List of United States light rail systems

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.

List

System Largest city
served 		Annual ridership 2023[1] Avg. ridership weekdays, Q1 2024[2] System
length 		Avg. boardings per mile weekdays, Q1 2024 Year
opened 		Stations Lines Year
last
expanded
1 San Diego Trolley[a]
(incl. Silver Line[3][b]) 		San Diego 38,438,000 116,500 65 mi (105 km)[4] 1,792 1981[4] 62[4] 4[3][4] 2021[4]
2 Metro Rail light rail:[c]
A, C, E, & K lines 		Los Angeles 36,082,100 129,100 94.5 mi (152.1 km)[5] 1,366 1990[5] 88[5] 4[5] 2023[5]
3 MBTA light rail:[c]
Green Line & Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line[b] 		Boston 34,581,000 63,600 26 mi (42 km)[6] 2,446 1897[7] 74[6] 5[6] 2022
4 Link[a]
(incl. T Line) 		Seattle 27,338,200 70,600 20.4 mi (32.8 km)[8] 3,461 2009 31[8] 3[8] 2024[9]
5 Muni Metro[c][10]
(incl. E Embarcadero[b] & F Market[11][12][b]) 		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]
6 MAX Light Rail[a] Portland 23,446,700 63,400 60 mi (97 km) 1,057 1986 97 5 2015
7 DART[a] Dallas 21,380,900 64,500 93 mi (150 km)[16] 694 1996[17] 64[16] 4[18] 2016[17]
8 NJ Transit:[c] Hudson–Bergen
Light Rail, Newark Light Rail, River LINE,[19] 		Jersey City, Newark, Camden-Trenton 20,827,300 57,100[d] 59.9 mi (96.4 km)[19] 953 1935 24[20] 3[20] 2011
9 METRO Light Rail[a] Minneapolis-St. Paul 14,755,900 45,100 21.8 mi (35.1 km)[21][22] 2,069 2004[21] 37[21][22] 2[21][22] 2014[22]
10 METRORail Houston 13,883,700 43,200 23.8 mi (38.3 km)[23][24] 1,815 2004[24] 44[23] 3[23] 2017[23]
11 SEPTA Metro light rail:[25][c]
Subway–Surface Trolleys (T), Route 15 Trolley (G)[b], & Media–Sharon Hill Line (D) 		Philadelphia 13,248,600 51,000 68.4 mi (110.1 km)[26][27] 746 1906 >100[26] 8[26][27] 2005
12 Denver RTD:[a]
D, E, H, R, L, & W Lines 		Denver 12,740,600 51,200 58.5 mi (94.1 km)[28] 875 1994[29] 62[28] 8 2019[30]
13 TRAX (UTA) and S Line[a] Salt Lake City 11,043,800 41,600 46.8 mi (75.3 km)[31][32] 889 1999[33] 57[34] 4[34] 2013
14 Valley Metro Rail[35] Phoenix 10,797,600 34,400 29.8 mi (48.0 km)[36] 1,154 2008[37] 41[38] 1[37] 2024[36]
15 MetroLink St. Louis 6,717,900 18,800 46 mi (74 km)[39] 409 1993[40] 37[39] 2[41] 2006[42]
16 SacRT light rail Sacramento 6,580,000 21,700 42.9 mi (69.0 km)[43] 506 1987[43] 53[43] 3[43] 2015[43]
17 Charlotte Area Transit System:
Blue and Gold Lines 		Charlotte 6,118,300 16,600 20.8 mi (33.5 km)[44][45] 798 2007[46] 43[44][45] 2[44] 2021[47]
18 VTA light rail[a] San Jose 4,464,500 14,400 42.2 mi (67.9 km)[48] 341 1987[48] 62[48] 3[48] 2005[48]
19 RTA Streetcars
in New Orleans[b] 		New Orleans 3,884,800 9,700 26.9 mi (43.3 km)[49] 361 1835 n/a[e] 5[49] 2018[49][50]
20 Baltimore Light RailLink[c] Baltimore 3,546,300 14,400 33 mi (53 km)[51] 436 1992 33[51] 3[51] 1997
21 The T:
Pittsburgh Light Rail 		Pittsburgh 3,417,100 9,400[d] 26.2 mi (42.2 km)[52] 357 1984[f] 53[52] 3[52] 2012[52]
22 Portland Streetcar[g] 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 8,000 6.4 mi (10.3 km) 1,250 1984 14[56] 1[56] 1986
24 KC Streetcar Kansas City 1,832,215[57] 5,020[58] 2.2 mi (3.5 km) 2,281 2016 16[59] 1 2016
25 Sun Link Tucson 1,724,900 5,800 3.9 mi (6.3 km)[60] 1,487 2014 22[60] 1[60] —
26 SPRINTER[a][61] Oceanside 1,362,600 5,600 22 mi (35 km)[62] 255 2008[62] 15[62] 1[62] —
27 Seattle Streetcar[a] 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[d] 2.7 mi (4.3 km) 1,173 2002 11 1 2010
29 Q-Line Detroit 896,900[63] 2,460[63] 3.3 mi (5.3 km) 745 2017 20 1 —
30 Cincinnati Connector[64] Cincinnati 846,622[65] 2,320[d][65] 3.6 mi (5.8 km)[66] 644 2016[67] 18[66] 1 —
31 Tide Light Rail Norfolk 771,500 2,300 7.4 mi (11.9 km)[68] 311 2011[69] 11[68] 1[68] —
32 DC Streetcar Washington, D.C. 721,700 2,300 2.4 mi (3.9 km) 958 2016 8 1 —
33 Dallas Streetcar Dallas 701,904[70] 1,923 [d] 2.45 mi (3.94 km) 784 2015 6 1 2016
34 RTA Rapid Transit:[h]
Blue, Green, and Waterfront Lines 		Cleveland 661,500 3,200 15.3 mi (24.6 km)[71] 209 1913[72] 34[71] 2[71] 1996[72]
35 The Hop 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 184,500 700 2.7 mi (4.3 km) 259 2014 12 1 —
38 El Paso Streetcar El Paso 65,400 400 4.8 mi (7.7 km) 62 2018 27[74] 2[74] —

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
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.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j This system also has available connections to a commuter rail system; the ridership figures and statistics presented here represent only the light rail portion of the system.
  2. ^ a b c d e f This line or system is operated using heritage streetcars.
  3. ^ a b c d e f 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 only the light rail portion of the system.
  4. ^ a b c d e This is the Average Daily Ridership figure, not an "Average Weekday Ridership" figure – it is averaged from the Total Ridership figure for this system.
  5. ^ Uses streetcar-like surface stops.
  6. ^ As current incarnation of light rail.
  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. ^ This system also has a heavy rail rapid transit/metro portion (see List of metro systems); the ridership figures and statistics presented here represent only the light rail portion of the system.

References

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