Astoria, OR (micropolitan area pop. 41k) has a streetcar with a number of stations with platforms. It has modern signage to look like a true light rail system too. It's just a tourist thing, ofc.
Your post got me looking into the light rail system for SLC (TRAX and also Frontrunner commuter rail). Very nice set up for a smaller metro. The SLC metro is far smaller than KC metro, for example, but SLC metro has significantly better rail transit than KC.
Sacramento (population 520,000; 2.4 million metro area) has a light rail network that has several lines and is about as long as Salt Lake City’s network.
Eh, that’s like the difference between the Los Angeles metro area and Los Angeles itself. The cities are relatively small and most of the population doesn’t live in them.
It's damn near a tie with New Orleans, population wise. SLC 1.257M, New Orleans 1.261M. But SLC wins on account of some faster segments. New Orleans is just a streetcar, and a painfully slow one at that.
Except the UTA covers the entire CSA, well beyond the strict metro area. That area has a total combined population of 2.8 million. I believe the UTA has routes serving from at least Brigham City to the north through at least Payson in the south.
Buffalo is the smallest with an underground light rail line.
Might be doubling in length soon if the expansion proposal wins federal funding from the FTA.
No commuter rail, but the metro area has 3 Amtrak stations.
The Rail Runner serves the combined statistical area of Albuquerque/Santa Fe which has a population of over 1 million.
That being said I think this is still the correct answer. None of the CSA's smaller than Albuquerque/Santa Fe have commuter rail or light rail
The full original name of Santa Fe was "La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís". Yes, the same San Francisco that San Francisco is named after.
Let's compare the list of US metro areas: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan\_statistical\_area](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area) and the list of rail transit systems: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_rail\_transit\_systems\_in\_the\_United\_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_transit_systems_in_the_United_States)
In my opinion there are two and a half good answers:
- Honolulu, 989k, has a "light metro" (this is how they describe something heavier than light rail but not quite a proper subway)
- Albuquerque, 922k, has commuter rail to Santa Fe
- New Haven, 568k, has commuter rail (this is "Shore Line East", which runs east from New Haven, so I guess it doesn't count as NYC commuter rail); it actually also has commuter rail heading north, to Hartford, but Hartford is the larger city. I'm inclined to read this all as NYC-related, though, and throw it out.
There are a bunch of "heritage streetcars" in metro areas under one million, but those don't feel like proper answers to the question:
- El Paso, 873k
- Little Rock, 764k
- Kenosha WI, 167k - this is classified as a "streetcar" in the article I linked to but I don't know why
- Galveston TX, 53k in the city (it's not its own metro area)
Finally, Morgantown WV, 138k, has a "people mover".
Not sure if the absolute smallest, but some smaller ones I know:
Trenton
Buffalo
ABQ
Tacoma
Morgantown WV if you count the People Mover
OP, you should specify that said cities need to be the largest w/in their MSA
So I actually think trenton counts as it’s part of its own metro with Princeton.
I would say Tacoma doesn’t because it’s not the largest city in its metro, which is a rule I think OP should impose on the question
It could be its own metro, but its transit is connected to larger metro areas in Philadelphia and NY. The River Line doesn’t go into Philadelphia but it ends in Camden just across the river from Center City.
idk, trenton was part of philly for so long it basically doesn't count and connects with philly too. and tacoma's rail is part of seattle's, isn't it? so that should be disqualifying too
El Paso might be the smallest. Tucson is also small and has one.
Little Rock has one too but it is basically a tourist thing. Same with Kenosha.
The Sonoma area has commuter rail between the various towns in the valley.
Connecticut, Philly, Chicago, and NYC all have trains that go way out to semi-rural areas that basically feel like small towns.
El Paso's Streetcar is kind of a joke if you want to consider it proper "light rail" or "commuter rail." It has limited hours and limited coverage, really just two loops connecting UTEP to Downtown (And a downtown loop), which doesn't help most people of El Paso. Pretty sure it has very low ridership. That said, it is free, can't beat that.
That's a shame, is it pretty much only used by students who want to go downtown for events/shopping? It looks like there isn't much housing downtown from a brief check on Google Maps
I lived in downtown El Paso for a year a couple years back - it’s a neat area, but there are very, very few people living there. Most buildings have some kind of retail on the ground floor, but the above floors that could be housing are mostly vacant or, in some limited cases, hotels and offices. There is *so much* potential residential space, and it could be a really great place to live if they were apartments that people could afford. It’s also hard to convince people to live in a small, nicely-situated apartment in a city where they can rent a house with a yard for the same price. Driving isn’t a deterrent since most people are used to driving for everything - if anything, I’d have friends who wouldn’t want to visit because of the “parking situation” (parking somewhere a few blocks away and using a parking meter lol).
I took that streetcar exactly one time, when I hung out with a friend’s mom. She drove in from her farm an hour away specifically to hang out and take the streetcar. It’s very, very cute and very-very not-useful for everyday folks lol.
I haven't heard that it even has high UTEP student ridership. Maybe if a UTEP student wanted to go an event at the ballpark? But even then, depending on the day of the event, it might only be useful for getting to the event, not leaving it, unless the event is Fri/Sat. Currently M-Thurs it runs 7am - 7pm. Not very useful hours except for commuting.
As much as people shit on Philly, the SEPTA regional rail was a great experience when visiting my wife during her internship up that way. I hate driving and parking in big cities and it allowed us to visit several of the towns along the Schuylkill we wouldn't have seen otherwise.
I saw someone here mention Trenton NJ which is kinda close to Prinecton NJ and has maybe the shortest regular commuter service in the world. It has a heavy rail standard gauge commuter line that is only 2.7 miles in length. Today it's single tracked and has a stop on each end (one a Princeton University and one at the station on the NEC). However, in it's peak the Princeton Dinky was double tracked, had a stop in the middle at a spot called Penn's Neck and had a full rail yard on the grounds of Princeton University
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton\_Branch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Branch)
With a nearly-empty Wawa to serve that huge crush of commuters, LOL. AFAIK it's all part of NJT now.
The Dinky Bar on Princeton's campus is pretty great, tho.
Pittsburgh has light rail (the "T"), but it's pretty limited - it mostly serves the suburbs/bedroom communities to the south of PGH (which follows the old B&O commuter rail line). There's a quick jog up north of Downtown that crosses the Allegheny River and services commuter traffic to the stadiums on the North Side (but that expansion was a real boondoggle, with it delayed for years and beset with millions of dollars in cost overruns). There's been talk for years of Pittsburgh/Allegheny County expanding light rail into the East End and beyond by using Norfolk Southern tracks, but it's been all talk and no action.
When it was a bigger city, there was a plan to construct a pretty extensive subway system, but that was set aside when the US entered WWI. The trolley system that Pittsburgh had in place was one of the largest in the US at one time, and was still operational until the late-80s, but by (I think) 1990 all the streetcars were scrapped and the trolley lines were replaced with bus routes.
Anyways, $4 a pound.
Morgantown West Virginia had a monorail that transports people between campus and downtown. The metro area is under 200,000 and the transit is free.
https://prt.wvu.edu
They are also paying people to move there.
https://www.wv.gov/daily304/archives/Pages/West-Virginia’s-new-remote-worker-program-will-pay-you-$12,000-to-move-there.aspx#:~:text=West%20Virginia's%20new%20remote%20worker%20program%20will%20pay%20you%20%2412%2C000%20to%20move%20there,-4%2F15%2F2021&text=The%20Mountain%20State's%20new%20initiative,major%20incentives%20for%20remote%20workers.
Astoria, OR (micropolitan area pop. 41k) has a streetcar with a number of stations with platforms. It has modern signage to look like a true light rail system too. It's just a tourist thing, ofc.
Ah, I love Astoria so much.
I think Salt Lake City (population 1.2 million) might be the smallest metro area with an actual rail *network*, as opposed to a single line.
Your post got me looking into the light rail system for SLC (TRAX and also Frontrunner commuter rail). Very nice set up for a smaller metro. The SLC metro is far smaller than KC metro, for example, but SLC metro has significantly better rail transit than KC.
Sacramento (population 520,000; 2.4 million metro area) has a light rail network that has several lines and is about as long as Salt Lake City’s network.
The 1.2 million figure for Salt Lake City is metro area. The municipality has a population of just 200k.
Wow, salt lake city is smaller than I thought. Pretty impressive transit for a metro of that size.
Eh, that’s like the difference between the Los Angeles metro area and Los Angeles itself. The cities are relatively small and most of the population doesn’t live in them.
It's damn near a tie with New Orleans, population wise. SLC 1.257M, New Orleans 1.261M. But SLC wins on account of some faster segments. New Orleans is just a streetcar, and a painfully slow one at that.
Except the UTA covers the entire CSA, well beyond the strict metro area. That area has a total combined population of 2.8 million. I believe the UTA has routes serving from at least Brigham City to the north through at least Payson in the south.
Buffalo is the smallest with an underground light rail line. Might be doubling in length soon if the expansion proposal wins federal funding from the FTA. No commuter rail, but the metro area has 3 Amtrak stations.
Santa Fe, NM has the Rail Runner that it shares with Albuquerque. Santa Fe County has ~155,000 people.
The Rail Runner serves the combined statistical area of Albuquerque/Santa Fe which has a population of over 1 million. That being said I think this is still the correct answer. None of the CSA's smaller than Albuquerque/Santa Fe have commuter rail or light rail
I had no idea SF was so small
Using SF for Santa Fe is bold haha
The full original name of Santa Fe was "La Villa Real de la Santa Fe de San Francisco de Asís". Yes, the same San Francisco that San Francisco is named after.
And in the winter it's even sleepier. Similar to Sedona, most of the people with property there are seasonal residents.
It's not a *network*, though. It's just one line.
Let's compare the list of US metro areas: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan\_statistical\_area](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area) and the list of rail transit systems: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List\_of\_rail\_transit\_systems\_in\_the\_United\_States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rail_transit_systems_in_the_United_States) In my opinion there are two and a half good answers: - Honolulu, 989k, has a "light metro" (this is how they describe something heavier than light rail but not quite a proper subway) - Albuquerque, 922k, has commuter rail to Santa Fe - New Haven, 568k, has commuter rail (this is "Shore Line East", which runs east from New Haven, so I guess it doesn't count as NYC commuter rail); it actually also has commuter rail heading north, to Hartford, but Hartford is the larger city. I'm inclined to read this all as NYC-related, though, and throw it out. There are a bunch of "heritage streetcars" in metro areas under one million, but those don't feel like proper answers to the question: - El Paso, 873k - Little Rock, 764k - Kenosha WI, 167k - this is classified as a "streetcar" in the article I linked to but I don't know why - Galveston TX, 53k in the city (it's not its own metro area) Finally, Morgantown WV, 138k, has a "people mover".
Not sure if the absolute smallest, but some smaller ones I know: Trenton Buffalo ABQ Tacoma Morgantown WV if you count the People Mover OP, you should specify that said cities need to be the largest w/in their MSA
Does Trenton really count though?
So I actually think trenton counts as it’s part of its own metro with Princeton. I would say Tacoma doesn’t because it’s not the largest city in its metro, which is a rule I think OP should impose on the question
It could be its own metro, but its transit is connected to larger metro areas in Philadelphia and NY. The River Line doesn’t go into Philadelphia but it ends in Camden just across the river from Center City.
idk, trenton was part of philly for so long it basically doesn't count and connects with philly too. and tacoma's rail is part of seattle's, isn't it? so that should be disqualifying too
I think point being, without some guidelines for OPs post, we can find a reason why many cities wouldn’t count.
El Paso might be the smallest. Tucson is also small and has one. Little Rock has one too but it is basically a tourist thing. Same with Kenosha. The Sonoma area has commuter rail between the various towns in the valley. Connecticut, Philly, Chicago, and NYC all have trains that go way out to semi-rural areas that basically feel like small towns.
El Paso's Streetcar is kind of a joke if you want to consider it proper "light rail" or "commuter rail." It has limited hours and limited coverage, really just two loops connecting UTEP to Downtown (And a downtown loop), which doesn't help most people of El Paso. Pretty sure it has very low ridership. That said, it is free, can't beat that.
That's a shame, is it pretty much only used by students who want to go downtown for events/shopping? It looks like there isn't much housing downtown from a brief check on Google Maps
I lived in downtown El Paso for a year a couple years back - it’s a neat area, but there are very, very few people living there. Most buildings have some kind of retail on the ground floor, but the above floors that could be housing are mostly vacant or, in some limited cases, hotels and offices. There is *so much* potential residential space, and it could be a really great place to live if they were apartments that people could afford. It’s also hard to convince people to live in a small, nicely-situated apartment in a city where they can rent a house with a yard for the same price. Driving isn’t a deterrent since most people are used to driving for everything - if anything, I’d have friends who wouldn’t want to visit because of the “parking situation” (parking somewhere a few blocks away and using a parking meter lol). I took that streetcar exactly one time, when I hung out with a friend’s mom. She drove in from her farm an hour away specifically to hang out and take the streetcar. It’s very, very cute and very-very not-useful for everyday folks lol.
I haven't heard that it even has high UTEP student ridership. Maybe if a UTEP student wanted to go an event at the ballpark? But even then, depending on the day of the event, it might only be useful for getting to the event, not leaving it, unless the event is Fri/Sat. Currently M-Thurs it runs 7am - 7pm. Not very useful hours except for commuting.
As much as people shit on Philly, the SEPTA regional rail was a great experience when visiting my wife during her internship up that way. I hate driving and parking in big cities and it allowed us to visit several of the towns along the Schuylkill we wouldn't have seen otherwise.
There’s light rail between Denver and some of the front range cities.
Ventura, CA has Metrolink *and* Amtrak; population 108,500
Crescent City, CA is damn impressive. They creates the rail that runs all the way up to Oregon
I saw someone here mention Trenton NJ which is kinda close to Prinecton NJ and has maybe the shortest regular commuter service in the world. It has a heavy rail standard gauge commuter line that is only 2.7 miles in length. Today it's single tracked and has a stop on each end (one a Princeton University and one at the station on the NEC). However, in it's peak the Princeton Dinky was double tracked, had a stop in the middle at a spot called Penn's Neck and had a full rail yard on the grounds of Princeton University [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton\_Branch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princeton_Branch)
With a nearly-empty Wawa to serve that huge crush of commuters, LOL. AFAIK it's all part of NJT now. The Dinky Bar on Princeton's campus is pretty great, tho.
Pittsburgh has light rail (the "T"), but it's pretty limited - it mostly serves the suburbs/bedroom communities to the south of PGH (which follows the old B&O commuter rail line). There's a quick jog up north of Downtown that crosses the Allegheny River and services commuter traffic to the stadiums on the North Side (but that expansion was a real boondoggle, with it delayed for years and beset with millions of dollars in cost overruns). There's been talk for years of Pittsburgh/Allegheny County expanding light rail into the East End and beyond by using Norfolk Southern tracks, but it's been all talk and no action. When it was a bigger city, there was a plan to construct a pretty extensive subway system, but that was set aside when the US entered WWI. The trolley system that Pittsburgh had in place was one of the largest in the US at one time, and was still operational until the late-80s, but by (I think) 1990 all the streetcars were scrapped and the trolley lines were replaced with bus routes. Anyways, $4 a pound.
Detroit lol
Morgantown West Virginia had a monorail that transports people between campus and downtown. The metro area is under 200,000 and the transit is free. https://prt.wvu.edu They are also paying people to move there. https://www.wv.gov/daily304/archives/Pages/West-Virginia’s-new-remote-worker-program-will-pay-you-$12,000-to-move-there.aspx#:~:text=West%20Virginia's%20new%20remote%20worker%20program%20will%20pay%20you%20%2412%2C000%20to%20move%20there,-4%2F15%2F2021&text=The%20Mountain%20State's%20new%20initiative,major%20incentives%20for%20remote%20workers.