American Mass Transit Agencies

lol septa more leik SEPTIC lol

oh, and to squash 2 potential beefs I see coming:

(1) i deliberately excluded AMTRAK. i'm only interested in local mass transit, not the national AMTRAK system.
(2) new yorkers will note that i threw everything under the MTA, instead of distinguishing between the NYC subway system, MetroNorth, the Long Island Railroad, and whatever the hell it is that runs on Staten Island (the Wu-Tang Express?). i also did this deliberately, since i presume that other large mass transit organizations also have several systems under their umbrellas.

have fun ;-)

South Lake Union Trolley or the Fresno Area Rapid Transit

those aren't real, are they?!?

also, SEPTA does suck -- it did not get my vote.

Seattle Trolley Known by Acronym: SLUT

Sep 18, 2007

SEATTLE (AP) — Officially, it's the South Lake Union Streetcar. But in the neighborhood where the new line runs, it's called the South Lake Union Trolley — or, the SLUT.

At Kapow! Coffee, a shop in the old Cascade neighborhood, 100 T-shirts bearing the words "Ride the SLUT" sold out in days, and another 100 are on order.

"We're welcoming the SLUT into the neighborhood," said Jerry Johnson, 29, a part-time barista.

Some claim — incorrectly, according to representatives of Vulcan Inc., the company that is developing the area — that South Lake Union Trolley was the original name and that it was changed when officials belatedly realized the acronym.

The $50.5 million project should be completed with streetcars running in December. Underlying the lighthearted opposition, however, is resentment over changes in the old working-class neighborhood.

"There was a meeting with representatives from the city several years ago," Johnson recalled.

"They asked us, 'What we could do for you?' Most people raised their hands and said, 'Affordable housing,'" he said. "Then the people from the city huddled together — 'whisper, whisper, whisper,' — and they said, 'How about a trolley?'"

Since then, Cascade has been ignored in Vulcan brochures that lump the neighborhood together with Denny Park and Denny Triangle under the term South Lake Union. With the streetcar, said Don Clifton, a Cascade resident, "We learned how fun it is to change the name of things."

Metra (Chi-burbs) is pretty sweet, but that opinion is based 99% on the fact that it looks and feels like a 70's era Soviet Train of the Future.

CTA is going to (quite rightly) get a lot of shit, but it still boggles my mind that I can get home on a Saturday night at 4am from about 50% of this city without too much trouble.

BART is my fave of any of these that I've taken.

i voted for the new york city MTA, partly b/c (along w/ NJ transit and SEPTA) it is one of the transit authorities with which i am most familiar but also because it still amazes me after all these years of working in NYC that such a damn enormous & complex system works at ALL. in fact, it seems to work quite well -- perhaps one needs to be familiar with a shitty transit authority (like, e.g., SEPTA, which has the distinctions of being extremely expensive, antiquated [both in terms of the trains & buses as well as things like purchasing tickets], and not really all that extensive [esp. the philadelphia subway system [all 2 1/2 lines of it]) to really appreciate it. (nb: i only know about the MTA and SEPTA, so other cities may have better -- or worse -- systems than NYC).

Of my very limited experience with American Mass Transit Systems, I must give mad props to MTA. Not least for the crazy Sunday morning subway drivers.

PATH, because of some memories.

bart, cause it was the first train i ever rode, and i couldn't quite wrap my head around the train having a people name so I had the notion it talked to people like Kitt on knight rider

Wait, what are we voting for? To have the system's current executives shot into the heart of the sun?

MTA is pretty awful.

Here in Honolulu we have TheBus (bus system) and TheBoat (ferry system). There are plans to build a light rail system in the next couple of decades. I guess that will be TheTrain.

Hey TheBus is in the list! Nearly missed it. Oh and the largest taxi company is called TheCab.

i forget the name of the transit system in the suburb i grew up in and i forget the name of the department store where the bus stop i used most was.

maybe my childhood didn't really happen.

MTA, all the way. In spite of it's largess, of course.

How can anyone hate the MTA? Only good deal in NYC.

yeah, anyone hating the MTA has clearly never lived anywhere but New York.

i have yet to ride the Transit Authority of River City. i am not looking forward to it.

CTA BLOWS

CTA ruins my day on a daily basis.

CTA BLOWS

-- river wolf, Sunday, October 7, 2007 8:10 PM (Sunday, October 7, 2007 8:10 PM) Bookmark Link

CTA ruins my day on a daily basis.

-- horseshoe, Sunday, October 7, 2007 8:17 PM (Sunday, October 7, 2007 8:17 PM) Bookmark Link

yeah but on the plus side fares are going to double soon so we have that to look forward to.

Don't forget the service cuts if Blago and Mr. Speaker Man don't make nice!

wow cta does blow

I've ridden MTA and WMATA today. MTA all the way! WMATA had drunk 30 somethings Detroit (Tigers?) fans lamenting their loss to the Redskins and hitting on the college student next to me.

they were lions fans.

different breed of motor city kitty.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drf300/f381/f38121v02cv.jpg

I love New Jersey Transit. The stripes are in awesomely horrible colors, and the train was my introduction to the east coast, a magic conveyance that sped through people's backyards, and the people whose houses & yards you could basically see into seemed to ignore the intrusion completely. It was like turning the dollhouse around to the missing 4th wall. Plus some weird "magical thinking" kinds of things happened to me on the train, so it really just reinforced the mythic-ness.

I have no problem with the bus system in NYC, but the subway system is in bad shape - crap stations, bizarre maintenance interruptions, major shutdowns, seriously inconsistent schedule (wait, no schedule), rude staff, and so on. I lived in Tokyo for 5 years, so maybe my basis of comparison is unfair.

it is.

I like NJT--even though one time the train I was on caught fire and the crew basically ran through yelling "everybody off the train! get off the train!" and we ran out as fast as we could and there was a lot of smoke but the fire went out on its own. We sat forlornly on the side of the tracks, the crew brought us our bags, the defective train got towed away and the next train that came by after that stopped to pick us up. It was really weird to feel so totally freaked out and then get onto another train and keep going to Trenton like it was no biggie.

wtf @ no cap metro

I vote BART. The whole time I was in SF I was in awe of their public transport.

Question, though: How come Kitsap Transit gets to play, but other random Seattle area agencies do not? I demand Island Transit, Pierce transit, Everett Transit (nb: Everett Transit is the worst), Community Transit!

(Or just no Kitsap Transit, I mean WTF?)

Ahh. When I was in Jersey, I lived on the rejoined end of a divided line, but somehow I didn't realize that for a couple of months. The first time I went into the city at an odd hour, after passing mile after mile of drab factories and warehouses, I saw an amazing industrial complex all painted in eye-searing teal. It seemed...unreal! And then it was past, and gone. But once I got a day job my regular commuting train took the other line, so I never saw the teal buildings again for a month or so -- so I entertained the thought that they had disappeared Brigadoon style. At some point I realized what had happened but the feeling stuck...actually I held onto it on purpose because I liked the magic.

There were other stories, too...all so vivid, while my mind was raw and open, coming from the small-town Midwest to a place where everything was fierce and new.

magical thinking is DANGEROUS

NJ Transit is OK -- (marginally) better than SEPTA for commuting (at least NJ Transit is usually on-time, and doesn't come up with bullshit excuses for delays like "leaves on the tracks making shit slippery" during the fall months or completely overshooting a station [which happened TWICE on the R5 when i was riding that SEPTA line]), but not as good as either Metro North or the LIRR. it's also much better for commuters in North Jersey, esp. if you want to get to either New York or Newark -- it isn't so good for Central Jersey or South Jersey, but Trenton shafting parts of South Jersey that are not Camden or Mercer Counties is an NJ tradition that goes well beyond the state's transportation infrastructure.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Eisbaer, it is so strange that you found Kitsap Transit before King County Metro or Sound Transit.

Seattle could have better transit, but I am content with King County Metro and Sound Transit. But they are just there in comparison to the bigger cities. Including them in the poll would just crowd that list.

who's the idiot who voted for the T?

But now that King County Washington has defined the "King" officially, King County Metro has the best icon.

http://www.grtma.org/Route644/Route644/Graphics/king_county_metro_logo.gif

http://www.commtrans.org/INTMTRLS/LOGO.gif

Not bad at all.

http://www.everettwa.org/Get_Thumb_Dept_01.ashx?ID=153

Fuck these buses and their shitty logo.

Everett Transit Fixed Route Bus Fare -
ET full fare - 50 cents (ages 6 to 64)
ET reduced fare - FREE for Seniors 65+ or Disabled customers with a Regional Reduced Fare Permit or an ET Senior ID Card

Effective Sept. 1, 2006 no paper transfers will be issued or accepted on ET buses.

HURRAY FOR HAVING TO HAVE 50 CENTS OF CHANGE AVAILABLE FOR EACH BUS I'M GOING TO GET ON WHICH IS USUALLY FOUR IN A DAY BECAUSE I JUST HAPPEN TO HAVE TWO DOLLARS WORTH OF CHANGE LYING AROUND EVERY TIME I NEED TO GET SOMEWHERE AND STILL HAVING TO PAY FULL PRICE TO BOARD ANY OTHER BUS BECAUSE YOU DON'T OFFER TRANSFERS AND FUCK YOUR LIBRARIES TOO

Everett is an asshole.

Sigh, I have unresolved issues with my hometown.

OH AND HURRAY FOR NO BUSES PAST MY HOUSE PAST 7 PM OR ON WEEKENDS

HURRAY FOR ALL YOUR BUSES SMELLING LIKE 45 YEARS OF DIRT

who's the idiot who voted for the T?

the magnitude of their ineptness is pretty impressive, almost endearing

but it wasn't me

LOL no votes for SEPTA

mass transit in HOnolulu
http://www.trytheboat.com/img/TheBoat.jpg