The New York metro area has the lowest rate of car ownership in the nation, in part due to its excellent light rail system, which connects New York City to Long Island, New Jersey, upstate New York, and Connecticut. Under the Metropolitan Transit Authority and the Port Authority, light rail networks serve a population of 14.4 million in a region of 5,000 square miles around New York City. Four out of five rush hour commuters to New York’s central business districts use this system, for a total of nearly 3 billion riders every year. The system is the largest in the U.S. and the envy of other more car–bound cities, and urban planners often point to it as a model for urban development.