City Public Transit Ridership numbers (cost, state, better, largest)

[RightonWalnut]

APTA 4th Quarter 2012
Average Weekday Ridership for US Heavy-Rail Systems:

01. New York - 8,373,100 (NJ Transit/PATH not included)
02. Washington - 901,300
03. Chicago - 728,800
04. Boston - 530,200
05. San Francisco - 418,700
06. Philadelphia - 339,700 (NJ Transit/PATCO not included)
07. Atlanta - 217,600
08. Jersey City (PATH) - 180,400
09. Los Angeles - 158,200
10. Miami - 69,100
11. Baltimore - 50,100
12. Lindenwold (PATCO) - 36,900
13. Staten Island Railway - 16,000
xx. Cleveland - NA


http://www.apta.com/resources/statis...rship-APTA.pdf

Top 20 US Light Rail Systems by Average Weekday Ridership:

01. Boston - 222,500
02. Los Angeles - 203,400
03. San Francisco - 160,100
04. Portland - 115,400
05. Philadelphia - 113,900 (NJ Transit not included)
06. Dallas - 103,100
07. San Diego - 87,700
08. Denver - 65,300
09. Salt Lake City - 60,600
10. St. Louis - 52,500
11. Sacramento - 49,600
12. Phoenix - 46,000
13. Houston - 37,400
14. San Jose - 33,800
15. Minneapolis - 31,500
16. Seattle - 29,800
17. Baltimore - 29,200
18. Pittsburgh - 27,600
19. Buffalo - 19,900
20. Charlotte - 14,800

[cali3448893]

It makes me sad when i see all these small cities with light rail systems yet cincinnati still doesnt have one...

[Andy]

Originally Posted by cali3448893

It makes me sad when i see all these small cities with light rail systems yet cincinnati still doesnt have one...

Looking at those ridership #s, light rail is a massive waste of money. Cincy is smart for avoiding that expensive scam.

[RightonWalnut]

Originally Posted by Andy

Looking at those ridership #s, light rail is a massive waste of money. Cincy is smart for avoiding that expensive scam.

All of Philadelphia and Boston's light rail lines are extremely old. Philadelphia is just street cars and trolleys except for one typical light rail line that runs along the river in New Jersey. Philadelphia's system is really just to connect the dots where heavy rail can't be built because of the extreme density in the city. The system was supposed to be bigger, but they ran out of funds when constructing it.

Jersey Riverline:
NJT RiverLINE - Camden | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Here are the street cars that run all throughout West and Southwest Philadelphia

Photo my own

Girard Ave Trolley:
http://hiddencityphila.org/wp-conten...ue-660x440.jpg

Future plans include a light rail line that runs along Columbus Blvd (along the Delaware River), a light rail line that runs along the old City Branch from the Reading Railroad that would service the Art Museum, the Zoo and Fairmount Park and a light rail line that will run along Roosevelt Blvd that would service the currently severely under serviced Northeast and Upper North sections of the city.

Light Rail can be EXTREMELY useful when done correctly (especially when it is too costly to build heavy rail), as the numbers in LA, Philly, SF, Portland and Boston show.

Would be interested to see some other cities light rail and heavy rail

[RightonWalnut]

Change in light rail ridership numbers between Q4 2011 and Q4 2012

1 Boston -10,800
2 Los Angeles +48,900
3 San Francisco -2,300
4 Portland -11,100
5 Philadelphia +3,800
6 Dallas +19,700
7 San Diego -15,700
8 Denver -1,500
9 Salt Lake City +1,500
10 St. Louis +200
11 Sacramento N/A
12 Phoenix +4,700
13 Houston +1,300
14 San Jose +900
15 Minneapolis +1,200
16 Seattle +2,000
17 Baltimore +2,000
18 Pittsburgh +3,400
19 Buffalo -4,600
20 Charlotte N/A

LA is rapidly catching Boston. Philadelphia and Dallas are rapidly catching Portland. Phoenix is gaining on Sacramento.

[RightonWalnut]

Largest Bus Agencies.

01) New York --NYC MTA --2,648.9
02) Los Angeles --LAC MTA --1,118.5
03) Chicago --CTA --995.0
04) Philadelphia --Southeastern Penn TA --560.0
05) New Jersey --NJTransit (No Data Daily Ridership anually 161678.7, bellow Philadelphia 164373.9)
06) Washington --WMATA --411.1
07) Boston --Massachusetts Bay TA --373.7
08) Seattle --King Co Metro --304.6
09) San Francisco --SF Muni --285.9
10) Miami --MD Transit --253.9
11) Baltimore --MTA Maryland --251.1
12) Houston --Harris Co MTA --238.1
13) Minneapolis --MetroTransit --236.8
14) Denver --RTD --210.2
15) Portland --Trimet --195.5
16) Atlanta --MARTA --187.5
17) Orange Co --OCTA --183.1
18) Pittsburgh -- Porth Authority --179.6
19) San Diego --MTS --171.2
20) Milwaukee --MCTS --147.6

[kcmo]

Interesting.

I’m surprised by some of these.

Boston is not really like the others so hard to compare, but solid numbers.
Impressive numbers for LA in my opinion.
San Francisco is about where I would have guessed.
Portland is about where I would have guessed.
Philly sounds about right.
Dallas is really starting to get some ridership.
Denver seems low for as extensive of a system they have and as much as it seems integrated into the metro.
I had no idea that Salt Lake City was that high. Nice ridership for a smaller city and not a huge system as far as I recall.
St Louis seems a little lower than I would have thought. They have one of the better, heavy rail acting systems too.
Phoenix is doing better than I would have thought, especially for a system with a lot of on street sections.
Houston just needs to be expanded. Looked like they were doing that when I was there last week.
San Jose is about what I expected.
Minneapolis is right where I would have thought but they should get a huge boost with the new line to St Paul.
Seattle too. Sounds about right.
Baltimore. Their first line is slow and not very useful. They need to get their new red line built, but their ridership sounds about what I would expect.
Pittsburgh. Has the north shore extension helped them much? I would think the stadium traffic would give them a nice boost, now if they can extend it further.
Buffalo I would have thought would be closer to 10k for that line.
Charlotte seems very low, but I don’t recall that line really going out of the city too far.

[jimmykem]

Commuter Rail Average Weekday Ridership:

1. New York (Long Island) - 324,300
2. Chicago - 300,400
3. New York (Metro) - 285,7000
4. Philadelphia - 125,300
5. San Carlos - 47,200
6. Los Angeles - 42,300
7. Baltimore - 36,100
8. Pompano Beach - 14,300
9. Chesterton - 11,600
10. Seattle - 10,900
11. Salt Lake City - 7,800
12. Dallas-Ft Worth - 7,300
13. Oakland - 5,500
14. Oceanside - 5,000
15. Stockton - 3,700
16. Albuquerque - 3,500
17. Austin - 2,800
18. Minneapolis - 2,400
19. New Haven - 2,200
19. Harris-Phil - 2,200

[Mezter]

I hope Denver has a higher rideship once the new lines open. SLC is catching up pretty fast!

[tocoto]

Add Boston (MBTA) - 130,000 daily as of 4th Q 2011

Originally Posted by jimmykem

Commuter Rail Average Weekday Ridership:

1. New York (Long Island) - 324,300
2. Chicago - 300,400
3. New York (Metro) - 285,7000
4. Philadelphia - 125,300
5. San Carlos - 47,200
6. Los Angeles - 42,300
7. Baltimore - 36,100
8. Pompano Beach - 14,300
9. Chesterton - 11,600
10. Seattle - 10,900
11. Salt Lake City - 7,800
12. Dallas-Ft Worth - 7,300
13. Oakland - 5,500
14. Oceanside - 5,000
15. Stockton - 3,700
16. Albuquerque - 3,500
17. Austin - 2,800
18. Minneapolis - 2,400
19. New Haven - 2,200
19. Harris-Phil - 2,200