Who has a better transportation system?

[wolfdawg54]

Please respond after making your choice.

[Spartan]

I voted New York, but that was premature. It depends on what type of system you mean. If its mass transit then NYC has it hands down, but as far as vehicular traffic I think DC has the best road system.

LA sucks for eveything.

Miami?

[monsoon]

[Wendell FOX]

LA has the most extensive freeway system, but since this is a more transit oriented site, this map says it all:

[Brickcity]

I voted for DC.

[Guest donaltopablo]

NYC. I like DC's transit system, it's very effective, but I just think NYC gets you more places. At least for mass transit.

[Spartan]

^Yeah, thats what I meant. DC's is effective enough, but you probably would find it difficult to not have a car.

[Scott]

Manhattan is the only big place in America that you really don't need a car and transportation is right outside your door in cabs buses and of course...subway. With regular stops for local travel and has express trains that make transversing the island very quick and easy.

The streets (E-W) and Aves (N-S) are clearly marked an the grid makes navigation fairly simple even for the novice (by and large) or anyone who can read a map. Outside this NYC is a mess

DC is easy to get around and its subway is clean and efficient but much less comprehensive than NY. I'd have to spend more time there to make a better judgement.

LA is terrible in every sense of the word... Where to start? Buses that get stuck in endless traffic and a subway that is 50 years late. Yet is there anything cooler than cruising Sunset Strip?

Miami? Maybe someone could explain its system a little? Never really known for transit.

When I was in Las Vegas they where building a TRAM system to connect the Strip with the airport and DT and alot of casinos were connected by private ones. That could have amazing potential as traffic there is really getting bad.

[wolfdawg54]

Miami has a tri-rail and monrail system. If you really want to know more about Miami, Brickell is probably the one who will be able to explain it better. As for me, I chose New York because I think it has the best transportation system overall.

[Wendell FOX]

One thing I like about DC's metro system though is that they have stations that reach well out into the suburbs, which means that you could stay at a fairly cheap motel in Alexandria and commute to downtown. NYC's only within the 4 inner boroughs.

[Guest donaltopablo]

One thing I like about DC's metro system though is that they have stations that reach well out into the suburbs, which means that you could stay at a fairly cheap motel in Alexandria and commute to downtown. NYC's only within the 4 inner boroughs.

Although NYC has an extensive commuter rail system, and partnering system (NJTransit) that offers transit (although not the same system) out in the burbs and beyond.

[Brickell]

Miami has a signle elevated rail line (heavy) that extends north south from Kendall to Downtown and then snakes west to Hialeah. Unfortunately the line follows a mostly political path instead of something useful. The north-south section between Kendall and the Hospital north of downtown gets pretty heavy use though. It's a start and plans to extend the system are already in the works, with construction to start soon on a second line going east-west as well as an extention of the original line to Florida City. There's the metromover which is an elevated rubber tire automated system, similar to detroit or jacksonville. The line serves mostly downtown from Brickell to the CBD to Overtown. Downtown is really growing into it though, with a lot of the new residential towers building close to the stations or even incorpating new stations into their designs. Tri-rail is commuter rail serving mainly Broward and Palm Beach counties which connects to Metrorail in downtown.

There is a pretty decent bus system. That covers the whole county. It is possible to live in Miami without a car. It wouldn't be the easiest, but it wouldn't be all bad either.

Doesn't compare to NYC or DC, we just don't have the building density. There's a great deal of development going on along the transportation corridor however, so look for things to be vastly improved in the coming years.

I vote for NYC by the way.

Also, NYC has an extensive train system that reaches into jersey, long island, connecticut, that I know people use to commute. Does that count?

edit: NYC question asked concurrently with don. still holds though.

[BigCityAttitude]

I voted for New York, because it really is the only city where you could live without a car. I love DC's as well, it's very effective, it just doesn't have as many stops as it maybe should.

[bobliocatt]

I voted for DC, because I believe its the best system, per capita, in the country. Its very clean, well laid out & maintained, goes out into the suburbs, and connects with commuter rail.

[Cotuit]

Also, NYC has an extensive train system that reaches into jersey, long island, connecticut, that I know people use to commute. Does that count?

Of course it counts, the question is about transportation systems, not just subways.

Even if it were subway only, though the NYC subway stays within 4 boroughs of New York, the hotel analogy holds. It is much cheaper to stay in the outer boroughs than it is to stay in Manhattan, and you have the transit to bring you to Manhattan.

NYCs MetroNorth & LIRR run on almost subway-like schedules at the rush hours, and they run late into the night and on weekends, making areas outside the city very easily accessible. This is very important as so many people in the city do not have cars, getting to the LI beaches is very easy on LIRR, there are even special tickets you can buy to get you on the trains and connecting shuttles.

Transit in NYC is utilized by people at all social strata, unlike many other cities, the subways, trains, and buses are not primarily used by the poor (I didn't say all other cities are like that).

The city has a vast web of ferry services connecting parts of the city with itself, as well as with New Jersey. The ferry systems expanded after Sept. 11th when the WTC Path tubes were knocked out of service.

Which brings us to the fact that there is also the Path system (back to it's two trans-Hudson tubes) servicing Midtown out to Jersey. In Jersey there is the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail line, providing local service and feeding commuters into Path and NJTransit to NYC. Newark has a subway, also feeding into Manhattan bound trains. The Jersey part of the metro has a vast rail network. NJTransit serves a large portion of the state of New Jersey.

For coverage and convenience, I don't think New York's system can be beat within the United States.

[Ivory Tower]

No competition, NYC has the most extensive transit system.

[wolfdawg54]

I personally voted for New York.

[bobdreamz]

Miami really shouldn't have been included in this poll as its transportation system is not up to par with others...not yet anyways...but it is true what Brickell said that you can get by without a car here it just not always the easiest. The metro government has embarked on a 20 year plan to add 89 miles of heavy rail to our current 22 mile Metrorail system giving us an 111 mile system upon completion...of course a lot of that depends on matching federal funds.

btw Brickell I think the North corridor extension will be the first to be built since the county already has completed the environmental impact study (EIS) and owns the right-of-way on this route. All we are waiting for is funding I believe.

oh and I voted for the big apple!

[Urban_Legend]

I voted for D.C., because from what I've seen, it's nicer and cleaner than NY. But NY's is probably way more thorough and extensive. I haven't ridden either of them.

[Urbanrailfan]

I am originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, home of the best transportation systems on the West Coast - unlike Los Angeles. The Bay Area is home to BART, known as Bay Area Rapid Transit, one of the best because it is the first to be modernized (the system is 30 years old). BART takes you anywhere you want to go between San Francisco to the East Bay and Oakland through the Tube under the SF Bay, so you don't have to deal with Bay Bridge traffic. Though with 43 stations, the system is 104 miles long.

Other rail systems include the MUNI in San Francisco, where you can go around San Francisco car free, since SF is the second most dense after NYC. MUNI buses run frequently making it more convenient, including cable cars.

Finally, since BART does not go to San Jose, San Jose has VTA light rail, running between downtown and silicon valley businesses, maybe the business collapse recently caused lower ridership.

[wolfdawg54]

I chose Miami based on the smooth transformation and speed of the miami system. A couple of years ago, I rode on the whole system, from the metrorail to the metromover. I based it on use, not the complexity. That's why!

[Guest donaltopablo]

I am originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, home of the best transportation systems on the West Coast - unlike Los Angeles. The Bay Area is home to BART, known as Bay Area Rapid Transit, one of the best because it is the first to be modernized (the system is 30 years old). BART takes you anywhere you want to go between San Francisco to the East Bay and Oakland through the Tube under the SF Bay, so you don't have to deal with Bay Bridge traffic. Though with 43 stations, the system is 104 miles long.

Other rail systems include the MUNI in San Francisco, where you can go around San Francisco car free, since SF is the second most dense after NYC. MUNI buses run frequently making it more convenient, including cable cars.

Finally, since BART does not go to San Jose, San Jose has VTA light rail, running between downtown and silicon valley businesses, maybe the business collapse recently caused lower ridership.

BART is way better than LAs system.

[Cotuit]

I chose Miami based on the smooth transformation and speed of the miami system. A couple of years ago, I rode on the whole system, from the metrorail to the metromover. I based it on use, not the complexity. That's why!

It could take one a couple years to ride all of New York's system.

[Urbanrailfan]

BART is way better than LAs system.

And speaking of LAs, the LA METRO system is 73 miles total, with 56 miles LRT and the 17 Mile Red Line Subway. But still, they came too late and do not even parallel the freeway system well. Ex. Red line parallels US 101 Hollywood Freeway; the Blue parallels I-110 Harbor Fwy and I-710 Long Beach Fwy; Green Line is smack in the middle of the newest freeway, I-105; the new gold line parallels Pasadena Freeway (110).

Early on, when the North Hollywood Subway extension was still being built, LA County passed an ordiance to prevent METRO from using local tax dollars in 1998 because it costs $300 million per mile. That made it difficult to extend the Wilshire extension all the way to the Miracle Mile, Bev Hills and UCLA. The METRO subway Red Line rail cars are new but resemble Washington DC's Metrorail cars.

METRO Rapid serves Wilshire where the subway extension would have went if not for that proposal. Metro Rapid also has over 10 other routes serving where subway and LRT wouldn't go. They run in dedicated lanes, since LA has really wide streets that stretch a long distance. The disadvantage is they currently resemble city buses with 40 passengers, thus they have to come every 2 minutes to a stop. Later on they plan on using Bus Rapid Transit vehicles with 100+ passenger seating. But for now, the 2 minute frequency is an inefficiency.

METRO Light Rail Line uses two different car models in different color schemes. The car on the left is used on the Pasadena Gold Line, which is isolated from Blue and Green Lines (where the new cars used to run and had to be delivered instead).

Currently METRO has two new lines planned over the next ten years:

1. a Blue Line branch from Downtown along LA Exposition, USC and out to Santa Monica. It is to parallel Santa Monica Fwy.

2. The Silver Line is planned to run along Sunset Blvd, north of downtown and to El Monte paralleling I-10 San Bernardino Freeway, LA's most choked up freeway.

[Justin]

New York City, Obviously.

There is no other Metropolitian Area in North America, that is so well served by public transit.

New York's subway is pretty clean, and efficient, and is being modernized. The bus services connect pretty good, with the system.

And it is a public transit buff's idea of Heaven!!

Subway, Light Rail, Commuter Rail, Ferries, Many different models of buses!