Does Your City Have Subway's Or Commuter Trains?

Usairwys757 · Fri May 28, 2004 6:19 am

Subway's as in trains not the eating place. Here in Atlanta we have the MARTA, its one of the best around IMO. Does your city have subway or commuter train service??

[Edited 2004-05-27 23:20:23]

[Edited 2004-05-27 23:23:58]

Superfly · Fri May 28, 2004 6:31 am

Yep!
Here in San Francisco we have MUNI as well as BART and CalTrain which services most of the Bay Area.

worldoftui · Fri May 28, 2004 6:31 am

USairwys757

In Reading, we aren't quite advanced enough to have subway or commuter trains.
We have just modernised though, and introduced these into service......

Mark

DfwRevolution · Fri May 28, 2004 6:32 am

Dallas has the DART light-rail, and the few times I've commuted onboard were great. I don't ride enough to know if this is a common occurance, but the trains were clean and comfortable. I'd ride it more often, but I commute down the Tollroad or Preston not Central Sad

DLKAPA · Fri May 28, 2004 6:32 am

Denver has the joke called Light Rail.

Gets you from Highlands Ranch To Downtown, and Back. Also gives you a good view of what the Denver Ghettos look like.

DLKAPA

VSlover · Fri May 28, 2004 6:33 am

obviously.

in nyc we have the subway, the LIRR (long island rail road), metro north, and NJTransit (new jersey transit) the last two are commuter trains.

they all smell like piss.

worldoftui · Fri May 28, 2004 6:36 am

they all smell like piss. Big grin

Is it ever enjoyable to travel on rat-infested sewer trains? At least in Reading, you get fresh air - that is until the horse takes a s*it.

Mark

Guest · Fri May 28, 2004 6:40 am

yes London has an excuse of an underground system.

concord977 · Fri May 28, 2004 6:42 am

Washington has the famous "Metro" system. It is clean, fast and you can use it to get almost anywhere in the area (except Dulles airport!)

North County · Fri May 28, 2004 6:47 am

San Diego has a very successful light rail system - San Diego Trolley

Runs from Qualcom stadium to the "Border", El Cajon to Downtown.

The Coaster - Heavy rail from Oceanside to Downtown San Diego.

Metrolink - Heavy rail from Oceanside to Orange County/L.A.

I have used them all to get to work.

777236ER · Fri May 28, 2004 6:53 am

Roberta, the Tube's fantastic. One thing I miss about London.

Manchester has a tram, which is desperate for the link to Trafford Park to be completed.

worldoftui · Fri May 28, 2004 6:58 am

Metro Rail / subway systems in the UK, as far as I know:
London
Manchester
Croydon
Sheffield
Birmingham
Nottingham
Tyne and Wear / Newcastle

Mark

MD11Engineer · Fri May 28, 2004 6:58 am

Berlin has a very efficient system, open 24hrs on most lines. Cologne has one as well.

Jan

leviticus · Fri May 28, 2004 8:27 am

Stockholm where I usually live have a pretty big and efficient subway system, when it is up and running that is, and when it is broke (happens a few times a week) you do not have anything else, it sucks. Here in Andorra we do not have anything except a few crappy bus lines without schedule. Get a car or walk...

jamotcx · Fri May 28, 2004 8:32 am

Here in Manchester UK we have a basic tram service.

If you need to get anywhere your better on a bus, unless your lucky enough to be going anywhere near the tram lines.

Jamo

Mir · Fri May 28, 2004 8:35 am

Berlin has a very efficient system, open 24hrs on most lines. Cologne has one as well.

I LOVE Berlin's system! It's the absolute best I've been on so far (all of it, including the trams and buses). Much better than the piece of garbage we have here in New York (ever heard of expresses being slower than local trains? It happens here on a regular basis). Stuttgart's is nice too.

Other top ratings: Paris, Washington, San Fransisco, Boston

garnetpalmetto · Fri May 28, 2004 8:38 am

Columbia lacks a rail system or subway system. Best we have is the CMRTA, the Central Midlands Regional Transit Authority, or Columbia (and surrounding environ's) bus system. It's a historical look at the good 'ole boy system in the South. You see, once upon a time, there was only one power company in the entire state, South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G). In order to maintain their monopoly, state government ordered SCE&G to run the bus system in Columbia. As a result of this, SCE&G did the WORST possible job so that city and state government would eventually cancel this contract. Busses were extremely late and ill-maintained and it was not unknown for busses to break down during a route. The things were pollution machines and getting stuck behind one in traffic was never fun. Drivers were barely competent and, worst of all, ridership was low. Finally, CMRTA was created to manage the bus system as well as downtown Columbia's trolley system (basically those diesel-powered shuttle busses made to look like trolleys). Things haven't gotten MUCH better, but they're getting there. Maintenance is better, all the busses have been replaced by new Blue Bird busses, ridership is slightly higher, and there's a drive now to "park and ride" by parking your car at commuter lots on the city outskirts and take the bus to work. Fares have been raised to $1.00, but it's still doable

LH423 · Fri May 28, 2004 8:41 am

Here in Boston, we have the MBTA, or 'T' for short. Consists of four, coloured subway lines which branch off into 12 endstations, a few hundred bus lines, and 14 Commuter Rail (regional trains) lines which serve Plymouth, Kingston, and Middleborough in the Southeast, Providence, RI in the south, Worcester in the west, Fitchburg in the Northwest, Newburyport in the north, and Rockport in the northeast.

A pasttime in Boston is complaining and griping about how much the T sucks, but I'd be hard-pressed to find many cities in North America with a better system. Also, the MBTA holds the title of the oldest subway in North America!

LH423

MD11Engineer · Fri May 28, 2004 8:41 am

About two years ago I was in Dallas, Tx. and used the DART system. It was nice, clean and modern. I liked it. Barcelona and Madrid have an efficient system as well.

Jan

pelican · Fri May 28, 2004 8:42 am

MD11Engineer
open 24hrs on most lines - unfortunately this time is gone. At night you have to use special night-busses. But the public transport of Berlin is still very good: S-Bahn (railway), U-Bahn (subway), Tram, Regionalbahn (heavy railway), lots of bus routes.

pelican

[Edited 2004-05-28 01:50:41]

MD11Engineer · Fri May 28, 2004 8:49 am

Pelican,

What about line 1 (East-West) and line 9 (North-south) and the network of night busses in between?

Jan

North County · Fri May 28, 2004 8:51 am

Superfly,

You work on the BART system?

vaporlock · Fri May 28, 2004 8:52 am

We have the "TTC" (Toronto Transit Commission) that run both the bus and subway lines in Toronto and we also have the GO Train which is a metro train service that goes to town & cities outside Toronto. Overall out transit system is pretty good. Big thumbs up

I have travelled many times on the subway system in Chicago and found it pretty good! The painting that people have done down in the tunnels is amazing!!! Big grin

Phyllis

Continental · Fri May 28, 2004 8:55 am

Here in Minneapolis, Minnesota, we have no subway, but our lightrail train system is about to start. They have free rides going on now for a while, I don't think it opens for a few more weeks. The trains look nice, and some stations look pretty nice, I'll only need to ride it when I'm going to Twins games, but at least I'll ride it!

pelican · Fri May 28, 2004 9:01 am

I'm not sure about the U1 but the U9 is not in service at this time (2 am) - you have to take the bus if you want to go from Zoo to Rathaus Steglitz. But at weekend the U9 offers a 24h service.

pelican

MD11Engineer · Fri May 28, 2004 9:05 am

Those two lines used to be open for the whole night.

Jan

pelican · Fri May 28, 2004 9:07 am

Probably it's because Berlin and the BVG are almost bankrupt.

Superfly · Fri May 28, 2004 9:29 am

North County:
You work on the BART system?

No, I never worked with BART.
I worked with MUNI, Caltrans and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.

keno · Fri May 28, 2004 9:51 am

In Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan Area we have 7 different lines - consisting of light rapid transit (LRT), monorail and commuter train lines.

http://www.stesensentral.com/route.htm

MD11Engineer · Fri May 28, 2004 9:57 am

Yes, I´ve heard about the Landesbank Berlin scandal (I haven´t lived in Berlin for the last 6 years). Those guarantees given by the former government for those bad loans really put the city in the red.

Jan

elephantboy · Fri May 28, 2004 10:01 am

In Bangkok we have BTS skytrain which is nice to see the city. MRTA Subway is coming into service this July.

MD11Engineer · Fri May 28, 2004 10:13 am

Manila has the LRT, I used it 13 years ago asnd it was also quite nice and modern.

Jan

seb146 · Fri May 28, 2004 10:22 am

Portland Oregon has MAX: Metropolitan Area eXpress. We have just opened a third line and are starting work on a fourth. Blue line goes from Hillsboro in the west through Beaverton and downtown Portland to Gresham in the east. Red line goes from Beaverton through downtown Portland to the airport. It stops at the bottom of the escalator from Lufthansa, Mexicana and Alaska ticket counters. Finally, our Yellow line just opened three weeks ago and it runs from downtown Portland to the Portland Expo Center. We also have a street car line that runs through downtown. Check out http://www.trimet.org for more info.

I have not seen Seattle mentioned yet. They have commuter rail between Tacoma, Seattle and Everett. No light rail yet in Seattle but Tacoma has one line in the core downtown area.

GO CANUCKS!!

[Edited 2004-05-28 03:25:14]

Arcano · Fri May 28, 2004 10:44 am

Santiago has an amazing subway system.
It has more than 30 years old and looks brand new. no graffiti, no trash on the floor, smells good and everything.
Santiago is also changing the whole public transport system. The expert made a tour around the globe looking for good transport solutions, so this plan, the "Transantiago", believe it or not will be top class, with all the system integrated: buses, sub urban trains and subways. Amazing...

Yes, we also have cable cars and funicular!

Cheers

desertjets · Fri May 28, 2004 11:05 am

Apparently Syracuse, NY has a rail system, called OnTrack.... a rather pathetic one at that too. Apparently it now only runs 3 days a week and only gets about 60 weekly riders. A recent article in the paper mentions they need like 500/week to make it work, but it has been running for 10 years.

http://209.51.194.98/ontrack1.htm

ozzie · Fri May 28, 2004 11:17 am

There is nothing aside from the bus lines here in PHX, but the city is constructing a light rail that is to run from PHX-Tempe.

http://www.valleymetro.org/rail/

Link to more information above.

MD11Engineer · Fri May 28, 2004 11:20 am

Interesting thing is that in most western German towns the tramway / streetcar system has been abolished as being an obstacle to cars. For the last ten years though many communities have reinstalled state of the art tramways running on seperate tracksas being more reliable, faster and economic that busses. East Germany kept the systems going, they only had to replace the rolling stock.

Jan

concord977 · Fri May 28, 2004 11:38 am

To add to reply #8, I just found a few pictures of the DC Metro:

ConcordeBoy · Fri May 28, 2004 11:48 am

We have one of the largest train hubs in the nation... but alas, none of it commuter.

MSYtristar · Fri May 28, 2004 11:54 am

Well Fred, we do have three Streetcar (light rail) lines: The St.Charles line (the oldest operating rail line in America), the Canal line (just opened last month), and the Riverfront line (opened in 1989).

The Canal Street and St.Charles Streetcar lines operate 24/7, while the Riverfront line makes its last run around midnight.

Steve/MSY

ClassicLover · Fri May 28, 2004 1:30 pm

Here in Sydney, we have it all!

A few underground stations in the city, and normal suburban trains throughout the suburbs, and into country areas.

We also have light rail (trams) and a monorail.

I know that Melbourne has trains and trams, Brisbane and Perth both have trains, and that might be it for Australia.

All the major cities on the mainland are connected also - Cairns, Brisbane, Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Alice Springs and Darwin.

mark777300 · Fri May 28, 2004 2:07 pm

NYC has it all, the Subway, LIRR (Long Island RR), Metro-North, NJ-Transit, we also have Amtrak's northeast corridor which is much like a commuter RR, AirTrain, and Nj Transit has new light-rail lines popping up throughout the state. Most of these operate 24/7, and no, not all the trains smell like piss, just some of them!

QIguy24 · Fri May 28, 2004 2:25 pm

Here in Basel we have our trams. I love them!! Big thumbs up

But damn they are noisy!! Big grin

zak · Fri May 28, 2004 3:40 pm

the logo of the metro

one of the newer generation trains(the ones running to and from the airport)

for a map of the metro go here http://www.metromadrid.es/resources/pdfs/plano.pdf

fritzi · Fri May 28, 2004 4:32 pm

Here in Vienna we have:

-Trams
-Subways
-Busses
-Schnellbahns (Fast city trains, almost the same as the subway)

When going around in the inner city it is a lot quicker to go by public transport. But then there are those lazy f*cks like me who cant stand waiting for the trains, instead we use our cars, pollute the city even more and then park them in underground garages (historical artifact were destroyed during construction of these garages).

I must say that I would be the perfect leader for greenpeace... Big grin

cancidas · Fri May 28, 2004 4:59 pm

obviously.

in nyc we have the subway, the LIRR (long island rail road), metro north, and NJTransit (new jersey transit) the last two are commuter trains.

they all smell like piss.

lol. so true. the rats are the scary part though, they can get pretty damn big down there. i just hated it when some TA worker would call for a sick bum they found in the tracks. ugh... made me wish i didn't work for the city, the private ambulance drivers wouldn't go down there.

L-188 · Fri May 28, 2004 6:01 pm

Not really but there is talk about light rail service being set up on the existing ARR tracks.

Right now the ARR does offer some service with BUDD RDC on specific routes, the only flagstop service in the US around Talketna and the past couple of winters the have run a "Ski train"

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=61162

They have also taken to running trains to support tour groups.

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=26986

And then there was the old Whitter Shuttle.

< http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=23921>

CaptOveur · Sat May 29, 2004 12:07 am

Cincinnati dug most of a subway line, built some stations, then never bought any trains... does that count?

http://www.cincinnati-transit.net/subway.html

Qb001 · Sat May 29, 2004 12:45 am

Montreal has a decent transit system. The metro covers pretty much the main island of Montreal:

And it's very nice too. Each station has a unique design, each with some unique work of art. It's not rare that you'll see Art History classes travelling the Montreal Metro; it's pretty much like a museum. A few examples:

And there are also a few lines for commuter trains.

CactusA319 · Sat May 29, 2004 12:45 am

In Chicago we have the CTA elevated trains or the "L". There are 7 lines that cover the city of Chicago. Two of those lines, the Red and Blue, have sections that are underground.

We also have commuter rail, Metra, that runs between downtown Chicago and the suburbs.

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