Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Like many others, I've long admired Canadian cities, like Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver for how clean, neat, safe, and well-planned they are in comparison to comparably sized American cities.
What U.S. city comes closest to approaching Vancouver's or Toronto's cleanliness, modernity, and urban planning?
I'd have to say Seattle is up there. But a second, equally compelling, surprising answer is Washington D.C. (and I really want to discuss D.C.) D.C. is THE U.S. city whose urban planning can rival Toronto.
Yes, Chicago may be the most similar U.S. city overall to Toronto, BUT Chicago's infrastructure is (supposedly) dated and decrepit. (to be fair, only been to Toronto, but everyone who's been to both say Chicago is way behind Toronto).
If there's one U.S. city with a modern, efficient, comprehensive transit system to rival Toronto or Vancouver, it's D.C. and its metro. We're talking about a comprehensive, far reaching rail system that connects most of the suburbs to Downtown, and allows for convenient, suburb-to-suburb travel and convenient travel within the core city itself.
We're talking about a rail system that has frequencies at every 2-4 minutes during rush hour.
And a system that boasts high average speeds in excess of 25 miles per hour.
A system that is modern, constantly expanding, with master-planned, transit oriented development everywhere you go.
You're forgetting Montreal. Metro trains with rubber tires providing a much smoother and quieter ride than most, and with the 3rd highest ridership in NA after NYC and Mexico City... And currently working on a new automated Rapid Transit system... It's already pretty robust in terms of public transit, and this is going to set it even further apart of the rest of NA cities...
I also don't quite get why US cities aren't as efficient in urban planning as their Canadian counterparts.
You're forgetting Montreal. Metro trains with rubber tires providing a much smoother and quieter ride than most, and with the 3rd highest ridership in NA after NYC and Mexico City... And currently working on a new automated Rapid Transit system... It's already pretty robust in terms of public transit, and this is going to set it even further apart of the rest of NA cities...
.
It was an odd omission I agree.
Though he opened with comments about cities that were "clean, neat, safe, and well-planned" before segueing towards transit.
So how does Montreal rank in terms of being clean, neat, safe, and well-planned compared to Toronto and Vancouver?
It's about as clean as Toronto but less so than Vancouver. It's less neat than those two though, I'd argue.
It's quite a bit safer than Toronto (in recent years) and probably a tad safer than Vancouver too.
In terms of being well-planned that's hard to say. I'd say the city proper of Montreal offers superior planning to Toronto these days. Vancouver is pretty good as well. Toronto suburbs are better planned than Montreal's in terms of functionality but they're not really any prettier. Maybe less so. As suburbs go in terms of aesthetics Vancouver's are probably what most urban(e) types would prefer, even if they're not perfect.
And as you said, Montreal is getting pretty hard to beat in terms of transit, especially with what's coming down the pike.
Like many others, I've long admired Canadian cities, like Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver for how clean, neat, safe, and well-planned they are in comparison to comparably sized American cities.
What U.S. city comes closest to approaching Vancouver's or Toronto's cleanliness, modernity, and urban planning?
I'd have to say Seattle is up there. But a second, equally compelling, surprising answer is Washington D.C. (and I really want to discuss D.C.) D.C. is THE U.S. city whose urban planning can rival Toronto.
Yes, Chicago may be the most similar U.S. city overall to Toronto, BUT Chicago's infrastructure is (supposedly) dated and decrepit. (to be fair, only been to Toronto, but everyone who's been to both say Chicago is way behind Toronto).
If there's one U.S. city with a modern, efficient, comprehensive transit system to rival Toronto or Vancouver, it's D.C. and its metro. We're talking about a comprehensive, far reaching rail system that connects most of the suburbs to Downtown, and allows for convenient, suburb-to-suburb travel and convenient travel within the core city itself.
We're talking about a rail system that has frequencies at every 2-4 minutes during rush hour.
And a system that boasts high average speeds in excess of 25 miles per hour.
A system that is modern, constantly expanding, with master-planned, transit oriented development everywhere you go.
I haven't been to DC, but just looking at the stats between it and Vancouver, I'm a bit confused. Correct me if I get this wrong please, but it appears the Metrorail in DC has twice the amount of track and stations that Vancouver has, but ridership is quite different, compared to Skytrain. 2.3 million trips in DC and 406 MILLION boardings for Skytrain in 2017...and it's increasing every year. There must be something different in how they are measuring trips????
Like many others, I've long admired Canadian cities, like Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver for how clean, neat, safe, and well-planned they are in comparison to comparably sized American cities.
What U.S. city comes closest to approaching Vancouver's or Toronto's cleanliness, modernity, and urban planning?
I'd have to say Seattle is up there. But a second, equally compelling, surprising answer is Washington D.C. (and I really want to discuss D.C.) D.C. is THE U.S. city whose urban planning can rival Toronto.
Yes, Chicago may be the most similar U.S. city overall to Toronto, BUT Chicago's infrastructure is (supposedly) dated and decrepit. (to be fair, only been to Toronto, but everyone who's been to both say Chicago is way behind Toronto).
If there's one U.S. city with a modern, efficient, comprehensive transit system to rival Toronto or Vancouver, it's D.C. and its metro. We're talking about a comprehensive, far reaching rail system that connects most of the suburbs to Downtown, and allows for convenient, suburb-to-suburb travel and convenient travel within the core city itself.
We're talking about a rail system that has frequencies at every 2-4 minutes during rush hour.
And a system that boasts high average speeds in excess of 25 miles per hour.
A system that is modern, constantly expanding, with master-planned, transit oriented development everywhere you go.
The TTC provides comprehensive transit to the suburbs? That's news to me. I agree that it's more pleasant than riding the L here in Chicago, but comprehensive and far reaching it is not, at least in my experience.
Last edited by garyjohnyang; 08-05-2019 at 12:43 PM..
I haven't been to DC, but just looking at the stats between it and Vancouver, I'm a bit confused. Correct me if I get this wrong please, but it appears the Metrorail in DC has twice the amount of track and stations that Vancouver has, but ridership is quite different, compared to Skytrain. 2.3 million trips in DC and 406 MILLION boardings for Skytrain in 2017...and it's increasing every year. There must be something different in how they are measuring trips????
You're reading this wrong. 2.3M is for MetroAccess.
Total numbers are as figures:
1 New York City Subway USA New York City 2,758,485,000
2 Mexico City Metro Mexico Mexico City 1,561,613,597
3 Montreal Metro Canada Montreal 383,147,700
4 Toronto subway Canada Toronto 324,738,500
5 Washington Metro USA Washington, D.C. 271,160,000
6 Chicago 'L' USA Chicago 239,100,200
7 Monterrey Metro (Metrorrey) Mexico Monterrey 177,540,056
8 MBTA Subway (Blue, Orange, and Red Lines) USA Boston 174,820,200
9 SkyTrain Canada Vancouver 160,000,000
10 Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) USA San Francisco Bay Area 132,314,200
That number you got for Vancouver isn't just the SkyTrain -- it includes buses and boats/ferries as well.
You're reading this wrong. 2.3M is for MetroAccess.
Total numbers are as figures:
1 New York City Subway USA New York City 2,758,485,000
2 Mexico City Metro Mexico Mexico City 1,561,613,597
3 Montreal Metro Canada Montreal 383,147,700
4 Toronto subway Canada Toronto 324,738,500
5 Washington Metro USA Washington, D.C. 271,160,000
6 Chicago 'L' USA Chicago 239,100,200
7 Monterrey Metro (Metrorrey) Mexico Monterrey 177,540,056
8 MBTA Subway (Blue, Orange, and Red Lines) USA Boston 174,820,200
9 SkyTrain Canada Vancouver 160,000,000
10 Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) USA San Francisco Bay Area 132,314,200
That number you got for Vancouver isn't just the SkyTrain -- it includes buses and boats/ferries as well.
Are there more updated ridership counts for DC Metro? I'd be interested to see how it's recovered since ridership plummeted back in 2014.
Are there more updated ridership counts for DC Metro? I'd be interested to see how it's recovered since ridership plummeted back in 2014.
Probably took a dip Certain quarters depending on track work, but it’ll most likely hit record levels starting Next year with the opening of the expanded silver line out to Dulles
You're reading this wrong. 2.3M is for MetroAccess.
Total numbers are as figures:
1 New York City Subway USA New York City 2,758,485,000
2 Mexico City Metro Mexico Mexico City 1,561,613,597
3 Montreal Metro Canada Montreal 383,147,700
4 Toronto subway Canada Toronto 324,738,500
5 Washington Metro USA Washington, D.C. 271,160,000
6 Chicago 'L' USA Chicago 239,100,200
7 Monterrey Metro (Metrorrey) Mexico Monterrey 177,540,056
8 MBTA Subway (Blue, Orange, and Red Lines) USA Boston 174,820,200
9 SkyTrain Canada Vancouver 160,000,000
10 Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) USA San Francisco Bay Area 132,314,200
That number you got for Vancouver isn't just the SkyTrain -- it includes buses and boats/ferries as well.
Montreal and Vancouver both have very impressive rail ridership for their metro sizes - Montreal has 4 million people and Vancouver under 2.5 million.
Last edited by Vincent_Adultman; 08-06-2019 at 02:23 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
