ResearchAnnual report
Wheelchair Access Across US Rail Systems, 2026
The share of stations a wheelchair user can reach from street to train, for every US subway and light rail system.
1Key findings
- 23 of the 35 ranked systems have step-free access at every station: 9 of 15 subway and heavy rail systems, and 14 of 20 light rail systems.
- Lowest in heavy rail: NYC Subway, New York, with 118 of 424 stations accessible (27.8%).
- Lowest in light rail: Blue and Green lines, Cleveland, with 12 of 29 stations accessible (41.4%).
- 58.5% of the 523 stations without full access are on one system: NYC Subway, New York (306).
- Across all 36 systems, 1,644 of 2,184 stations (75.3%) are accessible.
2Subway and heavy rail
| Rank | System | Accessible stations | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-1 | AtlantaMARTA rail · MARTA | 38 of 38 | 100% |
| T-1 | BaltimoreMetro SubwayLink · Maryland Transit Administration | 14 of 14 | 100% |
| T-1 | ClevelandRed Line · Greater Cleveland RTA | 18 of 18 | 100% |
| T-1 | HonoluluSkyline · City and County of Honolulu (DTS) | 13 of 13 | 100% |
| T-1 | Los AngelesB and D lines · LA Metro | 19 of 19 | 100% |
| T-1 | MiamiMetrorail · Miami-Dade Transit | 23 of 23 | 100% |
| T-1 | Philadelphia and South JerseyPATCO Speedline · DRPA / PATCO | 14 of 14 | 100% |
| T-1 | San Francisco Bay AreaBART · BART · Live map | 50 of 50 | 100% |
| T-1 | Washington, DCMetrorail · WMATA · Live map | 98 of 98 | 100% |
| 10 | BostonRed, Orange, and Blue lines · MBTA · Live map | 51 of 52 | 98.1% |
| 11 | ChicagoL · CTA · Live map | 108 of 143 | 75.5% |
| 12 | New York and New JerseyPATH · Port Authority of NY & NJ | 9 of 13 | 69.2% |
| 13 | PhiladelphiaL, B, and M lines · SEPTA · Live map | 44 of 725 partly | 61.1% |
| 14 | New YorkStaten Island Railway · MTA Staten Island Railway | 6 of 21 | 28.6% |
| 15 | New YorkNYC Subway · MTA New York City Transit | 118 of 42415 partly | 27.8% |
T- marks a tie. Tied systems are listed alphabetically by city. Partly accessible stations count as not accessible (Philadelphia 5, New York 15).
Source: agency GTFS feeds and agency statements. See Section 6.
3Light rail
| Rank | System | Accessible stations | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| T-1 | BaltimoreLight RailLink · Maryland Transit Administration | 33 of 33 | 100% |
| T-1 | CharlotteLYNX Blue Line · CATS | 26 of 26 | 100% |
| T-1 | DallasDART light rail · DART | 65 of 65 | 100% |
| T-1 | DenverRTD light rail · RTD | 47 of 47 | 100% |
| T-1 | HoustonMETRORail · METRO | 43 of 43 | 100% |
| T-1 | Los AngelesA, C, E, and K lines · LA Metro | 94 of 94 | 100% |
| T-1 | Minneapolis–St. PaulMETRO Blue and Green lines · Metro Transit | 38 of 38 | 100% |
| T-1 | NorfolkThe Tide · Hampton Roads Transit | 11 of 11 | 100% |
| T-1 | PhoenixValley Metro Rail · Valley Metro | 57 of 57 | 100% |
| T-1 | PortlandMAX · TriMet · Live map | 95 of 95 | 100% |
| T-1 | Salt Lake CityTRAX · UTA | 52 of 52 | 100% |
| T-1 | San DiegoTrolley · San Diego MTS | 64 of 64 | 100% |
| T-1 | SeattleLink (1 and 2 lines) · Sound Transit | 39 of 39 | 100% |
| T-1 | St. LouisMetroLink · Metro Transit St. Louis | 38 of 38 | 100% |
| 15 | SacramentoSacRT light rail · SacRT | 53 of 541 partly | 98.1% |
| 16 | San JoseVTA light rail · VTA | 57 of 592 partly | 96.6% |
| 17 | BostonGreen Line and Mattapan · MBTA · Live map | 54 of 781 partly | 69.2% |
| 18 | PittsburghThe T · Pittsburgh Regional Transit | 27 of 51 | 52.9% |
| 19 | San FranciscoMuni Metro · SFMTA | 69 of 135 | 51.1% |
| 20 | ClevelandBlue and Green lines · Greater Cleveland RTA | 12 of 29 | 41.4% |
| — | New JerseyHudson-Bergen, Newark, and River LINE light rail · NJ Transit | 47 of 6417 unknown | 73.4% |
T- marks a tie. Tied systems are listed alphabetically by city. Partly accessible stations count as not accessible (Sacramento 1, San Jose 2, Boston 1).
New Jersey (Hudson-Bergen, Newark, and River LINE light rail) is listed but not ranked: 17 of 64 stations have no published accessibility status, above the 10% limit.
Source: agency GTFS feeds and agency statements. See Section 6.
4Method
- 4.1 Unit of measure
- The station, not the platform. A transfer station served by several lines counts once. A station counts as accessible when the agency states that a wheelchair user can travel from the street to the train.
- 4.2 Score
- Accessible stations divided by all stations served by the system. No other factor is weighted in.
- 4.3 Data sources
- Stations come from each agency’s GTFS schedule feed, the file it publishes for trip planners. Access comes from the feed’s wheelchair boarding field. Where the agency leaves that field blank, or where it contradicts the agency’s own public statement, the agency’s published statement or station list is used instead. Each is linked in Section 6. Third-party sources are not used.
- 4.4 Partly accessible stations
- A station where only some platforms or directions are accessible counts as not accessible, and is reported separately in the tables.
- 4.5 Unknown status
- A station the agency has not described is unknown, not assumed either way. A system with more than 10% unknown stations is listed but not ranked.
- 4.6 Ties
- Systems with the same score share a rank. No tie-breaker is applied.
- 4.7 Scope
- Every system reported to the Federal Transit Administration’s National Transit Database (2024) as heavy rail or light rail, grouped by that mode. Streetcars and commuter rail are excluded. San Juan Tren Urbano and Buffalo Metro Rail could not be scored because no public schedule feed exists.
5Limitations
- The score measures whether an accessible path exists, not whether it works today. Elevator outages are tracked on our live elevator maps and will be the subject of a separate annual report.
- It does not measure platform gaps, the number or placement of elevators, station entrances, or bus service. Stations that depend on a single elevator are covered in Rail Stations With Only One Elevator.
- Agency statements vary in date. Where a statement predates newer stations, those stations rely on it; system notes in Section 6 say so.
- Systems count stations differently. Where a feed lists surface stops individually, each stop is counted as a station, as noted per system.
6Sources and notes
New York, NYC Subway
GTFS feed (valid from May 26, 2026) · Agency dataset
MTA's GTFS leaves wheelchair_boarding blank, so stations come from MTA's own station dataset on data.ny.gov. Transfer complexes (e.g. Times Sq) count once.
New York, Staten Island Railway
GTFS feed (valid from May 26, 2026) · Agency dataset
Washington, DC, Metrorail
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 23, 2026) · feed license
Chicago, L
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 11, 2026)
CTA's own count (August 2026, after Austin reopened) is 110 of 146 stations. This ranking uses the GTFS feed, which lists 108 of 143, the same source used for every system.
Boston, Red, Orange, and Blue lines
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 17, 2026) · feed license
San Francisco Bay Area, BART
GTFS feed (valid from Jan 12, 2026) · feed license · Agency statement
Philadelphia, L, B, and M lines
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 27, 2026) · feed license
SEPTA reports the Norristown High Speed Line (M) to NTD as heavy rail, so it is included. Trolleys are NTD streetcar rail and are out of scope.
Atlanta, MARTA rail
GTFS feed (valid from Aug 22, 2026)
Los Angeles, B and D lines
Miami, Metrorail
GTFS feed (valid from Jan 1, 2021) · Agency statement
Miami-Dade's GTFS marks every stop, rail and bus, as not accessible (2). That contradicts the county's own statement, so the statement is used.
Baltimore, Metro SubwayLink
GTFS feed (valid from Jan 1, 2024) · Agency statement
New York and New Jersey, PATH
GTFS feed (valid from May 22, 2025) · Agency station list
Philadelphia and South Jersey, PATCO Speedline
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 24, 2026)
Cleveland, Red Line
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 19, 2026) · feed license · Agency statement
Honolulu, Skyline
GTFS feed (valid from Aug 9, 2026) · Agency statement
Boston, Green Line and Mattapan
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 17, 2026) · feed license
Portland, MAX
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 13, 2026)
Seattle, Link (1 and 2 lines)
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 1, 2026)
Denver, RTD light rail
GTFS feed (valid from Jun 7, 2026) · feed license
Minneapolis–St. Paul, METRO Blue and Green lines
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 19, 2026)
Salt Lake City, TRAX
GTFS feed (valid from Aug 16, 2026) · feed license
San Diego, Trolley
GTFS feed (valid from Jun 7, 2026) · feed license · Agency statement
Dallas, DART light rail
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 21, 2026) · feed license · Agency statement
57 stations are marked accessible in DART's GTFS feed. The other 8 are not marked there and rely on DART's statement about level boarding at all light rail stations, which dates from 2010.
Phoenix, Valley Metro Rail
GTFS feed (valid from Jul 27, 2026) · feed license · Agency statement
St. Louis, MetroLink
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 24, 2026)
San Francisco, Muni Metro
GTFS feed (valid from Jul 23, 2026) · feed license · Agency station list
Muni's GTFS has no parent stations; each surface stop is one station (both directions merged by cross streets).
Pittsburgh, The T
GTFS feed (valid from Jun 28, 2026) · feed license · Agency station list
Los Angeles, A, C, E, and K lines
Baltimore, Light RailLink
GTFS feed (valid from Apr 23, 2023)
Cleveland, Blue and Green lines
GTFS feed (valid from Sep 19, 2026) · feed license · Agency station list
GCRTA publishes the count (17 not compliant), not a list. Accessible stations come from GCRTA's rebuild announcements; the other 17 match GCRTA's count exactly. E. 79th (Blue/Green) is being rebuilt and counts as not accessible until GCRTA opens it.
Sacramento, SacRT light rail
GTFS feed (valid from Aug 9, 2026) · feed license · Agency statement
San Jose, VTA light rail
GTFS feed (valid from Aug 10, 2026)
Houston, METRORail
GTFS feed (valid from Aug 30, 2026) · feed license · Agency statement
Charlotte, LYNX Blue Line
New Jersey, Hudson-Bergen, Newark, and River LINE light rail
GTFS feed · feed license · Agency statement
NJ TRANSIT reports its three light rail lines to NTD as one light rail mode, so they share one row.
For Newark Light Rail NJ TRANSIT says only that "most" stations are accessible, with no station list; those stations stay unknown.
The Hudson-Bergen and River LINE figures come from a 2017 NJ TRANSIT presentation; its site marks accessible stations only on PDF maps.
Norfolk, The Tide
GTFS feed (valid from May 10, 2026) · Agency statement
7Citation and data
Suggested citation
Accessibility Research Lab. (2026). Wheelchair Access Across US Rail Systems, 2026. Is the elevator working? https://www.istheelevatorworking.com/research/rail-access/2026
Data
Every station, its status, and the source of that status are in the full dataset (JSON). The data is rebuilt from agency feeds for each edition; this edition will not be changed except to correct errors, which will be dated here.
The dataset is released under CC BY 4.0. Reuse it, including commercially, with credit to “Is the elevator working?” and a link to this report. The agency feeds it draws on stay under each agency's own terms. MBTA data is provided by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Corrections and questions
Found an error, or want to work with the data? Write to editors at istheelevatorworking dot com.
Preview image: EPA HQ - WJ Clinton Building - Main entrance - 2018d by Moreau1, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
