“Rail transit” includes subways such as the New York subway and trains such as BART.

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  3. The Washington Metro. Very clean, no crazy people, stations are nice and big, serves a big area, and so on. Compared to the New York Subway it’s like a Wegmans is to a 7-11.

  7. In terms of how useful it is: NYC subway, by a wide margin. But only in the USA, which is setting the bar low.

    In terms of how well-run it is, I’d say it’s a toss-up between Chicago (CTA rail, definitely not Metra) and the Washington Metro.

  8. “best” probably goes to Washington, DC’s Metro system because of the spread-out nature of it and the ability to get most places in the metro area.

    I’m personally partial to Portland’s Tri-Met system, the Ashmont-Mattapan historic line in Boston, and Philly’s subway-surface trolley lines as they’re goofy.

  9. When I think of the best rail transit I think of the T in Boston. I was born in a suburb of Boston but didn’t grow up there, however my family visited there a lot. It was always a special treat to get to ride the T when we were there. One time when we were ridding (Red Line) the driver/engineer had the door of the control cab open and he saw my brother and I watching and he invited us in the cab. My parents okayed it and he set my brother on his lab and had me stand next to him and showed us what he did to drive the T. We rode with him for several stops and is one of my cherished childhood memories.

  13. NYC and DC have the best rail systems. There are a few other cities that are substantially worse but still good enough that you might be able to get away without a car (Chicago, Philly, Boston etc).

    My brother lived in Portland, OR without a car and did fine, but my understanding is that’s only realistic in a pretty small section of the city.

  14. After having used Japan’s rail system, everything else just feels like garbage. XD

    I’ve only used Amtrak, the T in Boston and the NYC subway (though it’s been over 10 years since I’ve been in NYC).

    Of those 3 Amtrak was probably the cleanest and most comfortable, but that’s not saying much.

  15. The NYC subway could be better but I like it. The MTA is a state agency and the subway is controlled by Albany, not the city.

  18. Efficiency wise, the New York subway by a long shot. You can go almost anywhere in the city and it runs 24/7 as well. There is a lot of history with the NYC subway. 100 years ago when the NYC was brand new, the subway was the largest and most advanced and impressive public transportation marvel in the world. 100 years later today, it is still one of the most expansive metro systems in the world.

    Chicago’s train lines are also quite awesome. It connects almost every suburb to downtown Chicago. However it’s not as good if you aren’t commuting into downtown. This is super beneficial for tourists and guests, but not as much for locals. It definitely beats NYC’s subway as far as cleanliness goes.

    For a much smaller city, Portland’s MAX system is also awesome and probably the only thing I very much like about Portland today. I hope downtown Portland can recover so more people can use the MAX. I definitely like Portland’s public transportation much more than that of Atlanta or Miami, two significantly larger cities.

  19. NYC is the best for practicality and usefulness, as it has the most amount of lines and stations in the country by a wide margin, and as someone who goes to the city semi-frequently, it is far easier to use the trains than to drive, especially Manhattan.

    As for “best”? The DC Metro is pretty good. It’s certainly a lot more cleaner than NYC subways that’s for sure.

  20. I tend to agree with what seems to be the consensus – the DC Metro. Though, to be honest, when I lived there, I took buses much more frequently than trains. I found trains to be much better to get across the city or into the suburbs (Arlington/Alexandria/Bethesda/etc.), but my work, my apartment, and the places where I most frequently hung out were all in a relatively small area of the District itself, but sometimes farther than I wanted to walk (a few miles), so I often found myself on the buses.

  24. Its more the city and infrastructure than the trains themselves. Like, NYC has a fantastic system but it’s disgusting. Sf has fairly safe and clean cars (ignore bougie people who are mad that homeless people use them) but they only go through a small portion of the city. If you live west of the financial district you’re not getting to work on time.

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