List of North American rapid transit systems by ridership

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 for the first quarter of 2010, unless otherwise noted. Dates are given for all figures; the most recent available are used.

Rank	System	Largest city served	Year opened	Weekday ridership	Date	Route mile	Riders per mile
1	New York City Subway New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the City of New York and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, a subsidiary agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and also known as MTA New York City Transit...	New York City New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...	1904	7,512,100	2010 Q1	229	33,786
2	Mexico City Metro Mexico City Metro The Mexico City Metro , officially called Sistema de Transporte Colectivo, is a metro system that serves the metropolitan area of Mexico City...	Mexico City Mexico City Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...	1969	3,860,000	1993	110	40,000
3	Montreal Metro Montreal Metro The Montreal Metro is a rubber-tired metro system, and the main form of public transportation underground in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada....	Montreal Montreal Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...	1966	1,111,700	2011 Q1	40.59	27,388
4	Toronto subway and RT Toronto subway and RT The Toronto subway and RT is a rapid transit system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, consisting of both underground and elevated railway lines, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission . It was Canada's first completed subway system, with the first line being built under Yonge Street, which opened in... *	Toronto Toronto Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...	1954	948,100	2010 Q1	38	24,950
5	Washington Metro Washington Metro The Washington Metro, commonly called Metro, and unofficially Metrorail, is the rapid transit system in Washington, D.C., United States, and its surrounding suburbs. It is administered by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority , which also operates Metrobus service under the Metro name...	Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....	1976	919,300	2010 Q1	106.3	9,660
6	Chicago 'L' Chicago 'L' The L is the rapid transit system serving the city of Chicago and some of its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Chicago Transit Authority...	Chicago Chicago Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...	1892	638,100	2010 Q1	136.7	4,687
7	Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, often referred to as the MBTA or simply The T, is the public operator of most bus, subway, commuter rail and ferry systems in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area. Officially a "body politic and corporate, and a political subdivision" of the... *	Boston	1897	478,600	2010 Q1	65.5	7,417
8	SkyTrain SkyTrain (Vancouver) SkyTrain is a light rapid transit system in Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. SkyTrain has of track and uses fully automated trains on grade-separated tracks, running mostly on elevated guideways, which helps SkyTrain to hold consistently high on-time reliability...	Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...	1985	426,500	2010 Q1	43	9,918
9	BART Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...	San Francisco San Francisco, California San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...	1972	343,200	2010 Q1	104	3,681
10	SEPTA Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority is a metropolitan transportation authority that operates various forms of public transit—bus, subway and elevated rail, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolley bus—that serve 3.9 million people in and around Philadelphia,... *	Philadelphia	1907	314,800	2010 Q1	25	12,720
11	Metro Rail Los Angeles County Metro Rail Metro Rail is the rapid transit rail system consisting of five separate lines serving 70 stations in the Los Angeles County, California area. The new Expo line is due to enter service in early 2012. It connects with the Metro liner bus rapid transit system and also with the Metrolink commuter... *	Los Angeles Los Angeles, California Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...	1990	306,180	2010 Q2	79.1	3,871
12	MARTA Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority or MARTA is the principal rapid-transit system in the Atlanta metropolitan area and the ninth-largest in the United States. Formed in 1971 as strictly a bus system, MARTA operates a network of bus routes linked to a rapid transit system consisting...	Atlanta Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...	1979	242,700	2010 Q1	47.6	6,254
13	PATH Port Authority Trans-Hudson PATH, derived from Port Authority Trans-Hudson, is a rapid transit railroad linking Manhattan, New York City with Newark, Harrison, Hoboken and Jersey City in metropolitan northern New Jersey...	New York City New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...	1908	236,400	2010 Q1	13.8	18,145
14	Metrorail	Miami Miami, Florida Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...	1984	61,100	2010 Q1	22	2,900
15	Baltimore Metro Subway Baltimore Metro Subway The Baltimore Metro Subway, known locally as the Metro Subway, The Subway, or Baltimore Metro is a rapid transit line serving the greater Baltimore, Maryland, United States area and operated by the Maryland Transit Administration... *	Baltimore	1983	59,300	2010 Q1	15.5	3,439
16	PATCO Speedline	Philadelphia	1936	35,500	2009 Q2	14.2	2,577
17	Tren Urbano Tren Urbano The Tren Urbano — or Urban Train in English — is a fully automated rapid transit that serves the metropolitan area of San Juan, which includes the municipalities of San Juan, Bayamón and Guaynabo. It is electrified by third rail at 750 V DC...	San Juan San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan , officially Municipio de la Ciudad Capital San Juan Bautista , is the capital and most populous municipality in Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 395,326 making it the 46th-largest city under the jurisdiction of...	2004	31,900	2009 Q2	10.7	3,439
18	RTA Rapid Transit RTA Rapid Transit RTA Rapid Transit is a rapid transit and light rail system in Cleveland and Cuyahoga County owned by the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority... *	Cleveland Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...	1955	29,800	2007 Q3	19	1,568
19	Staten Island Railway Staten Island Railway The Staten Island Rapid Transit Operating Authority, publicly known as MTA Staten Island Railway or SIR, is the operator of the lone rapid transit line in the borough of Staten Island, New York City, USA...	New York City New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...	1860	14,900	2010 Q1	14	1,136

Those systems marked with an asterisk (*) are integrated with a light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

system; only the parts of the systems that are not light rail are counted in the statistics presented here.

See also