Public Transportation System

[AmericanEagle]

In Toronto, the buses are all over the city, but the subway lines don't extend to the suburbs. Toronto transit is also primitive in its use of paper tickets, transfers, and tokens. Also, the subway stations are not that attractive.

I've read that New York City has a great public transportation system because the subway lines cover the entire metropolitan area. Other public transportation systems, such as the one in Hong Kong, use smart cards. Also, I watch "The Amazing Race", and I noticed that the subway stations in Moscow are beautifully designed.

How is the public transportation where you live?

[Mathor]

Here in D.C, we still have mainly all paper tickets, and the subway only extends to D.C (so like 10-15 miles really). Once you leave D.C you have to get a bus to get into the suburbs. My experience with New York was great, as it's a million times faster and easier then D.C, and it's CHEAPER.

[Niamh]

only a bus, tram and train service. the main suburb trainline is only along the coast line. The tram only has two lines, one going towards the city west and the other to the south. They have plans for three metro lines and all three will join up in the airport and stop at swords... its stupid as the all will run very close to each other and only tak in one section of the city. Nearly all buses head into the city centre with only a few heading across... We still have some paper tickets but smart cards are being introduced.

[breeze]

In Moscow we have metro, municipal buses and comercial minibuses, trolleybuses, trams. There`re express trains to major airports. Actually metro lines aren`t extended either to outlying bedroom suburbs or suburbs, though several metro stations that will reach bedroom suburbs are under construction. We use train or a bus to get to the suburbs.

[Annamariah]

The public transport in Helsinki has been said to be the best in Europe, though I think it's still far from perfect.

What's good about it is that at least for a student it by far the cheapest way to travel (except for walking or cycling of course), and in Helsinki you can get from any point to another in about an hour, usually faster. I like subway a lot, but it only goes from the centre to the eastern part of Helsinki. They're about to expand it, however. Buses go everywhere, train goes from centre to north and west and in the cetre there are also trams.

What I don't like is that there are many buses that could be in a much better condition (sometimes they just break down in the middle of the journey, for some reason the doors are often malfunctioning and some of the buses just make a horrible noise that they are not supposed to do). Also sometimes the buses just don't come, so you have to wait that extra 10 or 20 minutes for the next one.

All in all the public transportation in Helsinki is pretty good. I lived two years in Kouvola, which is a smaller town in Finland with almost no public transport at all, and I really did miss Helsinki's buses every day I was walking to the university :p

[higley]

I was in London briefly and was impressed by the Underground, which puts the COTA bus system in central Ohio to shame.

[Haunted]

The New York Subway is ugly but it sure gets you there.

The Long Island Railroad is part of the mass transit system in NY, it acts as an extension of the subway into the suburbs and all the way to the Atlantic Ocean at the east end of Long Island. Problem with the LIRR is it's geared for only taking commuters westbound into New York City. There's no direct north-south routes, so if you're thinking of going green by taking mass transit to travel within Long Island, it'll take you several hours to get to places that would have taken you just minutes by car.

[1n50mn14]

Toronto transit system is the suck. I live in Guelph, but am in Toronto frequently. On extended visits to both NYC and London, I was impressed by the frequency, speed, and cleanliness (yes, cleanliness) of the transit systems, especially the underground, compared to Toronto. Taking the Toronto subway is certainly a dirty adventure...

The public transit system in Guelph is among the worst I have ever encountered. The buses are a) VERY expensive- to get where I'm going and back costs me five dollars, if not more. $2.50 a trip is unacceptable for the service received. Buses don't run late on Sundays, they only run until midnight the rest of the time, many of the bus drivers are rude and take many liberties with their job. Stopping at the rec centre for fifteen minutes and leaving us on the bus while you get a coffee is UNACCEPTABLE to me. The information system for finding out when the bus comes *Next Bus* is constantly wrong: the website says one time, the schedule outside says another, and when you phone, you get yet another estimate! In 2007-2008, the buses only came every 40 minutes. You could never get where you were trying to go on time: you were either very early, or very late. And because they came so infrequently, they were always PACKED: no seats, hardly any room to stand. I could go on and on and on, but instead, I'll just take my bicycle.

[Mathor]

i'm kinda getting the impression from this thread that pretty much all public transportation blows.

[Niamh]

kinda yeah! :lol:
Dont get me wrong, i dont mind the bus system here. I have a bus every ten minutes from where i live to the city centre and the bus i get to work from there is also every ten fifteen minutes. Its every twenty mins at the weekend. The transport system here on the other hand would be good if there was a bus from this part of the city straight to the Airport which there isnt. there was one years ago, but it was run by an independant company. What would be a ten minute car journey for me if i drove (and i dont intend to) takes me anywhere from 1 hour to 1.5 hours to get to via public transport.
But not all buses run like the one from my home. Most are every 20mins, some are every 40, and there are some that run on the hour or every second hour. When i worked out in Carraigmines on the castle site, i had to get the 63 bus. This was an every 2hour service. sucked. you missed it, you got a 46 to foxrock and you walked the rest of the way, which involved one of the steepest roads in Dublin. Practically crawling by the time you go to the top of it.

[Zee.]

Melbourne - Australia's transport system is amazing. We too, use paper tickets, I think most people do. It goes from the suburbs in to the city, there are a heckload of different lines and they're clean :)

[Niamh]

I thought Sydneys public transport system was amazing! Buses going everywhere constantly! and the train service was great. Cant forget the ferries. and there was the trams. and the lightrail (monorail). Sydney was awesome!

[Zee.]

I thought Sydneys public transport system was amazing! Buses going everywhere constantly! and the train service was great. Cant forget the ferries. and there was the trams. and the lightrail (monorail). Sydney was awesome!


Melbourne is pretty much the same :)

buses, trams, trains, all/most, run under the same company so it's all pretty easy to use :)

[Mr Endon]

Mathor, right on.

Well, overall London's a'ight, but the Central Line has become my sworn enemy! Why on earth is the most crowded train the smallest as well? And the noisiest. And the buses have this annoying habit of saying mid-journey "actually, this bus is going to terminate in X instead, hope that's alright, busy person running late!"

Portugal is much worse though.

I've heard Copenhagen has the best subway in the world, didn't have a chance to test it. Can anyone confirm this?

Having that said, I sincerely hope governments everywhere start improving public transportation system, so that we have quality, cheap and environmental-friendly buses and subways and trams; I'm a firm believer that bicycles and e-friendly public transport should eventually become our sole means of transportation within cities.

[Niamh]

The Dublin County Council are actually putting a bike service into line at the moment. you can also get free cart rides within the city centre circumference. :)

The London underground was an unpleasent experience for me. I didnt like the rude pushing and shoving of people who didnt have the manners to say excuse me. Just sighed heavily and pushed you aside. And the crowds were ugh!
The Metro in Brussels is not bad.

[Zee.]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FcSYeszW9c

this is interesting ^

[Niamh]

they are pretty spooky. there have been many paranomal investigation done down some of them. cant remember which one it is thats supposed to be the most haunted one... think is aldwych...

[kasie]

I have reached that age when I can travel on buses for nothing. :D

However.....the service to my village is four buses an hour - and they travel in pairs (well, it's wild in these hills) so it's something like a bus every half hour with another one almost bumper to bumper. And being the country service, they meander in and out of all the other villages en-route so it takes forever to get into town. But you get to overhear some very interesting local gossip on the way, even more now that I have a bit of conversational Welsh.

But to my joy, I discovered that my Bus Pass worked over the border (in England - not all arrangements are reciprocal) and when I went to London recently I went everywhere on the bus for nothing and was much impressed that the bus service was more efficient, much more informative, not to mention cleaner than when I lived in London in the seventies.

[Virgil]

In Toronto, the buses are all over the city, but the subway lines don't extend to the suburbs. Toronto transit is also primitive in its use of paper tickets, transfers, and tokens. Also, the subway stations are not that attractive.

I've read that New York City has a great public transportation system because the subway lines cover the entire metropolitan area. Other public transportation systems, such as the one in Hong Kong, use smart cards. Also, I watch "The Amazing Race", and I noticed that the subway stations in Moscow are beautifully designed.

How is the public transportation where you live?

I've lived in New York City just about my whole life. I've been to many cities both in the US and world wide and I don't think I've seen one with as an extensive a system as ours. Frankly you need a college class to undserstand it. ;) It does cover most of the city, though there are pockets that are left out, especially where I currently live in Staten Island. New York City if you were not aware are made up of islands which are interconnected with bridges and underground subway. For us it's a necessity, especially when you consider we have a population of over 8 million people. Now the surrounding suburbs also have extensive rail system, and depending on what radius you consider the outer reach of the sub urb, our sub urban population could range from 18 to 25 million people. Those are huge numbers when you think about it. Combined with the the city, that's almost the entire population of Canada. Here's a New York City subway map:

http://static.squidoo.com/resize/squidoo_images/-1/draft_lens1711169module8952647photo_New-York-City-Subway.jpg1207081429

[Nightshade]

I loved the public transport in Prague. It was AMAZING one ticcket adn you could get a bus, a tram, or the underground. AND you got unlimited trips for your ticket ( depending on the length of time your ticket lasted) and they had this amazing website thatgives you all the options and the times and better than that IT WAS RIGHT!, sure the buses didnt speed up if the road was empty, they always drove like it rush hour and the roads were full, but I guess that means that they are more accurate than buses that come and go every whihcc way with the traffic.
Personally I liek public transport, dont get me wrong it stinks ( literally sometimes) and could be much better not mention Privatisation was the biggest mistake of all time I mean £3.50 to go less that 5 miles? Are you kidding me! but overall I like it because then I can curl up and read and dont have to stress about left and right and who is where and idiots who drive to close and all that jazz.
:D

Edit: and a word of warning if you are in Manchester ever, I dont care if the light says you can walk if there is a bus approaching DO NOT cross! They have this tendancy to run lights and cut corners and forget to indicate when they are turning ( and driving under bridges that are too low and writing off the bus!)
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/231/231535_bus_fleet_banned_from_citys_roads.html I was actually in the building the windows were being cleaned 10 minutes before the acccident. And they didnt move his cherry picker for 2 weeks!

[AmericanEagle]

For us it's a necessity, especially when you consider we have a population of over 8 million people. Now the surrounding suburbs also have extensive rail system, and depending on what radius you consider the outer reach of the sub urb, our sub urban population could range from 18 to 25 million people. Those are huge numbers when you think about it. Combined with the the city, that's almost the entire population of Canada.

I've never been to NYC, but I've heard many people say that the NYC transit is so good that most New Yorkers don't need a car. I remember a few years back, Toronto was trying to get people to leave their cars at home and take public transit. Many people protested this, and said that Toronto transit was inadequate compared to the systems in other world class cities, especially NYC.

[Annamariah]

Even though at best public transport in Helsinki can be really good, there are days when it's just awful. This is a music video by a Finnish band called Apulanta, and trust me, sometimes travelling by bus can be exactly like that :lol:
jumala - god (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK7DsXfyl-o)

[Niamh]

For us it's a necessity, especially when you consider we have a population of over 8 million people.

:eek: thats twice the population of my whole country!!!!

[AmericanEagle]

And the buses have this annoying habit of saying mid-journey "actually, this bus is going to terminate in X instead, hope that's alright, busy person running late!"

Does that happen frequently? For people who depend on buses to get to work and school, that's pretty unacceptable.

[JBI]

In Toronto, the buses are all over the city, but the subway lines don't extend to the suburbs. Toronto transit is also primitive in its use of paper tickets, transfers, and tokens. Also, the subway stations are not that attractive.

I've read that New York City has a great public transportation system because the subway lines cover the entire metropolitan area. Other public transportation systems, such as the one in Hong Kong, use smart cards. Also, I watch "The Amazing Race", and I noticed that the subway stations in Moscow are beautifully designed.

How is the public transportation where you live?

You misunderstand Toronto transit - paper tickets are only for youths and seniors, for the simple reason that they get their rides at a discounted price, and therefore need to be checked in through a teller, whereas adults playing a flat rate, or metro pass holders (the bulk of people who rely on public transport) can use the quick entrances, since they are paying the maximum anyway. In all honesty, if you lived in the Suburbs, you wouldn't want a subway roaring through your backyard either - the Hybrid buses do a much better job - it's just, there isn't as extensive an "old city" in Toronto as there is in older cities, like Paris and London - the only real function of the Subways here are to get people to work downtown (which is perfectly on the subway grid) without the need for people to wait in traffic - public transit is really dependent on the layout of a city, so of course in Paris, it is more important, given the strange layout - students in Sorbonne, for instance, need to go from their parents house to the university, and then to their next class again by subway, whereas students at York or University of Toronto, or Ryerson, generally need one subway ride to their destination.

Still, it would be nice to have an intense subway layout to get everywhere - what they should do is make a long super-high-speed train from Windsor through London, Hamilton to Toronto, and then through Kingston, Ottawa, and Montreal, but of course, that will never happen - though if they got a fast enough one, it certainly would connect things better.

[AmericanEagle]

You misunderstand Toronto transit - paper tickets are only for youths and seniors, for the simple reason that they get their rides at a discounted price, and therefore need to be checked in through a teller, whereas adults playing a flat rate, or metro pass holders (the bulk of people who rely on public transport) can use the quick entrances, since they are paying the maximum anyway.

There used to be adult paper tickets; they were just recently phased out in favour of tokens because of counterfeiting concerns.

Hong Kong provides smart cards for students, seniors, and children in lieu of tickets, so I don't know why Toronto can't do the same.

[Virgil]

I've never been to NYC, but I've heard many people say that the NYC transit is so good that most New Yorkers don't need a car. I remember a few years back, Toronto was trying to get people to leave their cars at home and take public transit. Many people protested this, and said that Toronto transit was inadequate compared to the systems in other world class cities, especially NYC.
Depends where in NYC you live. For the most part you can get away without a car in NY. That is true.


:eek: thats twice the population of my whole country!!!!
They always say we have more Irish in the New York area than in all of Ireland. I believe it. :lol: Many years ago, when I first learned the population of Ireland, I was actually shocked. My perception of all the Irish here and living in a densely populated area led me to percievce Ireland to have the same population as England, or perhaps just a little less. Not even close. But I bet that's what makes Ireland so beautiful.

[JBI]

There used to be adult paper tickets; they were just recently phased out in favour of tokens because of counterfeiting concerns.

Hong Kong provides smart cards for students, seniors, and children in lieu of tickets, so I don't know why Toronto can't do the same.

There are credit card size passes... And the reason for the removal of the adult ticket is no one in their right mind would want to use one, except for the fact that tokens are smaller.

[AmericanEagle]

^ The conveniences of a smart card would far outweigh the size of the card. Besides, the TTC is always complaining about counterfeit tickets and tokens, so wouldn't it make sense to just get rid of them?

[JBI]

^ The conveniences of a smart card would far outweigh the size of the card. Besides, the TTC is always complaining about counterfeit tickets and tokens, so wouldn't it make sense to just get rid of them?

In Europe the system runs in most places on a trust system - whether they complain about counterfeit tokens, or not, the European model isn't any different.

[AmericanEagle]

In Europe the system runs in most places on a trust system - whether they complain about counterfeit tokens, or not, the European model isn't any different.

Are European systems losing money as a result of the trust system?

[JBI]

Are European systems losing money as a result of the trust system?

The goal of public transportation is not to make money, but to provide a service. And I know enough of them are.

[Niamh]

They always say we have more Irish in the New York area than in all of Ireland. I believe it. :lol: Many years ago, when I first learned the population of Ireland, I was actually shocked. My perception of all the Irish here and living in a densely populated area led me to percievce Ireland to have the same population as England, or perhaps just a little less. Not even close. But I bet that's what makes Ireland so beautiful.

:lol: i'd well believe it. there are more irish abroad than here big time! :D can thank a combo of the English, famine and emigration for are low population. :p hehehe If we had the same population as england, i think most of the country would end up built up and not agracultural. I think is a good thing our population is so low to be honest. We havent distroyed too much of our beautiful country.

We have an extensive bus service that goes out of the towns and cities, and some of the major towns have town services. We also have a train service to many parts of the country but not all. A lot of the lines were closed down. Personally i think it was daft. They tore all the tramlines up in the 60's and now they are putting them back down again. silly.

[AmericanEagle]

The goal of public transportation is not to make money, but to provide a service. And I know enough of them are.

Tell that to the TTC.

[JBI]

Tell that to the TTC.

The TTC doesn't make money either - they provide a service, much like Canada Post - that's why they are crown corporations - the reason for the slum in development of the TTC is directly traceable to the fact that the Harris government in the 90s decided to cut funding, pushing the expansion budget to the municipality. The actual running cost though is far greater than the price on the ticket - and don't think traveling by public transportation is cheaper in other cities - it's just, in certain countries, the exchange rate is different. You'd end up paying 2 Euros, for instance, to take the Bus in Florence, or the same in Rome to ride the metro - Vienna is a little better, since they have better deals on weeks and things, but Paris, Budapest, London, they all cost about the same - it's not cheap to run those trains.

[AmericanEagle]

It's back to school, which means that it's back to taking the TTC.

Today, on the TTC, I overheard someone say something like: "All cities have extensive subway systems, but nope, not Toronto." He then suggested having an express subway system run from Finch to Union. I guess I'm not the only Torontonian to think that the TTC is inadequate.

[Haunted]

I'm taking the rail into the city tomorrow, first time since June. It used to be a daily commute and I was on auto pilot. Now that I've been telecommuting from home for over half a year, I'm all rusty! Did I forget anything in my "commuter survival bag"? Will my alarm go off? Is the slow*ss train leaving the station at the same time? What if those touch screen ticket vending machines froze in the cold and I can't get my ticket? I think I'm having a panic attack right now. I hate to be at the mercy of public transportation, but the other options are even worse!

[AmericanEagle]

^ You'll be fine :)

I don't like public transportation, either, but that's the only way that I can get to school.

[Haunted]

^ I hope so. If anything goes wrong, you'll hear all about it tomorrow ;)

[Haunted]

I'm pleased to report back here that my public transportation day went well except for a minor glitch: my MetroCard "expired" with over $45 worth of rides on it. When I went to the ticket vending machine, it was out of order. Because of that I missed my train.

At least there was no derailment, no "smoke condition", and I didn't encounter any subway rats.

[AmericanEagle]

^ Too bad your MetroCard expired :(

As for my public transportation day, there was a delay on the subway that held up the entire line for about 15 minutes. Then, I waited 20 minutes in the cold for the bus.

[Haunted]

^ sorry you had to wait in the cold! :cold:

Luckily I didn't lose the fares. I'm wise to their tricks. I put the expired card into the vending machine as though I'm adding money to an existing card. As soon as it reads that it expired, the machine downloaded the balance and spits out a new card.

I think they add these obstacle courses to make things interesting. But I'll just settle for an uneventful public transportation day.