What American cities have public transit as good as Europe does?

[cubs20089]

My Estimates:
New York City
Boston
D.C.
Chicago
San Francisco
Portland

[itszjay]

Here are my pros and cons
NYC - Big system, good headway even on week-ends, but some trains are old (getting replace soon), some station are very old and outdated also stations are dirty (except South Ferry Station for now). One of the bigest pros is that new station will be HVAC and also have platform screen doors in new stations. 24 Hour Service

Boston - Good headway during peak-hours, but headway is bad once you get to night or weekends. Some trains are pretty old, bad customer service. Trains are pretty old (oldest ones dates back to 1969 Red Line 1500/1600s), often go over budget on projects(1.4 million to replace a staircase which sound unreal to me) Most station are ADA. But made bad decisions (Silver Line, Type 8, BIG DIG)

D.C - Modest system, trains are pretty new, headway pretty good. Most station are ADA, great looking station and also have lots of Stations. Overall one of the better system in USA also the second busiest system in usa.

Chicago - Lots of stations, good headway during peak hour. Lots of slow zone, not much that is underground most is elevated which looks bad overall to the city. Train is outdated (5000 on the way) lots of station not ADA. Some line have 24 hours service

San Francisco - Newer system, by far worst in headway because of the ratio of station to track miles, max avg. headway only 13 min peak outside or urban area. Trains only have 2 doors inside is pretty outdated (outside still looks good) Underground station is pretty nice and modest.

Portland - Never been on it, but overall looks nice and clean?

[Kingofthehill]

NYC.

+ Toronto and Montreal.

[Quixote]

NYC, and only NYC.

[the urban politician]

NYC and only NYC.

And I don't think NYC's subway is as good as European systems I've seen.

[brannelford]

Originally Posted by Kingofthehill

NYC.

+ Toronto and Montreal.

I currently live in Toronto. In addition, I used to live in The Netherlands, and had a brief sabbatical in Paris.

To put this a nicely as I can, you must be joking to suggest that Toronto and Montreal have transportation systems that are anywhere nearly as comparable to transportation systems in the major cities of Europe or Asia.

Toronto, with its measly two subway lines that cover scant portions of the Greater Toronto area, is lightyears behind many Asian and European centres.

While it's true that Toronto and Montreal have systems that are better than other Canadian centres - let's not delude ourselves into thinking they are comparable to certain cities in Europe and Asia.

[JManc]

houston

[ikerrin]

Originally Posted by brannelford

I currently live in Toronto. In addition, I used to live in The Netherlands, and had a brief sabbatical in Paris.
...
While it's true that Toronto and Montreal have systems that are better than other Canadian centres - let's not delude ourselves into thinking they are comparable to certain cities in Europe and Asia.

I know that its hard to live in Toronto after living in Paris, I've been there - I feel your pain.

But, Paris is not Europe. I've lived in Edinburgh and Oxford, and I have visited a lot of European cities and Toronto and Montreal have great systems. Its true that they are not the same as London or Paris or the Netherlands, but they compare nicely to Stockholm and many German cities.

Both TO and M have excellent central city coverage with subways, buses and in Toronto - streetcars. Plus they have great commuter rail. In Toronto's case, you can take trains throughout a region that is enormous and is getting larger.

I will grant you that Central Canada is missing inter-city rail connections. The fact that you can't take trains all day to Waterloo, Belleville and Montreal is an oversight in the system, but at least some improvements are coming there too.

I would say that Toronto and Montreal have the second and third best public transport systems in North America - after the obvious number one.

[Cirrus]

I would say that Toronto and Montreal have the second and third best public transport systems in North America - after the obvious number one.

I would say that Toronto and Montreal could make arguments for having better transit networks than American cities other than New York (although I do not think it's sure thing).

Mexico City, however, is most likely in second place for North America.

[phillyscooter]

Philadelphia...for as much as there is to complain about, the 'system' is very convenient....let the dissection begin.

[llamaorama]

Never been to Europe but I am going to go out on a limb and ask if there are some parts that actually don't have really good transit.

[itszjay]

Even if you look at china, an avg subway line (around 25km, 18 station) with all their train, PSD cost 2 Billion USD, and china has pretty low wages, so Asian country spent lots of money on their metro system.

[robhut]

I think european systems are overrated quite a bit. Some are very nice, but some are as old and gritty as the ones in the east coast of the USA.
However, Europe is not as sprawlly as the USA so therefore it is easier to get higher ridership numbers, plus it is a lot easier to drive around American cities than their counterparts in Europe.

[Metro-One]

After riding the trains in Japan, European systems feel like dirty hunks of junk. I am sorry, i know many love the Paris system, and for good reason, for it is frequent, busy and extensive. But after growing up in Vancouver (using skytrain) and spending many months in Japan, i could not believe how dirty European systems were compared to the previous two. My first time in Paris I took the train from the airport to the Eiffel Tower as soon as I arrived. I was shocked, the stations smelled like sewers, there were pan handlers going up and down the trains begging for money (on the trains!), there was graffiti on everything, the windows were so etched that i could barely see out of them (forget taking pictures) and the TV's used in the stations looked as if they were 30 years old (they were tube televisions!). I really did not feel safe on it. Vancouver's skytrain network is small and needs many expansions, but it is a million times cleaner and feels much safer. Japan's was both clean, safe, frequent and extensive. I have never known why Europe's network is held in such high regards, and maybe that is why i felt so let down when i first arrived in Paris, because all i had heard was good things, and i was shocked to see how dirty it was. On the train in Paris i ran into a couple Japanese tourists and they felt the exact same as me, in fact their travel agent recommended that they not use the Paris Metro and take taxis.

[ChrisLA]

I've never felt unsafe during my visit to Paris, and taking the metro all over. Some of the trains were old, but for the most part clean. I can't say I recall the windows being etched, or a majority of it that it left a lasting impression.

I do admit I noticed the sewer smell, and the ocassional smelly bum sleeping on the train, but this was also late at night. It was also only once I encountered a bum who ordor was so strong everyone just avoided the area where he was laying. And thats saying something, because we all know how some Parisians have smell bad with body ordor.

Since I've never been to Japan, I can't comment. But from all reports from freinds who have, they have praised how clean, safe, and frequent the service was. I would also say that IMO I thought London Tube was much nicer, and quite a bit more modern than Paris.

So overall I didn't thought Paris systems wasn't bad, and certainly much more frequent in service than even NYC.

[edluva]

NYC and only NYC. urbanism in north america seriously sucks after you've traveled abroad.

[staff]

"Europe" is sort of a broad term... Here are cities where transit is virtually non-existent. My hometown comes to mind....

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by llamaorama

Never been to Europe but I am going to go out on a limb and ask if there are some parts that actually don't have really good transit.

For major cities, Dublin used to be pretty bad, but the government in Ireland is now spending a lot of money to get Dublin's rail transit network up to snuff.

[Tom Servo]

NYC and only NYC. urbanism doesn't exist anywhere else.

[miketoronto]

You can't go by subway networks alone. You must include everything from subways, to buses, to commuter rail.
And you must include the entire metropolitan region. If you include the whole metro region not even NYC would meet European standards, because most NYC suburbs don't even have decent public transit services except for the train to the city that comes once an hour.