What city has the best mass transit?

[Joedog]

Boston is the best I've seen in the U.S., but London is hands down the best I've seen, period. I lived there for a year, and never felt like I needed a car.

 

[Richland123]

Around here you can bring your bicycle on mass transit. That helped with that problem. There still are issue though. One problem is cyclists shoving their bikes on to packed subway cars. I have my bike with me I know that if I wait another minute to ten minutes there will be another train that is not as crowded. If I am traveling within San Francisco another will usually come along within two minutes.
There are also designated spots for bikes that most people don't notice or ignore. No problem for me I just point it out.
This morning a saw (ahem) mature woman ask a young vacate the handicap seat. The grandma then sat down. I was proud of her, we smiled at each other.

You mean like this?

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

As to mass transit replace individual vehicles, it depends. In rural areas and small towns it isn't likely. For larger cities, the cost and convenience has to get a lot better. When I lived in Aloha, Oregon, a suburb of Portland, I considered using public transportation to work. I worked in Montgomery Park. The drive was about 30 minutes and I didn't have to pay for parking. When I mapped out a course for using a bus/train, which is what I would have to do, it came to an hour and half, assuming all the schedules lined up perfectly. I don't remember the exact cost, but it would have been several dollars a day.
I know some mega-cities have good public transportation. New York, for example is excellent. I think a car in New York would be a liability.

 

[ak56]

Well, it certainly isn't Seattle ... although we do have the Pedal Pub in the summer >

The slowly expanding light rail system runs great from north Seattle to the airport that's far south, but this city is ripe for multiple east-west lines. Many many buses will eventually get you where you wanna go here, but their still not immune to the thick traffic

Yeay. Many, many buses.

I just mapped the route. I'm 17 miles from work. It would take 4 hours, 5 buses plus a 20 minute walk, and the earliest I could get there is 11:00 AM.

Or I can leave at the same time, drive to Starbucks for my coffee, drive to work, and be there by 8:00.

 

[Clark Dark]

Philly

 

[crucislancer]

I really enjoyed the public transit system in Budapest. 4 subway lines (one recently added in 2014), plus trams, buses, and commuter rail lines that run out of the city to the nearest towns. And then the trains to various points in Europe. I rode some form of public transit, usually the subway, every day for a month when I was there in 2000. It’s cheap and efficient.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

After my car was t-boned at the intersection of Doheny & Santa Monica Boulevard, my buddy & I took buses from San Pedro to Hollywood for a Skinny Puppy show & it took us hours & we were completely freaked out at the bus stops, afraid we were going to get jumped.

my anecdote is from 1992 Los Angeles

 

[fhm555]

The city here just approved the use of these in two districts as Birmingham is becoming quite the regional hot spot for good craft beer, really good food, and minor league baseball. Since the idea is to pub crawl, there will be no drinking allowed while riding, but that's also to mollify the old guard who see alcohol consumption of any kind as one step removed from selling your first born into slavery.

Of course the CAVE people, of which their are many, are up in arms and predict this will end in either mass robbery or mass death when one gets run over by a car.

 

[slobake]

The city here just approved the use of these in two districts as Birmingham is becoming quite the regional hot spot for good craft beer, really good food, and minor league baseball. Since the idea is to pub crawl, there will be no drinking allowed while riding, but that's also to mollify the old guard who see alcohol consumption of any kind as one step removed from selling your first born into slavery.

Of course the CAVE people, of which their are many, are up in arms and predict this will end in either mass robbery or mass death when one gets run over by a car.

They had better not pedal that darn thing across you lawn.

 

[fhm555]

They had better not pedal that darn thing across you lawn.

No worries, I've already been digging tank traps all over my place and will be filling them with boiling oil.

 

[the harp unstrung]

Sydney...spent time making connections (on time) above ground. Very convienent, clean, and, like the rest of OZ, friendly.

London's mass transit system works well, as do the trains in NY and Boston.

Atlanta's MARTA works well...what there is of it!
Year after year for Decades the State has decided against extending the system...as the city and its 'burbs grow, MARTA remains stuck in the 70s.
I take advantage of it every chance I get...Braves games, High Museum, Botanical Garden concerts, the Women's March...but it still means a 40 minute drive to reach the north terminus in Doraville...check out the tune "Doraville" by ARS!...
Rant Over...I just wish that MARTA had longer legs...

 

[skwee]

The Vienna subway was a lot more expanded than when I was there in the 90s. Clean, fast, well-spread out. They also have a quick bus service to the airport which was really convenient and cheap.

Twin Cities Metro Transit has two train lines now in addition to a pretty good bus service--but I would love to be the person to design new routes for them--and they need at least two more streetcar lines for it to be a good investment.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Singapore's train takes you right to the airport, no need for a bus.

 

[Gaolee]

The amazing thing about that is that the clientele I see on it is almost always mostly female.

 

[the harp unstrung]

Atlanta's MARTA has a station/stop inside Hartsfield-Jackson Airport...very convient and economical.
The airport is the southern terminus.

 

[Gaolee]

Well, it certainly isn't Seattle ... although we do have the Pedal Pub in the summer >

The slowly expanding light rail system runs great from north Seattle to the airport that's far south, but this city is ripe for multiple east-west lines. Many many buses will eventually get you where you wanna go here, but their still not immune to the thick traffic

When Bertha gets done chomping its way under downtown, I figure it could just head to Ballard and eventually pop out of the ground on the east side somewhere. And another tunnel south of downtown, from West Seattle to Renton, perhaps. Why waste it now that it works properly? We also need a north-south route along the water. Ballard and West Seattle are getting to be really dense neighborhoods. You can't get to either one without hitting multiple bottlenecks.

And as has been pointed out, there are areas you just can't get to reasonably on mass transit. Development is following transit lines. You can pretty much map the light rail system in Seattle by looking for clusters of new mid-rise buildings in places that were not nearly as developed before. The block I live on is slated for an upzone. It will increase property values, I suppose, but all that does is raise property taxes if we don't move. Everything has its upside and downside.

 

[slobake]

Singapore's train takes you right to the airport, no need for a bus.

Our subway here in San Francisco goes right to the airport too.

 

[Funky Ghost]

If by best you mean punctual I don't think anyone comes close to Japan. I think their margin of error is in the sub 30 second range.

 

[socialleper]

Of the ones you listed I chose Paris. Their subway system is great.
In the US, I would say Washington DC. When I took my kids there on Spring break 2 years ago I found it clean and useful.

 

[tzohn]

Sheffield, UK. No underground but by bus and tram you go everywhere.