The following is a list of all light rail systems in the United States, ranked by ridership. Also included are some of the urban streetcar/trolley systems that provide regular public transit service (operating year-round and at least five days/week), ones with data available from the American Public Transportation Association's (APTA) Ridership Reports. 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"). References with supplementary (non-APTA) ridership figures are included in the System column.
System | Largest city served |
Annual ridership 2023[1] | Avg. ridership weekdays, Q4 2023[2] | System length |
Avg. boardings per mile weekdays, Q4 2023 | Year opened |
Stations | Lines | Year last expanded | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | San Diego Trolley[note 1] (incl. Silver Line[3][note 2]) |
San Diego | 38,438,000 | 130,500 | 65 mi (105 km)[4] | 2,008 | 1981[4] | 62[4] | 4[3][4] | 2021[4] |
2 | Metro Rail light rail:[note 3] A, C, E, & K lines |
Los Angeles | 36,082,100 | 120,100 | 94.5 mi (152.1 km)[5] | 1,271 | 1990[5] | 88[5] | 4[5] | 2023[5] |
3 | MBTA light rail:[note 3] Green Line & Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line[note 2] |
Boston | 34,581,000 | 80,300 | 26 mi (42 km)[6] | 3,088 | 1897[7] | 74[6] | 5[6] | 2022 |
4 | Link[note 1] (incl. T Line) |
Seattle | 27,338,200 | 78,600 | 20.4 mi (32.8 km)[8] | 3,853 | 2009 | 31[8] | 2[8] | 2024[9] |
5 | MAX Light Rail[note 1] | Portland | 23,446,700 | 74,800 | 60 mi (97 km) | 1,247 | 1986 | 97 | 5 | 2015 |
6 | Muni Metro[note 3][10] (incl. E Embarcadero[note 2] & F Market[11][12][note 2]) |
San Francisco | 24,324,600 | 75,500 | 35.7 mi (57.5 km)[13] | 2,115 | 1912[14] | 152[12][13] | 9[11][13] | 2022[15] |
7 | DART[note 1] | Dallas | 21,380,900 | 71,700 | 93 mi (150 km)[16] | 771 | 1996[17] | 64[16] | 4[18] | 2016[17] |
8 | NJ Transit:[note 3] Hudson–Bergen Light Rail, Newark Light Rail, River LINE,[19] |
Jersey City, Newark, Camden-Trenton | 20,827,300 | 57,100[note 4] | 59.9 mi (96.4 km)[19] | 953 | 1935 | 24[20] | 3[20] | 2011 |
9 | Denver RTD:[note 1] D, E, H, R, L, & W Lines |
Denver | 12,740,600 | 51,200 | 58.5 mi (94.1 km)[21] | 875 | 1994[22] | 62[21] | 8 | 2019[23] |
10 | METRO Light Rail[note 1] | Minneapolis-St. Paul | 14,755,900 | 46,500 | 21.8 mi (35.1 km)[24][25] | 2,133 | 2004[24] | 37[24][25] | 2[24][25] | 2014[25] |
11 | METRORail | Houston | 13,883,700 | 42,900 | 23.8 mi (38.3 km)[26][27] | 1,803 | 2004[27] | 44[26] | 3[26] | 2017[26] |
12 | SEPTA Metro light rail:[28][note 3] Subway–Surface Lines, Suburban Trolley Lines & Girard Ave Trolley[note 2] |
Philadelphia | 13,248,600 | 42,800 | 68.4 mi (110.1 km)[29][30] | 626 | 1906 | >100[29] | 8[29][30] | 2005 |
13 | TRAX (UTA) and S Line[note 1] | Salt Lake City | 11,043,800 | 37,700 | 46.8 mi (75.3 km)[31][32] | 806 | 1999[33] | 57[34] | 4[34] | 2013 |
14 | Valley Metro Rail[35] | Phoenix | 10,797,600 | 33,000 | 29.8 mi (48.0 km)[36] | 1,107 | 2008[37] | 41[38] | 1[37] | 2024[36] |
15 | Sacramento RT Light Rail | Sacramento | 6,580,000 | 22,200 | 42.9 mi (69.0 km)[39] | 517 | 1987[39] | 53[39] | 3[39] | 2015[39] |
16 | MetroLink | St. Louis | 6,717,900 | 19,400 | 46 mi (74 km)[40] | 422 | 1993[41] | 37[40] | 2[42] | 2006[43] |
17 | Charlotte Area Transit System: Blue and Gold Lines |
Charlotte | 6,118,300 | 18,200 | 20.8 mi (33.5 km)[44][45] | 875 | 2007[46] | 43[44][45] | 2[44] | 2021[47] |
18 | VTA light rail[note 1] | San Jose | 4,464,500 | 13,800 | 42.2 mi (67.9 km)[48] | 327 | 1987[48] | 62[48] | 3[48] | 2005[48] |
19 | Baltimore Light RailLink[note 3] | Baltimore | 3,546,300 | 12,500 | 33 mi (53 km)[49] | 379 | 1992 | 33[49] | 3[49] | 1997 |
20 | RTA Streetcars in New Orleans[note 2] |
New Orleans | 3,884,800 | 9,700 | 26.9 mi (43.3 km)[50] | 361 | 1835 | n/a[note 5] | 5[50] | 2018[50][51] |
21 | The T: Pittsburgh Light Rail |
Pittsburgh | 3,417,100 | 9,400[note 4] | 26.2 mi (42.2 km)[52] | 357 | 1984[note 6] | 53[52] | 3[52] | 2012[52] |
22 | Portland Streetcar[note 7] | Portland | 2,849,190[53] | 7,806[53] | 9.35 mi (15.05 km)[54] | 834 | 2001[54] | 76[54] | 3[54] | 2015[55] |
23 | Buffalo Metro Rail | Buffalo | 2,433,300 | 6,600 | 6.4 mi (10.3 km) | 1,031 | 1984 | 14[56] | 1[56] | 1986 |
24 | Sun Link | Tucson | 1,724,900 | 5,800 | 3.9 mi (6.3 km)[57] | 1,487 | 2014 | 22[57] | 1[57] | — |
25 | SPRINTER[note 1][58] | Oceanside | 1,362,600 | 5,600 | 22 mi (35 km)[59] | 255 | 2008[59] | 15[59] | 1[59] | — |
26 | KC Streetcar | Kansas City | 1,832,215[60] | 5,020[61] | 2.2 mi (3.5 km) | 2,281 | 2016 | 16[62] | 1 | 2016 |
27 | Seattle Streetcar[note 1] | Seattle | 1,326,500 | 4,200 | 3.8 mi (6.1 km) | 1,105 | 2007 | 21 | 2 | 2016 |
28 | TECO Line Streetcar | Tampa | 1,156,800 [citation needed] | 3,169[note 4] | 2.7 mi (4.3 km) | 1,173 | 2002 | 11 | 1 | 2010 |
29 | Tide Light Rail | Norfolk | 771,500 | 2,500 | 7.4 mi (11.9 km)[63] | 338 | 2011[64] | 11[63] | 1[63] | — |
30 | RTA Rapid Transit:[note 8] Blue, Green, and Waterfront Lines |
Cleveland | 661,500 | 2,500 | 15.3 mi (24.6 km)[65] | 163 | 1913[66] | 34[65] | 2[65] | 1996[66] |
31 | Q-Line | Detroit | 896,900[67] | 2,460[67] | 3.3 mi (5.3 km) | 745 | 2017 | 20 | 1 | — |
32 | Cincinnati Connector[68] | Cincinnati | 846,622[69] | 2,320[note 4][69] | 3.6 mi (5.8 km)[70] | 644 | 2016[71] | 18[70] | 1 | — |
33 | DC Streetcar | Washington, D.C. | 721,700 | 2,200 | 2.4 mi (3.9 km) | 917 | 2016 | 8 | 1 | — |
34 | Dallas Streetcar | Dallas | 701,904[72] | 1,923 [note 4] | 2.45 mi (3.94 km) | 784 | 2015 | 6 | 1 | 2016 |
35 | The Hop (streetcar) | Milwaukee | 453,269[73] | 1,241 | 2.1 mi (3.4 km) | 636 | 2018 | 10 | 1 | — |
36 | MATA Trolley | Memphis | 365,400 | 800 | 2 mi (3.2 km) | 400 | 1993 | 11[73] | 1[73] | 2004 |
37 | Atlanta Streetcar | Atlanta | 184,500 | 600 | 2.7 mi (4.3 km) | 222 | 2014 | 12 | 1 | — |
38 | El Paso Streetcar | El Paso | 65,400 | 400 | 4.8 mi (7.7 km) | 62 | 2018 | 27[74] | 2[74] | — |
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 |
---|---|---|---|---|
San Francisco cable car system | San Francisco, CA | 1873 | 5.1 mi (8.2 km) | APTA does not provide ridership figures for this system. |
Lowell National Historical Park Trolley System | Lowell, MA | 1984[75] | 1.2 mi (1.9 km)[76] | Primarily a tourist system (does not operate daily, year-round). APTA does not provide ridership figures. |
Galveston Island Trolley | Galveston, TX | 1988[77] | 6.8 mi (10.9 km)[77] | Non-operational; suspended since September 2008 due to damage from Hurricane Ike. |
Kenosha Streetcars | Kenosha, WI | 2000[78] | 2.0 mi (3.2 km)[78] | Primarily a tourist system. APTA does not provide ridership figures. |
Metro Streetcar | Little Rock, AR | 2004[79] | 3.4 mi (5.5 km)[79] | Primarily a tourist system. APTA does not provide ridership figures. |
River Street Streetcar | Savannah, GA | 2009 | 1 mi (1.6 km) | Primarily a tourist system. APTA does not provide ridership figures. |
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