA light rail:[note 1]
Green Line & Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line[note 2] 		Boston 47,161,500 137,700 26 miles (42 km)[8] 5,296 1897;[9]
1929 		74[8] 5[8] 2004;
n/a
4 MAX Light Rail[note 3] Portland 38,388,200 119,600 60 miles (97 km) 1,993 1986 97 5 2015
5 San Diego Trolley[note 3]
(incl. Silver Line[10][note 2]) 		San Diego 38,047,300 117,700 65 miles (105 km)[11] 2,200 1981[11] 62[11] 4[10][11] 2021[11]
6 DART[note 3] Dallas 28,069,000 92,000 93 miles (150 km)[12] 989 1996[13] 64[12] 4[14] 2016[13]
7 Link:[note 3]
Line 1 		Seattle 25,075,922[15] 80,780[15] 20.4 miles (32.8 km)[16] 3,960 2009 19[16] 1[16] 2021[17]
8 Denver RTD:[note 3]
C, D, E, F, H, R, W, and L 		Denver 24,585,300 95,300 58.5 miles (94.1 km)[18] 1,629 1994[19] 62[18] 8 2019[20]
9 SEPTA light rail:[21][note 1]
Subway–Surface Lines, Suburban Trolley Lines & Girard Ave Trolley[note 2] 		Philadelphia 24,321,200 66,633[note 4] 68.4 miles (110.1 km)[22][23] 974 1906 >100[22] 8[22][23] 2005
10 METRO Light Rail[note 3] Minneapolis-St. Paul 24,299,400 75,300 21.8 miles (35.1 km)[24][25] 3,454 2004[24] 37[24][25] 2[24][25] 2014[25]
11 METRORail Houston 18,409,100 60,300 23.8 miles (38.3 km)[26][27] 2,533 2004[27] 44[26] 3[26] 2017[26]
12 TRAX (UTA) and S Line[note 3] Salt Lake City 16,871,800 56,900 46.8 miles (75.3 km)[28][29] 1,216 1999[30] 56[31] 4[31] 2013
13 Hudson–Bergen
Light Rail[note 1][32] 		Jersey City 15,500,000[32] 42,466[note 4] 17 miles (27 km)[32] 2,498 2000 24[33] 3[33] 2011
14 Valley Metro Rail[34] Phoenix 15,060,200 47,000 28.2 miles (45.4 km)[35] 1,667 2008[36] 35[37] 1[36] 2019[35]
15 MetroLink St. Louis 13,088,000 38,900 46 miles (74 km)[38] 846 1993[39] 37[38] 2[40] 2006[41]
16 Sacramento RT Light Rail Sacramento 11,180,100 38,400 42.9 miles (69.0 km)[42] 895 1987[42] 53[42] 3[42] 2015[42]
17 Charlotte Area Transit System:
Blue and Gold Lines 		Charlotte 8,892,100 29,900 20.8 miles (33.5 km)[43][44] 1,438 2007[45] 31[43][44] 2[43] 2021[46]
18 Santa Clara
VTA Light Rail[note 3] 		San Jose 8,335,100 26,700 42.2 miles (67.9 km)[47] 632 1987[47] 62[47] 3[47] 2005[47]
19 The T:
Pittsburgh Light Rail 		Pittsburgh 7,364,300 20,176[note 4] 26.2 miles (42.2 km)[48] 770 1984[note 5] 53[48] 2[48] 2012[48]
20 Baltimore Light Rail[note 1] Baltimore 6,508,700 25,300 33 miles (53 km)[49] 767 1992 33[49] 3[49] 1997
21 San Francisco
cable car system[note 2][note 6] 		San Francisco 5,719,900 14,900 5.2 miles (8.4 km) 2,865 1878[50] streetcar-like surface stops 3[5][51] 1952
22 Newark Light Rail[note 1][32] Newark 5,500,000[32] 15,068[note 4] 6.2 miles (10.0 km)[32] 2,430 1935 16[33] 2[33] 2006
23 RTA Streetcars
in New Orleans[note 2] 		New Orleans 5,289,400 15,600 26.9 miles (43.3 km)[52] 579 1835 streetcar-like surface stops 5[52] 2018[52][53]
24 Portland Streetcar[note 7] Portland 5,241,162[54] 12,619[54][note 8] 9.35 miles (15.05 km)[55] 1,717 2001[55] 76[55] 2[55] 2015[56]
25 Buffalo Metro Rail Buffalo 4,394,000 15,100 6.4 miles (10.3 km) 2,359 1984 14[57] 1[57] n/a
26 River LINE[note 1][32] Trenton-
Camden 		2,700,000[32] 7,397[note 4] 34 miles (55 km)[32] 218 2004 20[58] 1[58] 2013
27 SPRINTER[note 3][59] Oceanside
-Escondido 		2,475,800 7,800 22 miles (35 km)[60] 354 2008[60] 15[60] 1[60] n/a
28 KC Streetcar Kansas City 2,228,942[61] 6,107[61][note 4] 2.2 miles (3.5 km) 2,776 2016 16[62] 1 2016
29 Seattle Streetcar[note 3] Seattle 1,863,400 6,000 3.8 miles (6.1 km) 1,579 2007 21 2 2016
30 RTA Rapid Transit:[note 9]
Blue, Green, and Waterfront Lines 		Cleveland 1,477,700 3,900 15.3 miles (24.6 km)[63] 255 1913[64] 34[63] 2[63] 1996[64]
31 Tide Light Rail Norfolk 1,345,100 4,200 7.4 miles (11.9 km)[65] 568 2011[66] 11[65] 1[65] n/a
32 Q-Line Detroit 1,200,000[67] 3,288[note 4][67] 3.3 miles (5.3 km) 996 2017 20 1 n/a
33 DC Streetcar Washington, D.C. 1,093,400 2,400 2.4 miles (3.9 km) 1,000 2016 8 1 n/a
34 Link:[note 3]
Line T 		Tacoma 909,429[15] 2,990[15] 1.6 miles (2.6 km)[16] 1,869 2003 5[16] 1[16] n/a[17]
35 Sun Link Tucson 873,100 3,100 3.9 miles (6.3 km)[68] 795 2014 22[68] 1[68] n/a
36 Cincinnati Bell Connector[69] Cincinnati 530,757[70] 1,454[note 4][70] 3.6 miles (5.8 km)[71] 404 2016[72] 18[71] 1 n/a
37 MATA Trolley Memphis 302,000[note 10] 900 2 miles (3.2 km) 450 1993 11[73] 1[73] 2004
38 El Paso Streetcar El Paso 271,900 1,600 4.8 miles (7.7 km) 333 2018 27[74] 2[74] n/a
39 Atlanta Streetcar Atlanta 255,600 700[note 4] 2.7 miles (4.3 km) 259 2014 12 1 n/a
40 Dallas Streetcar Dallas 158,000[75] 600[75] 2.45 miles (3.94 km) 245 2015 6 1 2016

Gallery[]

Systems excluded from ridership table[]

The following light rail systems have been excluded from the ridership table above:

System Largest city served Opened Route length Reason(s) for exclusion from Ridership table
Galveston Island Trolley Galveston, TX 1988[76] 6.8 miles (10.9 km)[76] Galveston's heritage streetcar trolley system is non-operational – it has suspended its service since September 2008 due to damage from Hurricane Ike.
Kenosha Streetcars Kenosha, WI 2000[77] 2.0 miles (3.2 km)[77] This heritage streetcar system is primarily a tourist system (e.g. does not operate daily, year-round), rather than a transit system; Kenosha's transit systems are too small to be tracked by APTA.
Metro Streetcar Little Rock, AR 2004[78] 3.4 miles (5.5 km)[78] This heritage streetcar system is primarily a tourist system, rather than a transit system; APTA does not provide ridership figures for this system.
River Street Streetcar Savannah, GA 2009 1.0 mile (1.6 km) This heritage streetcar system is primarily a tourist system, rather than a transit system; APTA does not track this system.

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h This system also has a heavy rail rapid transit/metro portion (see List of metro systems), and connections to a commuter rail system; the ridership figures and statistics presented here represent the light rail portion of the system only.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g This line or system is operated using heritage streetcars.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k This system also has available connections to a commuter rail system; the ridership figures and statistics presented here represent the light rail portion of the system only.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i This is the Average Daily Ridership figure, not an "Average Weekday Ridership" figure – it is averaged from the 2019 Total Ridership figure for this system.
  5. ^ As current incarnation of light rail.
  6. ^ May or may not qualify as "light rail" (or as a true "mass transit" system), but is included in this table for comparison purposes (and due to its ridership statistics being tracked by APTA).
  7. ^ This system is owned by the City of Portland, which is not a member of APTA, and its ridership figures are not included in the APTA statistics for Portland.
  8. ^ FY2017
  9. ^ This system also has a heavy rail rapid transit/metro portion (see List of metro systems); the ridership figures and statistics presented here represent the light rail portion of the system only.
  10. ^ MATA numbers are for 2018.

References[]

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  78. ^ a b "River Rail – Central Arkansas Transit Authority". Central Arkansas Transit Authority (CATA). Archived from the original on 2013-09-02. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
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