When I first moved to New York, the Subway seemed like quite an exciting prospect. It’s the eponymous mass transit system seen in all the movies. If I ride the Subway, Spider-Man might come to my rescue. But in reality, it’s not that exciting. Or that great. But what public transport actually is great?
Sure, in NYC I’m very lucky to have a reliable onslaught of buses ready to take me across town, Subway trains that take me downtown and ferries that ship me around other parts of town. But there has to be more out there, right?
So, what city really does have the world’s best public transport system?
Deep down I know that the London Underground can run circles around the Subway any day of the week. Where I used to live, you’d be unhappy to wait more than a minute for a train to arrive at the station, and once in the system you can reach almost anywhere in the UK capital.
But London has its limitations. So if you want to venture south of the river, your choice of station stop is severely limited. And, everything runs through the center of the city. That means that if you want to go from Muswell Hill in the north to Stratford in the east, you better prepare to ride almost every mode of transport the city has to offer.
London and New York are just two famous places that have famous transit systems. And famous doesn’t always mean best. So what is the best?
Maybe you’re a fan of Rotterdam’s trams, trains and metros, or perhaps you’re all about the easy-to-read signs of the Mexico City subway system. I hear Tokyo has some great trains too, and what about the trams in Sheffield that were deemed so great the city dubbed them the Supertram?
Whatever your pick for the best public transport, we want to hear it. So, head to the comments section and let us know what city really does have the best public transport system. We’ll round up some of the best answers in a slideshow tomorrow.