When Should a City Build A Rail-Transit System?

Atlanta

425,000

1979
(MARTA: Metro)

City: 416,000
Metro: 4,100,000

1,897

Boston

560,000

1897
(combined 1968 into MBTA)

City: 589,141
Metro: 5,800,000

3,114

Chicago

2,200,000

1913
(Chicago Elevated Transit: CTA)

City: 2,900,000
Metro: 9,100,000

4,285

London

5,500,000

1890
(London Transport: Underground)

City: 7,100,000
Metro: 12,500,000

7,645

Los Angeles

102,000

1899
(Pacific Electric/L.A. Railways)

(1200 mile-long system
removed mid-1960’s;
Rebuilding new LRT+CRT
lines since 1990.)

City: 3, 700,000
Metro: 16,300,000

5,800

Moscow

2,500,000

1935
(Moscow METRO Subway)

City: 8,400,000
Metro: 15,000,000

8,450

New York

3,400,000

1900
(NYC-MTA Subway)

City: 8,000,000
Metro: 21,200,000

5,407

Paris

2,700,000

1900
(RATP: Metro)

City: 2,100,000
Metro: 9,000,000

9,181

1,500,000*

2006
(Central Phoenix / East Valley
Light Rail opening date)

City: 1,300,000
Metro: 3,200,000**

2,707

San Francisco

775,000

1972
(BART: Bay Area Rapid Transit)

City: 780,000
Metro: 7,000,000

4,153

Tokyo

3,700,000

1927
(Teito Rapid Transit Subway)

City: 8,000,000
Metro: 28,000,000

18,401

Washington, DC

700,000

1976
(Washington Metro)

City: 572,059
Metro: 7,600,000

3,559