Metros are of critical importance for mobility, as societies are becoming ever more urbanised. At the end of 2017, there were metros in 182 cities in 56 countries, carrying on average a total of 168 million passengers per day. 75 new metros have opened since the year 2000 (+70%). This massive growth is to be credited largely to developments in a few countries in Asia.
For this new metro Statistics Brief, UITP has collected exhaustive data for a series of key indicators for all metros in the world including ridership, number of lines, network length, number of stations and – new for this edition – fleet size. Extensive data was also collected for another new field: infrastructure construction model (underground, elevated, at grade or in trench)
In 2017, the 182 metro systems accounted for a total annual ridership of 53,768 million passengers. In the last six years, annual metro ridership grew globally by 8,716 million passengers (+19.5%). Broken down by continent, the ridership growth rate between 2012 and 2017 was the most robust in the MENA [Middle East and North Africa] region (+58%), followed by Asia (+28%) and Latin America (+20%). North America and Europe recorded a 10% increase, while Eurasia lost 3% of passengers.
Closer analysis of North American data reveals that the moderate growth apparent at the regional level hides a contrasting situation, with Canadian metros and New York growing significantly (in a range of 5-46%), while the other 13 metros showing a decrease in passengers.