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Table 4-3: Transit Ridership in 50 Largest Urbanized Areas: 2001

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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 3,401,999 38.8 53.6 0.2 6.6 0.7
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA 11,789,487 2 614,570 88.1 5.1 5.0 0.9 0.9
Chicago, IL-IN 8,307,904 3 600,368 56.4 30.3 0.0 12.6 0.7
Philadelphia, PA-NJ-DE-MD 5,149,079 4 337,491 51.1 28.9 7.4 9.2 3.5
Miami, FL 4,919,036 5 126,350 81.4 10.9 0.0 2.0 5.7
Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX 4,145,659 6 85,150 80.5 0.0 13.6 3.3 2.6
Boston, MA-NH-RI 4,032,484 7 372,376 31.4 36.9 20.2 9.7 1.8
Washington, DC-VA-MD 3,933,920 8 418,351 42.1 56.3 0.0 1.3 0.2
Detroit, MI 3,903,377 9 56,364 94.3 0.0 0.1 0.0 5.6
Houston, TX 3,822,509 10 101,172 98.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.0
Atlanta, GA 3,499,840 11 167,014 50.5 49.3 0.0 0.0 0.2
San Francisco-Oakland, CA 3,228,605 12 451,615 44.0 23.0 11.0 1.2 20.8
Phoenix-Mesa, AZ 2,907,049 13 41,002 95.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.3
Seattle, WA 2,712,205 14 144,713 66.1 0.0 0.3 0.3 33.3
San Diego, CA 2,674,436 15 103,252 68.9 0.0 28.0 1.4 1.7
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN 2,388,593 16 78,477 97.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.2
St. Louis, MO-IL 2,077,662 17 53,033 71.7 0.0 26.9 0.0 1.3
Baltimore, MD 2,076,354 18 109,420 77.1 12.4 7.1 2.7 0.6
Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL 2,062,339 19 19,778 98.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.9
Denver-Aurora, CO 1,984,889 20 80,120 88.0 0.0 11.3 0.0 0.7
Cleveland, OH 1,786,647 21 68,042 80.4 12.1 6.5 0.0 1.0
Pittsburgh, PA 1,753,136 22 78,652 85.5 0.0 9.6 0.0 5.0
Portland, OR-WA 1,583,138 23 97,368 73.3 0.0 25.7 0.0 1.0
San Jose, CA 1,538,312 24 63,733 75.4 0.0 14.5 8.7 1.4
Riverside-San Bernardino, CA 1,506,816 25 24,486 90.2 0.0 0.0 6.0 3.8
Cincinnati, OH-KY-IN 1,503,262 26 29,702 98.5 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.5
Virginia Beach, VA 1,394,439 27 16,694 94.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.8
Sacramento, CA 1,393,498 28 29,633 69.8 0.0 29.1 0.0 1.1
Kansas City, MO-KS 1,361,744 29 16,021 96.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.6
San Antonio, TX 1,327,554 30 46,981 97.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.2
Las Vegas, NV 1,314,357 31 50,234 98.7 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.3
Milwaukee, WI 1,308,913 32 72,999 98.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.7
Indianapolis, IN 1,218,919 33 10,703 97.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.8
Providence, RI-MA 1,174,548 34 15,594 91.2 0.0 0.0 4.7 4.1
Orlando, FL 1,157,431 35 26,472 94.8 0.0 0.0 0.0 5.2
Columbus, OH 1,133,193 36 18,795 97.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.1
New Orleans, LA 1,009,283 37 61,321 85.9 0.0 8.4 0.0 5.7
Buffalo, NY 976,703 38 26,234 75.6 0.0 24.2 0.0 0.2
Memphis, TN-MS-AR 972,091 39 13,059 81.7 0.0 16.7 0.0 1.6
Austin, TX 901,920 40 33,987 98.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.8
Bridgeport-Stamford, CT-NY 888,890 41 39,643 62.4 0.0 0.0 36.8 0.9
Salt Lake City, UT 887,650 42 25,946 73.3 0.0 23.4 0.0 3.3
Jacksonville, FL 882,295 43 9,217 86.9 0.0 0.0 0.0 13.1
Louisville, KY-IN 863,582 44 16,552 97.6 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.4
Hartford, CT 851,535 45 18,740 95.8 0.0 0.0 1.5 2.6
Richmond, VA 818,836 46 16,152 98.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.8
Charlotte, NC-SC 758,927 47 15,460 96.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.6
Nashville-Davidson, TN 749,935 48 7,120 98.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.7
Oklahoma City, OK 747,003 49 5,704 97.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.9
Tucson, AZ 720,425 50 15,865 98.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.9
Top 50 Total 127,900,270   8,333,724 55.3 32.7 4.0 5.0 2.9
United States, total 1 195,984,216   9,007,786 57.9 30.3 3.7 4.6 3.5
Top 50 as % of U.S. total 65.3   92.5 88.4 100.0 100.0 100.0 78.1

1Includes Puerto Rico.

NOTE: Transit ridership data in this table, including the United States total, are based on 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 included in the database.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Transit Administration, National Transit Database, available at http://www.ntdprogram.com/NTD/ as of Oct. 28, 2003.
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