List of North American rapid transit systems by ridership
This is a list of North American rapid transit systems by ridership. These heavy rail or rapid transit systems are also known as metro or subway systems. This list of systems in North America does not include light rail, even when they are integrated with heavy rail. Daily and annual ridership figures are based on "average weekday unlinked passenger trips", unless otherwise indicated. For metro systems in the United States and Canada, the annual ridership figures for 2018 and average weekday ridership figures for the Fourth Quarter of 2018 come from the American Public Transportation Association's ridership reports statistics, unless otherwise noted. Ridership figures for Mexico come from Banco de Información Económica's INEGI reports for the year 2018.
| System | Country | City/area served | Annual ridership | Avg. daily weekday boardings | System length | Avg. daily boardings per mile | Year opened | Stations | Lines | |
| 1 | New York City Subway | New York City | 2,629,594,200 | 8,764,700 | 37,778 | 1904 | 472 | 24 | ||
| 2 | Mexico City Metro | Mexico City | 1,591,984,000 | 4,361,600 | 30,988 | 1969 | 195 | 12 | ||
| 3 | Toronto subway | Toronto | 416,210,500 | 1,343,600 | 28,109 | 1954 | 75 | 4 | ||
| 4 | Montreal Metro | Montreal | 383,147,700 | 1,367,200 | 31,795 | 1966 | 68 | 4 | ||
| 5 | Washington Metro | Washington, D.C. | 226,349,600 | 764,300 | 6,532 | 1976 | 91 | 6 | ||
| 6 | Chicago 'L' | Chicago | 225,895,100 | 719,700 | 7,001 | 1892 | 145 | 8 | ||
| 7 | Monterrey Metro | Monterrey | 180,818,000 | 512,100 | 25,605 | 1991 | 31 | 2 | ||
| 9 | SkyTrain | Vancouver | 160,014,800 | 495,800 | 10,036 | 1985 | 53 | 3 | ||
| 8 | MBTA subway | Boston | 155,748,800 | 509,500 | 13,408 | 1901 | 53 | 4 | ||
| 10 | BART | San Francisco Bay Area | 125,576,400 | 416,600 | 4,006 | 1972 | 48 | 6 | ||
| 11 | SEPTA , Market–Frankford | Philadelphia | 96,546,400 | 327,700 | 8,929 | 1907 | 75 | 3 | ||
| 12 | PATH | Jersey City, Newark, NJ | 91,593,600 | 310,000 | 22,464 | 1908 | 13 | 5 | ||
| 13 | MARTA | Atlanta | 64,854,000 | 205,800 | 4,288 | 1979 | 38 | 4 | ||
| 14 | Panama Metro | Panama City | n/a | 180,000 | 21,176 | 2014 | 12 | 1 | ||
| 15 | Santo Domingo Metro | Santo Domingo | 61,270,054 | 177,844 | 10,461 | 2009 | 30 | 2 | ||
| 16 | Metro Rail | Los Angeles | 43,300,600 | 139,100 | 7,994 | 1993 | 16 | 2 | ||
| 17 | Miami Metrorail | Miami | 19,282,500 | 67,800 | 2,723 | 1984 | 23 | 2 | ||
| 18 | PATCO Speedline | Philadelphia | 10,789,600 | 38,800 | 2,732 | 1936 | 13 | 1 | ||
| 19 | Baltimore Metro Subway | Baltimore | 8,270,600 | 13,700 | 884 | 1983 | 14 | 1 | ||
| 20 | Staten Island Railway | New York City | 8,126,100 | 29,400 | 2,100 | 1860 | 22 | 1 | ||
| 21 | RTA Rapid Transit | Cleveland | 6,249,800 | 19,000 | 1,000 | 1955 | 18 | 1 | ||
| 22 | Tren Urbano | San Juan | 5,192,900 | 21,000 | 1,963 | 2004 | 16 | 1 |
Sources:
- American Public Transportation Association – Transit Ridership Report – Q4 2014.
- Banco de Información Económica – Instituto Nacional de Estadísitica y Geografía