Which city has the best public transportation and why?

18 comments

1. NYC is, by a large margin, the best public transit in the country.

   It’s the only city where the *majority* of commuters ride public transport.

   After that it’s the 2nd tier of Washington/Boston/San Francisco/Chicago/Philly

   Then a major drop.

2. The NY public transit system is one of the few 24/7 systems in the country. That has to count for something.

   I also like DC’s.

3. Well, came here to say NYC but then I read further lol. I guess Chicago as it is also a major city and I see the many El trains in movies; I’ve never visited Chicago.

4. NYC easily has the best, sure it’s no Tokyo but trains in Tokyo don’t run 24/7.

5. It’s easily NYC. Other American cities might have cleaner trains or nicer stations on average vs NYC, but no one else can compete with the MTA’s coverage.

   Other cities have systems, but the issue boils down to coverage. Even in Chicago, the L is a wheel and spoke system, so it’s great for getting you to and from downtown, but not so great if you’re trying to get to another part of the city without going to downtown first.

6. NYC has, by far, the best public transit system of any city in the country.

7. Chicago has the best metric in terms of cost-to-operate per car and cost-to-operate per commuter.

   There’s a notable problem of it failing to serve the primarily black southwest part of the city.

8. I’d say it used to be Washington DC. But WMATA (the transit agency there) constantly has its budget cut by politicians from elsewhere in the country.

   So WMATA is kind of “on and off.” When the politicians let them spend the money they need? Absolutely the best transit anywhere in the world. When politicians cut their budget? WMATA turns into a bunch of filthy rolling shitcans pretty quickly.

   The only weird thing, in my opinion at least, is that there’s one bright-orange seat on every subway car. That’s not random, but I think it’s a little silly. The legislator that made DC transit possible just … really loved the color orange. Nothing more than that. So DC transit always keeps one orange seat on every train out of respect for him.

   No one sits in the orange seat unless there’s no other option. It’s often 30 years old and stinks of hobo farts.

9. Chicago’s is pretty good. You can take trains to both airports, and the buses are solid.

   Commute trains whisk people in and out for work.

10. It’s easily NYC by a large margin.

11. The MTA is the worst transit system in the country…except for all the others.

12. Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco are probably the Top 5.

13. I’ve been on MTA (NYC), MARTA (Atlanta), CATS (Charlotte), and MBTA (Boston) I’d say the MTA is the best in terms of utility and CATS is the best appearance wise (it’s new though so…). MARTA was odd, they have 4 lines but in reality they really only have two because the blue and green follow each other for most of their length and the red and gold do the same. Also MARTA stations felt like they were stuck in the 1970s. Still worked well though and it was a much better option than parking downtown

14. Outside of the US, I would have to praise Seoul’s public transportation, though part of its good coverage is probably due to how dense the city is. Much of the city is covered with subways, including a “circle line,” and it’s probably ideally considered a “taxi town.” But I’ve gotten from one place to another (and not necessarily touristy areas) using only the subway and one bus at the most.

15. I have been to Los Angeles. The only public transportation we have that’s remotely good are trains. Buses do exist but I have never taken one in LA so I don’t know what those are like

16. The MTA is the closest the US has to a world-class public transportation system.

17. NYC, but obviously it has issues. Crime in the subways; random attacks, homeless everywhere. Mayor Eric Adams has made an emergency… a slow one…

18. NYC assuming you don’t get stabbed