A full Metro train in 2023 by the author.

Riding a 67% ridership increase over the past year, Metro grew faster than any other heavy rail public transportation in the United States during that time. DC Streetcar led all nationwide light rail systems, up 140%. And VRE led all US commuter rail systems, up 114%.

MARC and Metrobus also grew impressively, but didn’t lead the nation. MARC is up 69%, fifth among commuter rail agencies, and Metrobus is up 41%, third among large bus systems.

You can see all these stats in the American Public Transit Association’s (APTA) latest ridership report.

Metrorail’s impressive recovery

Metrorail carried an average of 363,000 riders per day during the first quarter of 2023, an increase of 67% over the same time in 2022. Not only is that the highest percentage increase among any rapid transit system in the country, it’s also enough to edge Metro above Chicago’s el to once more become the second most-ridden system in America, after New York’s subway.

Ridership among US heavy rail metro systems, first quarter 2023 by APTA.

New York’s subway ridership, above six million, dwarfs all others. But after that, Metro’s 363,000 is starting to gain steam as an impressive recovery from its pre-pandemic ridership of nearly 700,000.

Chicago has the third most riders, but increased 22% from 2022, much less than Metro. Boston has fourth most riders, but grew only 11%. After Metro, the next fastest-growing heavy rail system was San Juan, Puerto Rico’s, up 43% to 12,000 per day. After that, San Francisco’s BART, up 36% to 140,000.

These numbers only count for heavy rail rapid transit, so Chicago’s extensive commuter rail and Boston’s highly-used light rail, for example, aren’t part of the calculations.

DC Streetcar and VRE also lead

DC Streetcar’s short length may mean it has low raw ridership, but in terms of growth since 2022, it too leads the country. H Street’s impressive 140% increase since 2022 edges out El Paso’s, and is miles ahead of other streetcar peers and of the big light rail systems.

Good news for DC Streetcar by the author.

Similarly, VRE’s 114% ridership growth trumps all other US commuter/regional rail systems.

MARC’s 69% fifth-place status, while not leading the country, is still nice compared to many peers. The three systems between VRE and MARC are Albuquerque’s RailRunner (up 91%), San Francisco’s SMART (up 77%), and Boston’s MBTA (up 71%).

VRE is kicking butt by the author.

Buses and final thoughts

Among the largest bus agencies, Metro’s 41% growth is third behind Cincinnati’s 58% and Miami’s 55%.

Among the United States’ smaller bus systems, the City of Fairfax’s CUE bus is up over 100%. Prince George’s County’s TheBus is also impressive, up 78%. Arlington’s ART is up 28%, Fairfax County Connector is up 26%. DC Circulator and RideOn are less impressive, with 12% and 5% increases, respectively.

It makes sense for bus ridership to be growing more slowly than rail right now. Buses never fell as far as rail during the pandemic, so there’s less room to grow now.

While ridership for many rail and bus agencies remains far below pre-pandemic levels, signs of strong recovery in a variety of places may indicate that transit can emerge from Covid-era challenges and thrive. The next big question for the Washington region is whether financial help will arrive in time to avoid a “doomsday” fiscal cliff just as ridership is starting to return.