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U.S. Department of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation Icon United States Department of Transportation United States Department of Transportation

Table 4-3: Transit Ridership in the 50 Largest Urbanized Areas: 2003

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Table 4-3: Transit Ridership in the 50 Largest Urbanized Areas: 2003

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Urbanized area Population (2000) Rank by population Annual unlinked passenger trips (thousands) Percent
Motor bus Heavy rail Light rail Commuter rail Other
New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT 17,799,861 1 3,315,171 38.9 53.3 0.3 6.6 0.9
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA 11,789,487 2 634,962 88.0 5.0 5.0 1.0 1.0
Chicago, IL-IN 8,307,904 3 582,013 55.8 31.1 0.0 12.3 0.8
Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD 5,149,079 4 338,806 54.2 27.9 7.3 9.2 1.3
Miami, FL 4,919,036 5 133,830 80.4 10.7 0.0 2.0 6.8
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 4,145,659 6 85,792 74.5 0.0 19.8 2.8 2.9
Boston, MA-NH-RI 4,032,484 7 394,115 31.7 38.1 18.4 10.1 1.7
Washington, DC-VA-MD 3,933,920 8 437,481 42.6 55.6 0.0 1.5 0.4
Detroit, MI 3,903,377 9 48,505 95.3 0.0 0.1 0.0 4.6
Houston, TX 3,822,509 10 93,002 97.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.4
Atlanta, GA 3,499,840 11 148,977 51.3 48.2 0.0 0.0 0.5
San Francisco-Oakland, CA 3,228,605 12 407,741 44.4 23.0 10.5 0.9 21.2
Phoenix-Mesa, AZ 2,907,049 13 54,438 96.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.2
Seattle, WA 2,712,205 14 151,784 62.2 0.0 0.4 0.5 36.8
San Diego, CA 2,674,436 15 93,525 69.7 0.0 26.9 1.7 1.7
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 2,388,593 16 73,344 97.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.7
St. Louis, MO-IL 2,077,662 17 48,090 67.3 0.0 30.9 0.0 1.8
Baltimore, MD 2,076,354 18 110,062 77.9 12.0 6.6 2.9 0.6
Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL 2,062,339 19 20,076 95.3 0.0 2.5 0.0 2.2
Denver-Aurora, CO 1,984,889 20 78,584 85.4 0.0 13.5 0.0 1.1
Cleveland, OH 1,786,647 21 60,569 81.5 12.2 5.2 0.0 1.1
Pittsburgh, PA 1,753,136 22 71,355 85.2 0.0 10.0 0.0 4.8
Portland, OR-WA 1,583,138 23 105,635 69.4 0.0 29.5 0.0 1.1
San Jose, CA 1,538,312 24 50,618 78.6 0.0 12.0 7.4 2.0
Riverside-San Bernardino, CA 1,506,816 25 25,846 90.1 0.0 0.0 6.1 3.8
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN 1,503,262 26 28,109 98.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.6
Virginia Beach, VA 1,394,439 27 17,773 95.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.6
Sacramento, CA 1,393,498 28 30,512 69.9 0.0 29.0 0.0 1.1
Kansas City, MO-KS 1,361,744 29 13,971 96.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.8
San Antonio, TX 1,327,554 30 40,262 97.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.5
Las Vegas, NV 1,314,357 31 47,889 98.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.5
Milwaukee, WI 1,308,913 32 59,806 97.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.1
Indianapolis, IN 1,218,919 33 11,325 97.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.7
Providence, RI-MA 1,174,548 34 18,762 90.6 0.0 0.0 4.3 5.0
Orlando, FL 1,157,431 35 22,730 96.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.7
Columbus, OH 1,133,193 36 15,785 99.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0
New Orleans, LA 1,009,283 37 60,610 83.8 0.0 10.5 0.0 5.8
Buffalo, NY 976,703 38 24,063 75.4 0.0 24.3 0.0 0.3
Memphis, TN-MS-AR 972,091 39 13,042 82.0 0.0 16.4 0.0 1.6
Austin,TX 901,920 40 37,224 98.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.7
Bridgeport-Stamford, CT-NY 888,890 41 24,705 39.9 0.0 0.0 58.8 1.4
Salt Lake City, UT 887,650 42 31,705 65.2 0.0 31.0 0.0 3.9
Jacksonville, FL 882,295 43 9,750 87.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 13.0
Louisville, KY-IN 863,582 44 13,263 97.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.7
Hartford, CT 851,535 45 14,991 94.0 0.0 0.0 2.5 3.5
Richmond, VA 818,836 46 12,649 97.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.6
Charlotte, NC-SC 758,927 47 18,889 97.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.6
Nashville-Davidson, TN 749,935 48 6,840 96.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.0
Oklahoma City, OK 747,003 49 4,122 96.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.9
Tucson, AZ 720,425 50 16,872 98.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.7
Top 50, total 127,900,270   8,159,970 55.2 32.7 4.1 5.0 3.0
United States, urbanized area total1 193,767,600   8,809,943 58.0 30.3 3.8 4.7 3.2
Top 50 as % of U.S. total 66.0   92.6 88.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 87.0

1 Excludes Puerto Rico.

NOTE: This table includes data from urban transit agencies that are required to report information to the federal government because they applied for or are direct beneficiaries of urbanized area formula grants (49 USC 5307). Transit agencies with nine or fewer vehicles that would otherwise need to report under this definition typically receive a waiver from detailed reporting and, thus, are not necessarily included in the source database.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database, available at http://www.ntdprogram.com/NTD/ as of Oct. 4, 2005.