Public transit, how many have you ridden?

[Scandinavian Film]

I’m not gonna list out everything I’ve ridden, because I’m a huge transport nerd and it would take all day. When visiting a new city, I will always choose public transit over renting a car or booking a taxi, if I can get away with it. I will also often use modes that I don't "need" to take, just for fun. To me, it's as integral to the trip as eating local specialties or going to the museums. As an example of how big a nerd I am about this,

• I once rode the Zürich Polybahn, just because
• I knew of the Zürich Polybahn before I rode it for the first time

 

[Backstop]

Oh right. Idk where you would do this in Europe or Asia but renting a car is common enough in North America I guess.

Are you saying it's impossible or unusual to rent a car in Europe? I had my pick of a dozen rental car places when I wanted to drive from Munich to Berlin a couple of years ago.

 

[Shavano]

Buses don't count I guess?

• London Underground
• Denver light rail
• Seattle subway
• Seattle monorail (in the 70's)
• DC subway
• Philly subway

do longer range city to city trains count?
I've ridden the train

• from Denver to Emeryville, CA
• from Heilbronn to Frankfurt

If buses count, I'd need to add a lot more.

As for like them, yep. Way better than buses. Better than cars if the destination is close to where I'm going.

 

[ProphetM]

I rode the monorail in Vegas. Does that count?

Yes, it does.

Gotta rack my brain for this list.

Rail:
Amtrak (in southern California)
Vancouver, BC SkyTrain
LA Metro
Chicago
Las Vegas - Monorail
San Pedro, CA - Waterfront Red Car
Los Angeles - Angels Flight

Bus:
Orange County, CA
Las Vegas
LA Metro
Pontiac, IL
Crescent City, CA

The list gets bigger if I include private and/or heritage excursion rail:
Boone & Scenic Valley RR - Boone, Iowa
Durango & Silverton RR - Durango, CO
Grand Canyon Railway - Williams, AZ
Virginia & Truckee RR - Virginia City, NV
Nevada State Railroad Museum - Boulder City, NV
Southern California Railway Museum - Perris, CA
Roaring Camp RR - Felton, CA

I might think of more later.

 

[Auguste_Fivaz]

We've ridden as many as we could in Europe, Japan, and, if possible, the USA.

The Japanese and Swiss transit are our favorites, we think they actually know how to time the main line trains to the local street connectors. That "feature," if it is true, is one of the coolest things about traveling in either country. Get off the train knowing your connection will be either waiting or soon to arrive. Lovely.

We have a "new" system, SMART, which runs along an old train corridor from Larkspur Ferry Terminal to Windsor CA. Nice service, good stops and they just upped the train frequency for summer.

There is a rich family, the Gallahers, who have spent a few million dollars fighting all the tax measures for the train. No one can figure out why a rich family would care less about transit they will never use and for which they will pay a measly $.01 sales tax. The rich are simply insane.

edit: less

 

[nartreb]

Been around the world... haven't ridden anything in China, though, except Hong Kong back when it was still British, so there's a big gap in my knowledge there. Other than that, though:


Japan is in a league of its own. Japanese people will say, "let's change at this station and take the 07 subway". You look and there's no train or gate with that number. No, what they mean is they're going to take the train that leaves at 3:07, not the train for the same destination that leaves at 3:09. And yes, every stop is not only precisely scheduled, but planned to allow for smooth transfers. Though sometimes it's a little tight. if you've got extra luggage or a wheelchair or you're not sure which way to go, you may end up waiting for the next train... but it won't be long. Yes, the Germans and the Swiss are about as punctual. Japan outclasses them by maintaining that across vastly larger volume. (Also, japanese prices are generally lower.)

The bus system in Buenos Aires is interesting. It's huge. It's got several private companies that compete to renew their contracts but all cooperate in the same fare system and benefit from dedicated lanes and stations.

The less-developed systems are fun in their own way. PIle an illegal number of people into a tuk-tuk in Madagascar, no problem. If there's a cop on the road, the driver will pull over and let you out, drive ten paces past the cop, then let you back on. (It's understood that the driver will give the cop a kickback on his return trip.)

The US systems suck in pretty much every category. It's not just the slow speeds, the lack of capacity, the delays, the poor integration with other modes of transport... it's a lack of basic humanity. Like being able to find a bathroom inside a station.

 

[continuum]

Buses don't count I guess?

OP's topic just says public transit!

 

[waveterrain]

I’ve ridden hundreds of different public systems so no use trying to list them all, but the most memorable probably is Jeepneys in Manila.

Venice water taxes were also pretty fun, even in the winter rain. I used to take ferries regularly in Seattle and while I have a certain fondness for them, they do start to wear due to time schedule, long lines, etc.

 

[Coppercloud]

The only time I've ever ridden public transport has been when I went to the university of MN for 2 years. Even then I made sure to have a moped as I wanted to make sure to be able to go where I wanted when I wanted and didn't ride the bus much.

I've never ever downloaded Uber or lift, though I've ridden in two or three that friends have called. I've never called a cab.

Not saying I have some sort of mark of pride against public transport or anything. I've only ever been in one of those cities you listed and that was Chicago when I was like 8 and I can't remember if we took public transport. I just normally don't have it available and am not used to having to take anything into consideration about my travel other than "do I feel like going there now" and going directly there. Never had to think about paying for a ride (yes, I pay for gas, I just don't have to make the payment every time I get out), never had to think about how close a pick up can be, how close drop off is, and when routes show up. To those of you used to public transportation I cannot stress to you how completely foreign the ideas are to my thought process.

Uber and lift I've heard are pieces of shit companies so I'm fine with never using them. I'm a little confused on how they differ in practice from a taxi outside of extracting profit and liability from drivers. But again, I'm usually spending time in places where public transport just isn't available.

 

[Coppercloud]

I'll say, when I live in Minneapolis, I liked riding the train. Because: trains.

 

[GaitherBill]

Boston
New York
Chicago
London
Venice

 

[Shavano]

I’ve ridden hundreds of different public systems so no use trying to list them all, but the most memorable probably is Jeepneys in Manila.

Venice water taxes were also pretty fun, even in the winter rain. I used to take ferries regularly in Seattle and while I have a certain fondness for them, they do start to wear due to time schedule, long lines, etc.

I've been on a number of ferries but I don't really count anything I drove my car onto. You can take the same boat for a lower fee if you're on a bike or walk on but I didn't do that.

 

[Doomlord_uk]

Just to mix things up... public transport I've used in the US:

MARTA in Atlanta. I kinda enjoyed it; good times.
NYC underground - ghastly.
Bus between LaGuadia and Manhattan:
Trolley busses on idrive in Orlando - touristy thing? Holiday travel, lovely climate, no rush.
Taxi in Orlando, one time.
Georgia Tech also had a student shuttle service I used (my wife was a student there, not sure how I got on without student ID, but I did and no-one cared).
Jet planes - in/out of Hartsfield-Jackson. OK apart from fascist TSA pigdogs. God knows what it's like these days... And of course straight onto MARTA! The US does have joined-up public transport!!

 

[sword_9mm]

Oh guess I forgot a couple.

I rode the ferry a couple of times across the river to downtown New Orleans.
Also in New Orleans rode the trolley/street car/or whatever system for a bit one day.

 

[BigVince]

Ive been on a few around the world

Chicago CTA for like most of my life
MARTA in Atlanta a few times
BART in SF a few times
Metrolink in LA once
SEPTA in Philly once
The Tube in London once
Paris Metro a few times
The Medellín Metro in Colombia
The Mexico City Metro a few times
Editing to add Disneyworld and Disneyland Monorail (Theeeere goooooes the Monnnoorail!) and the Las Vegas Monorail.


Also does Hyperloop tunnel count? I was rode the one in Las Vegas a few months ago.

 

[fitten]

I didn't know we could count the monorails in Las Vegas or Disney... I've been on both of those. Also New Orleans street car.

 

[fitten]

Has anybody been on La Paz's cable car system? I first knew about that because of Ewan McGregor's "Long Way Up" and it looked really interesting.

 

[waqar]

12 odd years on the underground, circle line, district line metropolitan line and the purgatory that is the northern line.

 

[Doomlord_uk]

Has anybody been on La Paz's cable car system?

I haven't, but I have used various cable cars in Switzerland and they were pretty cool. Some of the higher up farms had mini cable car things that they could send urns of milk or whatever down into the valley with. No idea if people used those too.

 

[NoMoreSecrets]

It'd be tough for me to list them all, but I've always felt that taking public transit is a fantastic way to get a feel for a new city.

 

[ProphetM]

I didn't know we could count the monorails in Las Vegas or Disney... I've been on both of those. Also New Orleans street car.

Personally I counted the LV monorail because it's a public system running to multiple independent locations, but not the Disney ones because they aren't really - they run between Disney's own attractions and resorts. I likewise didn't count other systems in Vegas for the same reason - like the Mandalay Bay/Luxor/Excalibur tram or the Mirage/Treasure Island tram. (Or the trains at the airport, for that matter.)

 

[grommit!]

It'd be tough for me to list them all, but I've always felt that taking public transit is a fantastic way to get a feel for a new city.

Same. I grew up in London, and despite being a driver, don't think I could live somewhere without access to decent public transit.

 

[BigVince]

Personally I counted the LV monorail because it's a public system running to multiple independent locations, but not the Disney ones because they aren't really - they run between Disney's own attractions and resorts. I likewise didn't count other systems in Vegas for the same reason - like the Mandalay Bay/Luxor/Excalibur tram or the Mirage/Treasure Island tram. (Or the trains at the airport, for that matter.)

I counted the Disney Monorails because they are publicly accessible. You don't have to stay at Disney resort or go to one of the parks to use it. In Florida you can drive into the TTC and take the monorail to one of the many fine dining establishments on Disney property.

 

[ProphetM]

I counted the Disney Monorails because they are publicly accessible. You don't have to stay at Disney resort or go to one of the parks to use it.

The same is true of the other resort trains I mentioned in Las Vegas. I decided for my own viewpoint that 'publicly accessible' is too broad a term to equate with 'public transit' because that umbrella encompasses just about everything. To be a useful description I think 'public transit' should have some element of transporting people to something outside of its own ecosystem. Disney owns the TTC, so I considered the monorail a closed ecosystem because it doesn't go to anything not-Disney. I debated putting the Grand Canyon Railway in the public transit column in my post because it goes to a station in Grand Canyon National Park, but I elected to leave it in that 'heritage rail' category because that trip is as much about riding the train itself as it is about visiting the Grand Canyon.

 

[Zoc]

The only time I've ever ridden public transport has been when I went to the university of MN for 2 years. Even then I made sure to have a moped as I wanted to make sure to be able to go where I wanted when I wanted and didn't ride the bus much.

I've never ever downloaded Uber or lift, though I've ridden in two or three that friends have called. I've never called a cab.

Not saying I have some sort of mark of pride against public transport or anything. I've only ever been in one of those cities you listed and that was Chicago when I was like 8 and I can't remember if we took public transport. I just normally don't have it available and am not used to having to take anything into consideration about my travel other than "do I feel like going there now" and going directly there. Never had to think about paying for a ride (yes, I pay for gas, I just don't have to make the payment every time I get out), never had to think about how close a pick up can be, how close drop off is, and when routes show up. To those of you used to public transportation I cannot stress to you how completely foreign the ideas are to my thought process.

Uber and lift I've heard are pieces of shit companies so I'm fine with never using them. I'm a little confused on how they differ in practice from a taxi outside of extracting profit and liability from drivers. But again, I'm usually spending time in places where public transport just isn't available.

This is a 180 degrees the opposite of me. I learned to drive at 35 and I still hardly ever get behind the wheel. I mostly walk everywhere, and I consider public transportation more of an extension of walking than anything else. I’ve always been careful to choose places to live with great transportation, so I just walk to the station, walk onto the subway, wait a bit, then walk off. I don’t worry at all about schedules or drop off (though I wouldn’t call it that) because the subway comes often enough that I don’t have to. I suppose there are places in my city that can’t get to by subway or streetcar, but those places tend to be suburbs, so I don’t really have a reason to go anyway.

 

[Karnak]

All of the various San Francisco Bay Area services from San Francisco/Oakland north, inclusive of light rail, buses and ferries.

Light rail in Austin, TX.

Ferry from Prince Rupert, BC to Juneau, AL.

Bus from Mendocino, CA to Ukiah, CA.


I've used commercial buses in the USA, Mexico and India as well, but those fail the "public" part of the question.

 

[Hound of Cullen]

I'd forgotten that I'd ridden DC's streetcar one of the last times I was down there. Looks like DC is killing it off. Pity.

https://51st.news/streetcar-h-street-shutdown-buses/

 

[grommit!]

I started listing it out by city but quickly realized that would be obnoxiously long:

Bus - London, Leeds, Nottingham, Chicago, New York, Seattle, Toronto, San Francisco
Underground - London, Paris, Chicago, Washington DC, Boston, New York, Hong Kong, Toronto
Trams/Streetcars - Manchester, Hong Kong, New Orleans, San Francisco, Toronto
Commuter rail - London, Leeds, Manchester
Inter city rail - UK, US (Amtrak), Europe (Eurostar & SNCF)
Ferry - Hong Kong, Toronto

Honorable mentions to the cross-channel ferry and hovercraft before Eurostar obliterated their business.

 

[laserboy]

Bangkok
Chiang Mai
Kuala Lumpur
Sydney
Canberra (I think)
Dunedin
Wellington
Auckland
Amsterdam
Enschede
Eindhoven
Utrecht
Groningen
Maastricht
Den Haag
Rotterdam
München
Münster
Berlin
Antwerp
Brugge
Paris
Tolouse
Rome
Florence
Cardiff
Edinburg
Dublin
London
Birmingham
Bristol
Hastings

Okay, I give up

 

[Robin-3]

Hmm. I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but:

• Public bus system in Wiesbaden, as a kid
• DC-area Metro system and related WMATA bus lines
• Amtrak, almost exclusively between Hampton Roads and Alexandria
• Williamsburg (VA) bus system
• Boston subway/the T (briefly, as a visitor)
• Briefly some kind of public shuttle bus in Vegas... I think??
• Ottawa (ON) bus system, although only a couple times
• ViaRail between Montreal/Ottawa, Ottawa/Toronto, and Toronto/Vancouver

There's probably at least one more I've forgotten. But I've also spent plenty of time living places without great public transit (bah).

 

[thrillgore]

NYC Subway
Path
MARTA
Paris RATP
Paris RER
TGV
DC Metro
MARC
Music City Star
Denver RTD
LA Metro
Montreal Metro
Seoul Metro
Busan Metro
KTX

God knows how many trains in the airports