Top 10 Transit Systems in U.S.

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Walk Score recently ranked transit systems in large U.S. cities based on residents’ access to public transit. Can you guess which cities top the list?

That’s right, if you said Los Angeles, you’re wrong — though, the city known for its sprawling character was just barely outside the top 10. More likely, you said New York which took the #1 spot, or San Francisco, which took #2.

Transit Score Map of San Francisco.

The full list is below, but first, a quick reminder: on average, a U.S. citizen can save over $10,000 a year switching from driving to public transit! Likely, for this reason, trips on public transit went above 10 billion in 2011. Meanwhile, “the average annual number of vehicle miles traveled by young people (16 to 34-year-olds) in the U.S. decreased 23 percent between 2001 and 2009.”

The potential savings for residents of different cities actually match up quite well with the Walk Score ranking. Here’s the transit ranking from Walk Score:

  1. New York (Transit Score: 81)
  2. San Francisco (Transit Score: 80)
  3. Boston (Transit Score: 74)
  4. Washington, DC (Transit Score: 69)
  5. Philadelphia (Transit Score: 68)
  6. Chicago (Transit Score: 65)
  7. Seattle (Transit Score: 59)
  8. Miami (Transit Score: 57)
  9. Baltimore (Transit Score: 57)
  10. Portland (Transit Score: 50)
  11. Los Angeles (Transit Score: 49)
  12. Milwaukee (Transit Score: 49)
  13. Denver (Transit Score: 47)
  14. Cleveland (Transit Score: 45)
  15. San Jose (Transit Score; 40)
  16. Dallas (Transit Score: 39)
  17. Houston (Transit Score: 36)
  18. San Diego (Transit Score: 36)
  19. San Antonio (Transit Score: 35)
  20. Kansas City (Transit Score: 34)
  21. Austin (Transit Score: 33)
  22. Sacramento (Transit Score: 32)
  23. Las Vegas (Transit Score: 32)
  24. Columbus (Transit Score: 29)
  25. Raleigh (Transit Score: 23)

And here’s the latest Transit Savings Report ranking from the American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA):

Images: Grand Central Station in NYC via Shutterstock & San Francisco Transit Score Map via Walk Score

Zachary Shahan (2293 Posts)

I'm the director of CleanTechnica, the most popular clean energy website in the world, and Planetsave, a leading green and science news site. I've been covering green news of various sorts since 2008, and I've been especially focused on solar energy, electric vehicles, bicycling, and wind energy for the past few years. You can also find my work on Scientific American, Reuters, Think Progress, GE's ecomagination site, several sites in the Important Media network, & many other places. To connect on some of your favorite social networks, go to zacharyshahan.com or click on some of the links below.