List of United States Light Rail 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 (tram) systems that are providing regular public transit service (operating year-round and at least five days/week. All figures are average weekday unlinked passenger trips (i.e. line transfers register as separate trips) and come from the American Public Transit Association's Ridership Reports Statistics, unless otherwise noted. Dates are given for all figures; the most recent available are used.

  • MBTA Green Line

  • LACMTA Gold Line

  • Muni Metro's T Third line

  • MAX Light Rail

  • DART Green Line

  • TRAX Green Line

  • Hiawatha Line

Rank System Largest city served Daily boardings Route miles Daily boardings per mile As of Opened Other
Sources
1 MBTA Green Line
Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line***		 Boston 231,700 700128000000000000028 mi (45 km) 8,275 Q3 2012 1897
2 Los Angeles County Metro Rail*** Los Angeles 200,300 700170400000000000070.4 mi (113.3 km) 2,845 Q3 2012 1990
3 Muni Metro*** San Francisco 173,500 700145600000000000045.6 mi (73.4 km) 3,805 Q3 2012 1878
4 MAX Light Rail and Portland Streetcar** Portland 141,000 700156900000000000056.9 mi (91.6 km) 2,478 Q3 2012 1986/2001
5 San Diego Trolley ** San Diego 95,700 700153500000000000053.5 mi (86.1 km) 1,789 Q3 2012 1981
6 SEPTA Subway-Surface Lines,
Suburban Trolley Lines,
and Girard Avenue Trolley***		 Philadelphia 94,900 700160000000000000060 mi (97 km) 1,582 Q3 2012 1859
7 DART** Dallas 78,800 700175600999990000075.6 mi (121.7 km) 1,042 Q3 2012 1996
8 Denver RTD, The Ride Light Rail Denver 63,600 700135000000000000035 mi (56 km) 1,817 Q3 2012 1994
9 UTA TRAX** Salt Lake City 56,900 700135300999990000035.3 mi (56.8 km) 1,612 Q3 2012 1999
10 MetroLink St. Louis 55,300 700146000000000000046 mi (74 km) 1,202 Q3 2012 1993
11 Sacramento Regional Transit District Sacramento 46,000 700136900000000000036.9 mi (59.4 km) 1,247 Q3 2012 1987
12 METRO Light Rail (Phoenix) Phoenix 42,000 700120000000000000020 mi (32 km) 2,100 Q3 2012 2008
13 METRORail Houston 38,800 70007500000000000007.5 mi (12.1 km) 5,173 Q3 2012 2004
14 Santa Clara VTA Light Rail** San Jose 34,400 700142200000000000042.2 mi (67.9 km) 815 Q3 2012 1987
15 Hiawatha Line** Minneapolis 34,200 700112000000000000012 mi (19 km) 2,850 Q3 2012 2004
16 Central Link and South Lake Union Streetcar** Seattle 31,721 700116900999990000016.9 mi (27.2 km) 1,877 Q3 2012 2009/2007
17 The T Pittsburgh 28,400 700126200000000000026.2 mi (42.2 km) 1,084 Q3 2012 1897
18 Baltimore Light Rail*** Baltimore 28,300 700130000000000000030 mi (48 km) 943 Q3 2012 1992
19 Buffalo Metro Rail Buffalo 23,000 70006400000000000006.4 mi (10.3 km) 3,594 Q3 2012 1984
20 Hudson-Bergen Light Rail*** Jersey City 21,426 700120600000000000020.6 mi (33.2 km) 1,040 Q4 2012 2000
21 LYNX Rapid Transit Services Charlotte 15,900 70009600000000000009.6 mi (15.4 km) 1,656 Q3 2012 2007
22 RTA Streetcars New Orleans 13,100 700121500000000000021.5 mi (34.6 km) 609 Q3 2012 1835
23 Newark Light Rail*** Newark 10,075 70009900000000000009.9 mi (15.9 km) 1,018 Q4 2012 1935
24 The Rapid Blue and Green Lines* Cleveland 8,900 700115000000000000015 mi (24 km) 593 Q1 2008 1913
25 Sprinter ** Oceanside 8,400 700122000000000000022 mi (35 km) 382 Q3 2012 2008
26 Tide Light Rail Norfolk 6,700 70007400000000000007.4 mi (11.9 km) 905 Q3 2012 2011
27 Memphis RTA Trolley Memphis 4,900 70006700000000000006.7 mi (10.8 km) 731 Q2 2012 1993
28 River Line*** Trenton/Camden 4,273 700134000000000000034 mi (55 km) 126 Q4 2012 2004
29 Tacoma Link** Tacoma 3,168 70001600000000000001.6 mi (2.6 km) 1,980 Q3 2012 2003
30 TECO Line Streetcar System Tampa 500 70002300000000999992.3 mi (3.7 km) 217 Q2 2012 2002
31 River Rail Streetcar Little Rock 340 70002500000000000002.5 mi (4.0 km) 136 2005 2004
32 Kenosha Transit** Kenosha 300 70002000000000000002 mi (3.2 km) 150 Q2 2009 2000
33 Galveston Island Trolley† Galveston 0 70005200000000000005.2 mi (8.4 km) 0 Q3 2011 1988

(*) Systems offer connections to a heavy rail rapid transit system; the above numbers represent ridership on light rail lines only.
(**) Systems have available connections to a commuter rail system; the above numbers represent ridership on light rail lines only.
(***) Systems have available connections to both a commuter rail and rapid transit system; the above numbers represent ridership on light rail lines only.
(†) Galveston's system is currently shut down due to damage from Hurricane Ike.

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