Photo by Chris Rief

Last year was a big one for public transportation: Americans took 10.7 billion trips in 2013, the highest level of public transit use since 1956, according to a report from the American Public Transportation Association.

The biggest gain nationwide between 2012 and 2013 was seen in heavy rail use (a 2.8 percent change), but this was not the case for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Indeed, ridership on D.C.’s heavy rail system decreased by 2.65 percent. (From 280,904,200 in 2012 to 273,464,800 in 2013.) But bus ridership increased by 3.45 percent over the same time period. (From 130,236,700 in 2012 to 134,726,100 in 2013.)

Combined, the system saw a .72 percent decrease in ridership between 2012 and 2013, according to APTA’s info.

In an oversight report to the D.C. Council, Metro put its rail ridership between January and December of 2013 at 245,913,697. Bus ridership was not provided.