List of North American rapid transit systems

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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 2025 and average weekday ridership figures for the First Quarter (Q1) of 2026 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]

More information System, Country ...
System Country City/area
served		 Annual
ridership
(2025)[1][4]		 Avg. daily
weekday
boardings
(Q1 2026)[1][4]		 System
length		 Avg. daily
boardings
per mile
(per kilometer)
(Q3 2023)		 Year
opened		 Stations Lines
1 New York City Subway USA New York City 2,314,388,000 7,245,000 248 miles (399 km)[5] 25,251
(15,781)		 1904[note 1] 472[6] 24[6]
2 Mexico City Metro MEX Mexico City 1,115,300,000 [4] 2,397,892[7] 140.75 miles (226.5 km)[8] 17,037
(10,648)		 1969 195[9] 12[9]
3 Toronto subway CAN Toronto 331,789,000 1,089,300 62.2 miles (100.1 km)[10] 20,305
(12,690)		 1954[10] 109 5
4 Montreal Metro CAN Montreal 311,929,200 1,019,200 43 miles (69 km)[11] 21,816
(13,635)		 1966 68 4
5 Washington Metro USA Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area 188,549,700 545,900 129 miles (208 km)[12] 3,683
(2,301)		 1976[12] 98[12] 6
6 SkyTrain CAN Vancouver 146,789,800 427,000 49.5 miles (79.6 km) 9,030
(5,643)		 1985 53[13] 3[13]
7 Chicago 'L' USA Chicago 135,202,800 385,500 102.8 miles (165.4 km)[14] 3,780
(2,362)		 1892[14] 145[14] 8[14]
8 Metrorrey MEX Monterrey 138,709,000[4] 380,024 [note 2] 25 miles (40 km)[15] 25,605
(16,003)		 1991[16] 40[15] 3[15]
9 MBTA subway[note 3]
(Blue, Orange, and Red Lines)		 USA Boston 101,054,600 326,500 39.5 miles (63.6 km)[17] 7,187
(4,491)		 1901 53[17] 4[17]
10 BART USA San Francisco
Bay Area		 53,678,000 286,200 131.4 miles (211.5 km)[18] 1,280
(800)		 1972[18] 50[19] 6[20]
11 SEPTA Metro[21][22][note 3]
(L, B, and M)		 USA Philadelphia 65,471,700 219,000 36.7 miles (59.1 km)[21][23] 4,733
(2,958)		 1907 75[22] 3[22]
12 PATH USA Jersey City, Newark, NJ 64,318,300 210,000 13.8 miles (22.2 km)[24] 13,449
(8,405)		 1908 13[25] 5[25]
13 MARTA rail USA Atlanta 30,373,600 136,900 48 miles (77 km)[26] 1,952
(1,220)		 1979 38[26] 4
14 Panama Metro PAN Panama City 116,088,070[27] 180,000[28][needs update] 22.9 miles (36.9 km)[29] 21,176
(13,235)		 2014 31[30] 2[31]
15 Santo Domingo Metro DO Santo Domingo 104,003,341 (2022/2023)[32] 284,941[32] 17.0 miles (27.4 km)[33][34] 10,461
(6,538)		 2009 30[33][34] 2[33][34]
16 Metro Rail[note 3]
(B and D Lines)		 USA Los Angeles 20,990,600 61,000 17.4 miles (28.0 km)[35] 3,667
(2,291)		 1993[35] 16[35] 2[35]
17 Miami Metrorail USA Miami 14,971,300 51,600 24.9 miles (40.1 km)[36] 2,111
(1,319)		 1984 23[36] 2
18 PATCO Speedline USA Philadelphia 5,865,800 18,500 14.2 miles (22.9 km)[37] 1,268
(792)		 1936[37] 14[37] 1[37]
19 Staten Island Railway USA New York City 5,437,400 19,000 14.0 miles (22.5 km)[5] 1,279
(799)		 1860 22[5] 1[5]
20 Baltimore Metro SubwayLink[note 3] USA Baltimore 4,610,400 11,500 15.5 miles (24.9 km)[38] 884
(552)		 1983 14[38] 1[38]
21 RTA Rapid Transit[note 3]
(Red Line)		 USA Cleveland 2,860,500 7,600 19 miles (31 km)[39] 553
(345)		 1955 18[39] 1[39]
22 Tren Urbano USA (Puerto Rico) San Juan 4,438,400 22,600 10.7 miles (17.2 km) 1,318
(823)		 2004 16 1
23 Skyline (Honolulu) USA Honolulu 1,696,800 9,200 16.1 mi (25.9 km) 2023 13 2
Close
For a given population size, New York, some Mexican and Canadian cities tend to have higher public transit usage.
Note: This data goes beyond rapid transit and encompasses all public transport, including modes such as buses.

See also

Notes

  1. [1]
    The current system incorporates elevated sections built in 1870.
  2. [2]
    This system does not have update data of the avg. daily weekday boardings, this number correspond to the regular average.
  3. [3]
    This rapid transit system is integrated with a light rail system; only the parts of the system that are rapid transit/metro, and that are not light rail, are counted in the statistics presented here.

References

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