People wait at subway station Alexanderplatz during stormy weather in Berlin, Germany,
Credit: Reuters /Hannibal Hanschke

The world is building mass transit networks faster than ever before, and ridership is increasing to match. But the United States continues to lag behind both Asia and Europe in mass transit. New York is the only North American city to rank among the global top-ten busiest transit systems.

That’s according to a new report published by UITP, the International Association of Public Transport, which takes a close look at mass transit systems in 182 cities across the world. It defines transit systems or “metro networks” as “high-capacity urban rail systems, running on an exclusive right-of-way” that hold at least 100 passengers per train.

Urban mass transit systems have exploded in recent decades as the world’s population has rapidly urbanized. The graph below, from the report, charts the growth in the number of transit systems since the earliest systems, created in the late 19th century. There was a surge in the opening of new transit systems in the 1970s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, […]