The following is a list of all urban rail transit systems in Latin America, ranked by passenger ridership. These kinds of systems are most commonly known as metro (or subway in English), but may also be known as subte, tren, or tranvía systems. Daily and annual passengers ridership figures in this chart are based on annual and daily (not just weekday) average passenger trips. The year of the source date varies and is provided on the right.
Overall, Brazil has the largest number of metros, with 12 such systems, followed by Venezuela with 4 metro systems. The São Paulo Metro has the highest passenger ridership in Latin America, and second in the Americas, after the New York City Subway.
System Country Cityserved AnnualRidership* Averagedailyboardings* Systemlength Ave. dailyboardingsper km* Yearopened Stations Lines Source date 1 São Paulo Metro Brazil São Paulo 1,256,000,000 Not considering lines 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13. The complete network is 377 km long, has 13 lines, 187 stations, and carries 1,969,400,000 passengers annually. 3,278,082This is the Average Daily Ridership figure, not an Average Weekday Ridership figure - it is averaged from the 2023 Total Ridership figure for this system. 31,520 1974 98 6 2024 2 Mexico City Metro Mexico Mexico City 1,171,859,000 3,055,232 in revenue service; ( considering maintenance tracks), as available in the official website 15,215 1969 195 12 2024 3Santiago Metro Chile Santiago 661,000,000 1,641,342 11,015 1975 143 7 2025 4Caracas Metro Venezuela Caracas 494,987,035 1,356,129 25,067 1983 48 4 2023 5 Subte Argentina Buenos Aires 345,391,524 946,278 16,689 1913 90 6 2023 6 Medellín Metro Colombia Medellín 249,975,586 684,865 21,881 1995 27 2 2023 7 Lima Metro Peru Lima 198,433,434 543,653 13,728 2014 31 2 2024 8 MetrôRio Brazil Rio de Janeiro 188,900,000 517,534 8,923 1979 41 3 2023 9 Sistema de Tren Eléctrico Urbano Mexico Guadalajara 157,704,000 432,117 9,293 1989 48 3 2023 10 Monterrey Metro Monterrey 118,036,600 323,388 7,985 1991 40 3 2023 11 Panama Metro Panama Panama City 116,115,009 318,123 10,120 2014 33 2 2026 12 Recife Metro Brazil Recife 79,600,000 285,000 6,448 1985 30 4 2012 13 Santo Domingo Metro Dominican Republic Santo Domingo 76,600,000 275,000 5,497 2008 30 2 2017 14 Quito Metro Ecuador Quito 73,365,000 201,000 9,136 2023 15 1 2022 15 Trensurb Brazil Porto Alegre 62,000,000 170,000 4,359 1985 19 1 2011 16 Belo Horizonte Metro Belo Horizonte 57,419,280 157,300 5,598 1986 19 1 2012 17 Federal District Metro Brasília 54,750,000 150,000 3,538 2001 24 2 2009 18 Xochimilco Light Rail Mexico Mexico City 21,000,000Webb, Mary (ed.) (2009). Jane's Urban Transport Systems 2009-2010. p. 242. Coulsdon, Surrey (UK): Jane's Information Group. . 57,534 4,495 1986 18 1 2007 19 Valparaíso Metro Chile Valparaíso 20,120,000 55,123 1,096 2005 20 1 2013 20 Valencia Metro Venezuela Valencia 17,200,000 62,000 10,000 2006 7 1 2012 21 Los Teques MetroThe Los Teques Metro is generally considered to be part of the Caracas Metro. Los Teques/Caracas 13,000,000 35,616 3,490 2006 3 1 08/2013 22 Tren Urbano United States (Puerto Rico) San Juan 11,023,500 40,600 2,360 2004 16 1 Q4 2012 23 Maracaibo Metro Venezuela Maracaibo 9,000,000 42,000 3,490 2006 6 1 2011 24 Teresina MetroUses diesel rail vehicles, rather than the electrified vehicles used on rapid transit systems. Brazil Teresina 4,300,000 12,000 828 1989 9 1 2009 25 Fortaleza Metro Fortaleza n/a n/a n/a 2012 28 2 n/a 26 Metrotranvía Mendoza Argentina Mendoza n/a n/a n/a 2012 26 1 n/a 27 Salvador Metro Brazil Salvador n/a 400,000 n/a 2014 20 2 n/a 28 Maceió Metro Maceió n/a 40,000 (Projected) n/a 1997 n/a 1 2024 29 Cariri Metro Crato–Juazeiro n/a 5,000 360 2009 9 1 n/a *Corresponds to the ridership source provided for each transit system.
See also List of North American light rail systems by ridership List of metro systems List of tram and light rail transit systems List of suburban and commuter rail systems
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