Transit System Annual Ridership Rapid Transportation Million Popular

American cities "are not known" (are not often thought of in a certain way) for having great public transportation systems, but some major cities do have popular "metros" and "subway systems" (underground electric railroads). These systems have different names, depending on what part of the country they are in.

The "rapid transit system" (a system for moving many people quickly) with the greatest "ridership" (the number of people using a particular transportation system) in the United States is the "New York City Subway," which is usually just referred to as "the Subway" by local residents. It has an annual ridership of more than 2.5 billion.

The next most-popular rapid transit system is the Washington Metro, usually just called "the Metro," in Washington, DC, with an annual ridership of more than 280 million.

The third most-popular rapid transit system is the "L" (or sometimes "El") in Chicago, Illinois. This is an "elevated" (raised; high up in the air, not on the ground) train system - "hence" (from that) the name, "L," which represents the first syllable in "elevated." The L has an annual ridership of more than 230 million.

The fourth most popular rapid transit system, "in terms of" (as measured by) ridership, is MBTA, which "stands for" (is an acronym for) the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. Local residents sometimes refer to the system as "The T." It has an annual ridership of 165 million.

Finally, the fifth-most-popular rapid transit system is the BART in San Francisco. BART stands for Bay Area Rapid Transit, and it has an annual ridership of more than 123 million.

Other rapid transit systems in the United States have an annual ridership of less than 100 million.