List of North American light rail systems

See also: List of North American rapid transit systems

The following is a list of all light rail systems in North America, ranked by ridership. Daily figures for American and Canadian light rail systems are "average weekday unlinked passenger trips" (where transfers between lines are counted as two separate passenger "boardings" or "trips"), unless otherwise indicated. For light rail systems in the United States and Canada, these figures come from the American Public Transit Association (APTA) Ridership Reports statistics. For Mexico, the figures are obtained from Banco de Información Económica's Instituto Nacional de Estadísitica y Geografía (INEGI), and the daily figures represent daily passenger trips averaged from the monthly and quarterly ridership figures. "Daily boardings per mile" figures have been rounded to the nearest 5 or 10.

The question of which systems would qualify as "light rail transit systems" is debatable, so this table includes some systems (such as Toronto's) which are technically streetcars rather than "true" light rail.

Systems

[edit]
System Country City/Area
served 		Annual
ridership
(2023)[1][2] 		Avg. daily
weekday
boardings
(Q4 2023)[1][2] 		System
length 		Avg. daily boardings per mile
(Q4 2019) 		Year
opened 		Stations Lines Year
last
expanded
Guadalajara light rail (Tren ligero de Guadalajara)  MEX Guadalajara 157,704,000 47.0 km (29.2 mi)[3][4] 19,800 1989[3] 48[4] 3[4] 2020[5]
CTrain  CAN Calgary 85,320,400 264,200 59.9 km (37.2 mi)[6] 8,395 1981[7] 45[6] 2[8] 2014[citation needed]
Toronto streetcar system  CAN Toronto 69,106,000 221,700 82 km (51 mi)[9] 3,915 1861[10] 708 streetcar stops[9] 11[9] 2016[citation needed]
San Diego Trolley
(incl. Silver Line[11][note 1]) 		 USA San Diego 38,438,000 130,500 105 km (65 mi)[12] 2,155 1981[12] 62[12] 4[11][12] 2021[13][12]
Metro Rail light rail:[note 2]
A, C, E, & K lines 		 USA Los Angeles 36,082,100 120,100 141.8 km (88.1 mi)[14] 2,390 1990[14] 72[14] 5[14] 2022[14]
MBTA light rail:[note 2]
Green Line &
Ashmont–Mattapan High Speed Line[note 1] 		 USA Boston 34,581,000 80,300 42 km (26 mi)[15] 6,265 1897;[16]
1929[citation needed] 		74[15] 2[15] 2022[17]
Link light rail:
1 Line, 2 Line, and T Line 		 USA Seattle and Tacoma 27,338,200 78,600 58.90 km (36.6 mi) 3,820 2003[18] 39[19] 3[20] 2024[21]
Xochimilco Light Rail[note 2]  MEX Mexico City 23,741,000 65,043[note 3] 12.9 km (8.0 mi)[citation needed] 11,010 1986[citation needed] 18[22] 1[22] 2008[citation needed]
MAX Light Rail  USA Portland,
Oregon 		23,446,700 74,800 97 km (60 mi)[citation needed] 1,995 1986[citation needed] 97[citation needed] 5[citation needed] 2015[citation needed]
Edmonton LRT  CAN Edmonton 24,143,200 85,100 28.2 km (17.5 mi)[23] 7,335 1978[23] 29[23] 3[23] 2023[23]
DART light rail  USA Dallas 21,380,900 71,700 150 km (93 mi)[24] 1,030 1996[25] 64[24] 4[26] 2016[25]
Muni Metro[note 2]
(incl. F Market[27][28][note 1]) 		 USA San Francisco 24,324,600 75,500 57.5 km (35.7 mi)[29] 4,480 1980[29] 152[28][29] 8[27][29] 2023[30]
NJ Transit Light Rail  USA Newark,
New Jersey, as well as Hudson, Mercer, Burlington, and Camden Counties. 		20,827,300 174.0 km (108.1 mi)[31] 2,985 1935[32] 86[31] 3[31] 2011[33]
O-Train  CAN Ottawa 19,451,800 74,700 12.5 km

(7.8 mi) [34]

n/a 2019 13[34] 1[34] n/a
RTD Light Rail  USA Denver 12,740,600 94.1 km (58.5 mi)[35] 1,740 1994[36] 46[35] 6[35] 2017[36]
METRO Light Rail  USA Minneapolis 14,755,900 46,500 35.1 km (21.8 mi)[37][38] 3,515 2004[37] 37[37][38] 2[37][38] 2014[38]
METRORail  USA Houston 13,883,700 42,900 36.9 km (22.9 mi)[39] 2,651 2004[39] 37[40] 3[39] 2015[39]
SEPTA Metro light rail:[41][note 2]
Subway–Surface Trolleys (T), Media–Sharon Hill Line (D),
& Route 15 Trolley (G)[note 1] 		 USA Philadelphia 13,248,600 110.1 km (68.4 mi)[42][43] 1,330 1858[44] >100[42] 8[42][43] 2005[citation needed]
TRAX (light rail)  USA Salt Lake City 11,043,800 37,700 72.1 km (44.8 mi)[45] 1,288 1999[46] 50[47] 3[47] 2013[citation needed]
Valley Metro Rail  USA Phoenix 10,797,600 33,000 48 km (29.8 mi)[48] 1,800 2008[49] 41[48] 1[citation needed] 2024[50]
St. Louis MetroLink  USA St. Louis 6,717,900 19,400 74.0 km (46.0 mi)[51] 857 1993[52] 37[51] 2[53] 2006[54]
Lynx Rapid Transit Services  USA Charlotte,
North Carolina 		6,118,300 18,200 30.4 km (18.9 mi)[55] 1,228 2007[56] 15[57] 1[57] 2018[citation needed]
SacRT light rail  USA Sacramento,
California 		6,580,000 22,200 69.0 km (42.9 mi)[58] 858 1987[58] 53[58] 3[58] 2015[58]
Streetcars in
New Orleans[note 1] 		 USA New Orleans 3,884,800 9,700 35.9 km (22.3 mi)[59][60] 843 1835[citation needed] streetcar-like surface stops[citation needed] 4[59] 2013[59]
VTA light rail  USA San Jose,
California 		4,464,500 13,800 67.9 km (42.2 mi)[61] 1,121 1987[61] 62[61] 3[61] 2005[61]
Baltimore Light RailLink[note 2]  USA Baltimore 3,546,300 12,500 53.1 km (33.0 mi)[62] 558 1992[citation needed] 33[62] 3[62] 1997[citation needed]
Ion rapid transit  CAN Kitchener and Waterloo 5,654,810[63] 19.3 km (12.0 mi)[64] n/a 2019 19[64] 1[64] n/a
The T:
Pittsburgh Light Rail 		 USA Pittsburgh 3,417,100

42.2 km (26.2 mi)[65]

1,057 1984[citation needed] 53[65] 3[65] 2012[65]
San Francisco
cable car system[note 4][note 1] 		 USA San Francisco 5,719,900 14,900 8.4 km (5.2 mi)[citation needed] 3,021 1878[66] streetcar-like surface stops[citation needed] 3[28][67] 1952[citation needed]
Portland Streetcar[note 5]  USA Portland 2,373,341[68] 8,339 11.83 km (7.35 mi)[69] 2,723 2001[69] 76[69] 2[69] 2012[69]
Buffalo Metro Rail  USA Buffalo,
New York 		2,433,300 6,600 10.3 km (6.4 mi)[citation needed] 2,500 1985[citation needed] 14[70] 1[70] n/a
SPRINTER  USA Oceanside,
California 		1,362,600 5,600 35 km (22 mi)[71] 341 2008[71] 15[71] 1[71] n/a
Seattle Streetcar  USA Seattle 1,326,500 4,200 6.1 km (3.8 mi)[citation needed] 1,447 2007[72] 17[73] 2[73] 2016[74]
RTA Rapid Transit:[note 2]
Blue, Green, and Waterfront Lines 		 USA Cleveland 661,500 2,500 24.6 km (15.3 mi)[75] 327 1913[76] 34[75] 2[75] 1996[76]
Tide Light Rail  USA Norfolk,
Virginia 		771,500 2,500 11.9 km (7.4 mi)[77] 622 2011[78] 11[77] 1[77] n/a
DC Streetcar  USA Washington, D.C. 721,700 2,200 3.9 km (2.4 mi)[79] 2016[80] 8 1 2016
TECO Line Streetcars[note 1]  USA Tampa,
Florida 		1,428,700 4.3 km (2.7 mi)[81] 630 2002[citation needed] 11[82] 1[82] 2010[citation needed]
Sun Link  USA Tucson,
Arizona 		1,724,900 5,800 6.3 km (3.9 mi)[83] 1,026 2014[citation needed] 22[83] 1[83] n/a
The Hop  USA Milwaukee,
Wisconsin 		760,321 – 3.4 km (2.1 mi)[84] 2018[84] 18 1 2018
El Paso Streetcar  USA El Paso,
Texas 		130,600 600 7.7 km (4.8 mi)[85] 2018[86] 27 2 2018
Atlanta Streetcar  USA Atlanta,
Georgia 		184,500 600 4.3 km (2.7 mi)[citation needed] 111 2014[citation needed] 12[citation needed] 1[citation needed] n/a
MATA Trolleys[note 1]  USA Memphis,
Tennessee 		365,400 800 10.1 km (6.3 mi)[citation needed] 0[note 6] 1993[87] 25[88] 3[88] 2004[87]

Excluded systems

[edit]
See also: List of United States light rail systems by ridership § Systems excluded from ridership table

The following systems have been excluded from the ridership table above (generally because the system's ridership statistics are not tracked by APTA):

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l This line or system is operated using heritage streetcars.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g This system also has a heavy rail rapid transit/metro portion (see List of metro systems); the ridership figures and statistics here represent the light rail portion of the system only.
  3. ^ This is the Average Daily Ridership figure, not an "Average Weekday Ridership" figure – it is averaged from the 2022 Total Ridership figure for this system.
  4. ^ It is debatable whether this system truly qualifies as "light rail" (or as a true "transit" system either), but it is included in the table anyway for comparison purposes (and due to its ridership statistics being tracked by APTA).
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ The MATA Trolley system completely suspended operations for a significant portion of 2014 (including all of Q4 2014) due to maintenance issues.

References

[edit]
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