Washington, DC Metro System Fast Facts CNN Editorial Research Here’s some information about Washington, DC’s subway system, generally called the “Metro.” The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority operates Metrorail, the third largest heavy rail system in the United States, and oversees the country’s sixth largest bus system. Facts Ridership on the rail system in FY2020 totaled approximately 132.6 million trips (compared to 175.3 million in FY2019). For the bus system, the total was 96.3 million trips (compared to 123.9 million in FY 2019) and 1.8 million trips on MetroAccess, the paratransit service (compared to 2.3 million in FY2019). The decrease in ridership is attributed to the coronavirus pandemic.