World Subway Ridership

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ablarc

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WORLD SUBWAY RIDERSHIP

TOKYO, JAPAN (2003\2004) 2,818,936,000
MOSCOW, RUSSIA (2005) 2,603,000,000
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA (2003) 2,340,000,000
NEW YORK CITY, USA (NYCTA) (2005) 1,510,000,000 (incl. PATH)
MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (2004) 1,442,000,000
PARIS, FRANCE (2004) 1,336,000,000
LONDON, UK (2004) 976,000,000
OSAKA, JAPAN (2000) 912,000,000
HONG KONG, CHINA (2005) 858,000,000
ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA (2004) 821,000,000

CAIRO, EGYPT (2001) 750,000,000
MADRID, SPAIN (2004) 616,000,000
SHANGHAI, CHINA (2004) 532,000,000
SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (2004) 503,000,000
PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (2004) 496,000,000
SINGAPORE (2004) 466,000,000
BERLIN, GERMANY (2005) 464,000,000
BEIJING, CHINA (???) 463,000,000
VIENNA, AUSTRIA (2005) 427,000,000
NAGOYA, JAPAN (2001) 405,000,000

TAIPEI, TAIWAN (2005) 361,000,000
BARCELONA, SPAIN (2004) 343,000,000
KIEV, UKRAINE (2001) 329,000,000
MUNICH, GERMANY (2005) 307,000,000
BUDAPEST, HUNGARY (2004) 299,000,000
STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (2004) 278,000,000
CARACAS, VENEZUELA (2002) 276,000,000
MILAN, ITALY (2004) 273,000,000 - Metro only
ROME, ITALY (2002) 272,000,000
BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA (2002) 264,000,000

DELHI, INDIA (2005) 256,000,000
TORONTO, CANADA (2003) 253,000,000
MINSK, BELORUS (2001) 252,000,000
SAPPORO, JAPAN (1999) 252,000,000
KHARKOV, UKRAINE (2002) 247,000,000
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA (2003) 226,000,000
MONTREAL, CANADA (2004) 217,000,000
TEHRAN, IRAN (2004) 210,000,000
SANTIAGO, CHILE (2002) 208,000,000
ATHENS, GREECE (2000) 195,000,000

WASHINGTON D.C., USA (2005) 195,000,000
CHICAGO, USA (2005) 187,000,000
LYON, FRANCE (2004) 182,000,000
HAMBURG, GERMANY (2004) 181,000,000
LISBON, PORTUGAL (2004) 180,000,000
YOKOHAMA, JAPAN (2000) 150,000,000
BANGKOK, THAILAND (2004) 146,000,000
GUANGZHOU, CHINA (2001) 134,000,000
BOSTON, USA (2004) 124,000,000
TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN (2000) 120,000,000

INCHON, SOUTH KOREA (2004) 119,000,000
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (2001) 113,000,000
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA (???) 111,000,000
KYOTO, JAPAN (2000) 111,000,000
ANKARA, TURKEY (1999) 108,000,000
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (2004) 106,000,000
FUKUOKA, JAPAN (2002) 106,000,000
CALCUTTA, INDIA (2000) 100,000,000
SAN FRANCISCO, USA (2001) 97,000,000
KOBE, JAPAN (2000) 92,000,000

NUREMBURG, GERMANY (???) 92,000,000
AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (2002) 91,000,000
TBILISI, GEORGIA (2000) 90,000,000
BAKU, AZERBAIJAN (2000) 89,000,000
KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (2000) 84,000,000
ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS (2004) 84,000,000
MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA (2001) 82,000,000
WARSAW, POLAND (2004) 81,000,000
BILBOA, SPAIN (2005) 78,000,000
LILLE, FRANCE (2004) 74,000,000

VANCOUVER, CANADA (2004) 65,000,000
NOVOSIBIRSK, RUSSIA (2005) 61,000,000
OSLO, NORWAY (2004) 59,000,000
MARSEILLE, FRANCE (2003) 58,000,000
PHILADELPHIA, USA (SEPTA) (2000) 58,000,000 (incl. PATCO)
SENDAI, JAPAN (1999) 57,000,000
HELSINKI, FINLAND (2004) 55,000,000
NIZHNI NOVGOROD, RUSSIA 92001) 52,000,000
DAEGU, SOUTH KOREA (2004) 51,000,000


TOULOUSE, FRANCE (2004) 42,000,000
ISTANBUL, TURKEY (2003) 39,000,000 - Metro only
NEWCASTLE, UK (2004) 37,000,000
PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA (???) 35,000,000
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (2004) 34,000,000
LOS ANGELES, USA (2001) 34,000,000
ATLANTA, USA (2004) 31,000,000
IZMIR, TURKEY (2000) 29,000,000
SOFIA, BULGARIA (2004) 29,000,000
SAMARA, RUSSIA (2001) 27,000,000

YEKATERINBURG, RUSSIA (2000) 27,000,000
NAPLES, ITALY (2003) 25,000,000
HIROSHIMA, JAPAN (1999) 18,000,000
MIAMI, USA (2005) 17,000,000
YEREVAN, ARMENIA (2000) 17,000,000
BRASILIA, BRAZIL (2002) 16,000,000
DNIPROPETROVSK, UKRAINE (2001) 15,000,000
TIANJIN, CHINA (???) 15,000,000
BALTIMORE, USA (???) 13,000,000
GLASGOW, UK (2004) 13,000,000
CLEVELAND, USA (2000) 5,000,000

--posted by JFK on SSC.

Doesn't include BART (SFO), RER (Paris), Suburban Rail (LON), S-Bahn (BER, HBG).
 
Very interesting -- the 4th busiest US Subway system
 
And isn't Tokyo's subway the only privately operated (full system) one that makes money in the world?
 
49th in the world and 4th in the US! Since Boston is only the 56th largest urban agglomeration in the world (at least according to wikipedia) and the 7th largest urbanized area in the US (according to the 2000 Census) does that mean that we actually have a better subway system than we would be expected to have?
 
Not really, since among those cities are many sprawl dystopias like Phoenix and traffic-choked third world cities that can barely afford to build one subway line, if they can afford one at all.
 
LA, Dallas and Miami are the only sprawling cities ahead of Boston in urban area population. Without the sprawltowns, we're still 4th in population and rank 4th in US subway ridership. And I don't think many of the cities in the world larger than Boston (other than these three) would be more sprawling than Boston.

As for the world numbers, Boston does rank below its slot for "first world" cities. I have it ranked 18th (again according to wikipedia) but its subway system is only 33rd. Of the 15 first world cities smaller than Boston that have higher subway ridership, 11 are in Europe. And since European cities are almost uniformly more compact than their American cousins, you would expect some smaller European cities to have higher subway ridership than Boston.

I guess when I look at ablarc's list there are a couple cities where I say "I can't believe we're behind those guys" (Hamburg, Lyon, Lisbon). But there are also cities I'm surprised we're ahead of (Rio, Amsterdam, Philadelphia). I'll amend my earlier comment to say Boston is where I'd expect given its size and density.
 
I can't explain Amsterdam (perhaps because this only counts subway use and not trams/ferries/etc.), but Philadelphia has an extraordinarily underutilized subway system, probably because it's in ill-repair and because there's much more social stratification there. Rio, similarly, has issues with crime and lack of mutual trust within the population that leads many to distrist the transit system - plus the fact that a growing number of its residents live in informal favelas disconnected from established parts of the city with transit lines.

Hamburg, Lyon, and Lisbon are all incredibly dense cities with metro populations that fall within the same range as Boston's, more or less. Hamburg is actually the most Boston-like city I've seen in continental Europe, although I've heard people express the same opinion about Amsterdam.
 
I wonder how much Amsterdam's high rate of bicycling cuts into its subway ridership? Another problem with Philly and Rio's systems is that neither is very extensive given the size/density of the city. When I was in Rio the subway barely reached into Copacabana and didn't serve several other high density areas. Philly just has the X and Y axes of Broad and Market covered to go along with some streetcar lines (plus PATCO).
 
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Amsterdam has only one subway line; it is a minor part of their transit system compared to streetcars (trams), buses, and commuter trains.
 
It's amazing to see all those smaller cities up in front with strong ridership numbers. American cities are way behind in transit development. Quite sad really.
 
Does anyone know if what the pojected green line to somerville ridership increase will be? Is commuter rail included in these figures?
 
I've seen estimates of 10,000 to 14,000 riders per day on the extension. In other words, not enough riders to move Boston past Guangzhou into 48th place. Also not sure if those estimates subtracted out the number of new riders that are currently riding buses to Lechmere and boarding the Green Line there.

This list raises a number of questions--why are BART numbers not included, but all of DC's Metro's are? They both function more as commuter rail lines at their outer ends, so why does SF get no credit for BART but DC gets credit for all Metro riders? Also, Ron argues that Amsterdam's numbers are so low b/c subway ridership there is small compared to trams (which are presumably not included in the numbers). But this raises the issue of why SF's numbers are even that high--if BART is not included they must be referring to MUNI as the city's subway, and the vast majority of that system (all but 6 or 7 stations) is basically a surface tram.
 
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