One of the major reasons Washington DC was on my list of acceptable places to live, is it has a good public transit system, specifically a subway system. The DC system has a few flaws, they have no schedule, if you ask about a schedule they will tell you their target time for frequency of trains, but they have no schedule and no real idea when any train will arrive or depart any station in the system! It is two track system, with no real bypasses, so if something stops the flow of traffic on a rail line, things go all kinds of wrong. Some of the staff are surely, some angry, uncaring, - enough of them to staff to give the staff a bad image. Actually many of them are delightful, caring, kind, I have had them hold the train and re-open the doors as I was emerging from an escalator onto the platform at the airport late at night.
When I travel, if there is a subway or train system, I try to use it. The photos above are from New York City in August. NYC has an old system, most of it is shallow created with cut and cover. There are some deep sections, my great grandfather work on building some of those. Many of the stations are dirty and grim. They are not just old, they are ugly. Because of the age and the shallowness much of the system has only stairs to access the platforms, and if you enter on the wrong side, you likely have to go back to street level, cross the street and reenter the system to get to the other platform (in all of the DC stations you can change directions or platforms without exiting the station.) The interior of the cars in New York are designed to hold the maximum number of people, in the minimum level of comfort. Hard plastic seating down both sides, lots of standing space. The DC system has a lot more seating and the seating is much more comfortable. The original DC cars had deeply padded leather seating and carpeted floors.
The Photos below are of the DC system. Come visit, I have an extra metro card you can borrow.
I agree, that DC has the best and cleanest subway system, always a treat. NYC...is so dirty and disgusting. I only Uber in the city anymore. And when flooding hits up there you better hope your not down there then. New York I feel is aging rapidly, and keep keep up with modern transport needs anymore.
ReplyDeleteDespite the shortcomings, NY system is a fast way to get around town
DeleteWashington looks pretty good. I found New York's Subway very grim indeed and directions poor and confusing at times compared to London's Tube. I think it was Brooklyn where we waited on the wrong platform but correctly numbered. When we didn't catch the train that arrived, a local woman asked us where we wanted to go. Apparently two lines cross there. At least though the trains were nice and cool in the heat. Modern public transport seats can be very uncomfortable nowadays.
ReplyDeleteHeading to my office, my first train ride is at least 25 minutes, a softer seat would be nice. Sometime in the next year the line to Dulles Airport will open, the ride from Dulles into downtown will be nearly an hour, on those same hard seats.
DeleteThe NYC system is incredible but, as you say, much of it is dirty, grim, old, and ugly. We loved DC Metro when we lived there, and we used it all the time.
ReplyDeleteBoth systems could stand to have more money
DeleteThe DC Metro was so good to me for a lot of years. There were a few bad days. I remember the padded seats.
ReplyDeleteI thought I would miss the carpeted floors, I don't
DeleteWe always take the subway in NYC.I love watching people and there is no better place to see all kinds of people in all kinds of moods, than down there.
ReplyDeleteWe've also used the DC Metro when visiting. I never realized there wasn't a schedule, though. But then we got on where we were and got off where we wanted to be, so I guess that's good enough.
Our town has about 8,000 people so our idea of mass transit is a bunch of people ridesharing!
I do a lot of reading on the trains, I should do more people watching.
DeleteI enjoy a nice subway too!
ReplyDeleteThe world needs more of them
DeleteI love mass transit. It's one of the reasons I fell in love with London some 30 years ago. It is so easy to get from one end of the city to another. The one we have here is above ground and has the same problems you mentioned about DC. When I lived on the other side of town, I used it quite often but on this side of town it is not a convenient option.
ReplyDeleteAh, London and Paris, you can get almost anyplace.
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