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[Livingskeletons]

Atlanta has MARTA, a big old cross-shaped turd that barely operates north of downtown on weekends.

Next 10 trains? Doraville.

Oh, you want Sandy Springs? Wait another hour.

Oh, what's that? It's 90 degrees in the car? AC's out. Oh, it smells like old piss? Probably because that's what it is you're smelling.

BTW - the DC metro is very solid, zero complaints here.



I was at a station in France, the last before the Italian border for that line. I was waiting to catch the next train heading into Italy. This old Italian lady sat down next to me and asked when the next train was coming. I told her '15 minutes according to the schedule' and she just started laughing and laughing at me. That's when I learned that 'schedules' don't mean much in the world of Trenitalia.



Los Angeles' public transportation is abject trash compared to DC. Or any other major city in the USA (or possibly the first world.)

It's pretty bad, but at least its cheap. $7 for a day pass.

 

[Piggus]

Jakarta, Indonesia. There aren't any subways (yet), so you have to take either a train (very limited) or a bus. Regardless, they pack people in like sardines with zero regard for safety, everyone is sweating all over each other because it's so humid there, and theft is a major issue. You get pushed around at every stop from people trying to get off. The layout is also very confusing and hard to figure out if you're not a local. Overall it's an extremely uncomfortable experience. Much cheaper than a cab though, so there's that...

Sounds like some of you haven't been to many third world countries. When it comes to infrastructure and public transportation, we have it pretty damn good in the west. Jakarta is the worst I've seen but it's at least improving and is WAY better than a lot of other places.

Best I've been on would probably be London (but not during rush hour), New York, San Francisco (with a little experience), and Portland. I'm going to Japan next month and I have a feeling that's going to top it all though.

 

[daviyoung]

Every fucking day.

London's is one of the best. Yeh it may look busy, but those people shift in minutes. That photo is uncharacteristic of the general experience too.

 

[Hip Hop]

You guys had it good.

You ain't seen nothing yet. In Mexico, those buses.

extremely outdated models, broken windows, zero A/C. Broken seats. And to top it off, drivers rarely cared about using Stop signs. It was fun.

 

[chaobreaker]

Reading that OP, I can't help but think Bethesda was inspired by the real life DC subway station when they made the hellish landscape that is the subway tunnels in Fallout 3.

 

[Mr Git]

I was on a night bus in Laos where they packed the aisle with plastic seats and crammed more people in so you couldn't physically move. A Lao chap on a plastic seat next to me threw up all over my legs and said nothing. So probably Laos.

 

[PixelHorror]

Oh dudes (and dudettes) you're all so cute, let me introduce to you: Transmilenio, a system of red buses which operates in Bogotá, Colombia. A city with over 7 million inhabitants which has no Metro or Rail system to support it.

This is a station (or a stop, to be more precise), people block the doors from closing which lets a load of freeloaders, thieves and peddlers onto the system.

A ramp which leads to one station.

One exit/entrance.

A full as fuck bus.

People even has a sense of humor, the caption reads "Are you really going in? Really? "

Yeah, Transmilenio is no fun, dangerous and a nightmare to use. People will push, elbow you and never will let anyone exit as everyone rushes in.

 

[Sevarus]

You guys had it good.

You ain't seen nothing yet. In Mexico, those buses.

extremely outdated models, broken windows, zero A/C. Broken seats. And to top it off, drivers rarely cared about using Stop signs. It was fun.

Yup, this and the DF Metro on the first page. But to be fair, no one cares about the stop signs

 

[Daedardus]

I've been in a total of four weeks in London and it really isn't that bad. It can be a bit busy at peak hours, but you don't have to wait long to catch a train. It's also pretty good for delays, I had only delay in the late evening and that one lasted exactly 12 minutes, I've seen far more frequent and longer delays. Can't speak about the rest of the big cities, I'm not really a big traveller.

 

[Austriacus]

Oh dudes (and dudettes) you're all so cute, let me introduce to you: Transmilenio, a system of red buses which operates in Bogotá, Colombia. A city with over 7 million inhabitants which has no Metro or Rail system to support it.

This is a station (or a stop, to be more precise), people block the doors from closing which lets a load of freeloaders, thieves and peddlers onto the system.

A ramp which leads to one station.

One exit/entrance.

A full as fuck bus.

People even has a sense of humor, the caption reads "Are you really going in? Really? "

Yeah, Transmilenio is no fun, dangerous and nightmare to use.

Thats cute, you at least have decent buses

 

[PixelHorror]

Thats cute, you at least have decent buses

(We have some of those too, but they're getting replaced slowly by some blue ones)

 

[Sub_Level]

I only visited for a couple days, but when I visited the DC we rode the metro a lot. It was pretty functional. Not clean but not what I'd call dirty either. I don't think it would be a super horrible thing to live in DC without a car but maybe I'm wrong.

 

[Howard Ballou]

The DC metro(train) has been pretty unreliable for me during rush hours. I usually try to take a bus if at all possible. The orange/silver lines are a pain on the weekends as well in Virginia, since they only run every 20-30 minutes or so.

 

[Tacitus_]

Riding one of these when the temperature was above 30C. I was drowning in sweat :d

 

[Knit Your Own Porridge]

I've been in a total of four weeks in London and it really isn't that bad. It can be a bit busy at peak hours, but you don't have to wait long to catch a train. It's also pretty good for delays, I had only delay in the late evening and that one lasted exactly 12 minutes, I've seen far more frequent and longer delays. Can't speak about the rest of the big cities, I'm not really a big traveller.

Yeah, London is pretty great. When you're using the Tube every day it's easy to only see the problems but it's actually damn good. Just thinking about the complexity of it all under such a huge, old city blows my tiny mind a little.

 

[El_Chino]

I only visited for a couple days, but when I visited the DC we rode the metro a lot. It was pretty functional. Not clean but not what I'd call dirty either. I don't think it would be a super horrible thing to live in DC without a car but maybe I'm wrong.

Those prices though.

 

[MMarston]

Every fucking day.

Yup, having been to London for a week, it immediately takes the cake for most packed and convoluted public transpo I've ever used.


And yes, somehow even more than NY (though, I haven't been back NY for almost a decade now).

 

[Parallax]

I think their rail system smells worst, at least consistently worse

the red line no doubt. but its at least consistent like all the other rail lines. the bus system needs fucking work

 

[Rapscallion]

I've never been more consistently harassed than on the Sacramento Light Rail system.

Depends on which routes and what time of day you're on, but some of them can get pretty rough.

 

[Parallax]

Mexico city

good god.

 

[Face it Tiger..]

local DRT.

#BibleThump in a can.

costs more the metropolitan TTC, less running times, no local trains.

 

[Mr-Joker]

Can't really complain since I travel for free on any bus within England and on any train within Manchester. But when I used to commute by train I hated it since it was so expensive and would always be delayed.

You're probably right.

 

[Rich!]

A bus between towns a few years back after a night of heavy partying. The bus journey was intended for me to get to the train station, just a ten minute journey. Got on it at around 8am

I remember looking at my phone and noticing it was lunchtime. I had fallen asleep at the back of the bus, no one had woken me up or noticed me, and I had gone around the route around four times. I ended up being eight hours late for work. I didn't get fired.

That was the worst bus journey ever

There's also the time I fell asleep on a train journey to Southampton and ended up at fucking littlehampton.

 

[MMarston]

Mexico city

Fuck me, forget about what I said earlier.

 

[marvelharvey]

London is just awful.

High prices
Regular strikes
Poor service
Unfriendly staff
Some lines closed at weekends
Almost no aircon

Thank God I never have to return.

 

[MMarston]

London is just awful.

High prices
Regular strikes
Poor service
Unfriendly staff
Some lines closed at weekends
Almost no aircon

Thank God I never have to return.

My most memorable experience of London transpo is a group of guys having a yelling/swearing match with the lady driving a packed bus for 5 minutes straight.

EDIT:Oh yeah, and there was a little kid throwing a fit at a random old lady simultaneously.

 

[Zultan]

Was going to say Los Angeles. But then I realized I've never been on it.

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Was going to go in on Los Angeles Rapid Transit and now I'm seeing what other countries have to put up with so suddenly I got nothing. But yeah, the MTA is shit.

 

[VeryGooster]

I've only ever been on NJ Transit and PATH but NJ Transit keeps jacking up fares every year and Christie and NJT are pointing fingers at each other and there is no benefit in the end. Can't stand the trains but buses have been better service-wise within the last decade.

I don't ride MTA as much. I don't mind the subways but I only ever see fare rise stories about MTA in the news.

I was reading a Vox article the other day about US public trans interestingly enough: http://www.vox.com/2015/8/10/9118199/public-transportation-subway-buses

 

[Loakum]

Mexico city

Reminds me of San Diego Comic Con. Hall H and Exhibit Hall on an Saturday.