Without relying on ridership statistics, what cities have the best mass transit? (middle-class, 2015)
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I think it's fair to state that some cities mass transit works better on paper than in reality. DC Metro comes to mind. People often pout it's high ridership, what feeling to realize or note that that it functions as both as subway and commuter rail, so it should be compared to San Francisco's Bart and Muni or Chicago's L and Metra. They don't note that it's expensive and offers surprisingly little city neighborhood coverage.
What city's mass transit is better or worse than the data shows, and explain why.
I think it's fair to state that some cities mass transit works better on paper than in reality. DC Metro comes to mind. People often pout it's high ridership, what feeling to realize or note that that it functions as both as subway and commuter rail, so it should be compared to San Francisco's Bart and Muni or Chicago's L and Metra. They don't note that it's expensive and offers surprisingly little city neighborhood coverage.
What city's mass transit is better or worse than the data shows, and explain why.
When I lived there I did not find that D.C. lacked in "neighborhood coverage". It was fairly easy to get across the District and into Virginia and Maryland when necessary.
I will agree the D.C. metro is not cheap and it has been having a ton of issues lately due to maintenance needs. For what it's worth I have heard good things about D.C. city buses.
I certainly don't think DC lacks in "neighborhood coverage". Excepting NYC, which U.S. has notably better "neighborhood coverage"?
And I also don't think DC Metro is that expensive. Maybe a bit more than average subway systems and a bit less than average commuter rail systems. Seems fair to me.
When I lived there I did not find that D.C. lacked in "neighborhood coverage". It was fairly easy to get across the District and into Virginia and Maryland when necessary.
I will agree the D.C. metro is not cheap and it has been having a ton of issues lately due to maintenance needs. For what it's worth I have heard good things about D.C. city buses.
Metro doesn't serve Georgetown, Adams Morgan or half of the predominantly black neighborhoods in the city.
Metro doesn't serve Georgetown, Adams Morgan or half of the predominantly black neighborhoods in the city.
Georgetown itself doesn't want the metro to keep an "exclusive" vibe. That speaks more to the specific neighborhood's demographics and its residents' desires than D.C.'s lack of transit.
Adams Morgan is served by the Red line and the Woodly Park-Zoo metro stop. I don't really know which black neighborhoods your talking about in particular. Almost everywhere in the diamond boundaries has a metro stop close by.
Georgetown itself doesn't want the metro to keep an "exclusive" vibe. That speaks more to the specific neighborhood's demographics and its residents' desires than D.C.'s lack of transit.
Adams Morgan is served by the Red line and the Woodly Park-Zoo metro stop. I don't really know which black neighborhoods your talking about in particular. Almost everywhere in the diamond boundaries has a metro stop close by.
The Woodley Park stop is easily a half mile outside of Adams Morgan.
As for the black neighborhoods thing, there's no metro in Petworth or Trinidad or, frankly, most middle-class black neighborhoods. And then there's this:
Metro doesn't serve Georgetown, Adams Morgan or half of the predominantly black neighborhoods in the city.
It does serve Adams Morgan, and Georgetown is a short walk away. It doesn't serve all neighborhoods, of course, but couldn't we do the same exercise with any city (excepting NYC)? I don't think there's a black neighborhood in DC that's more than a mile from a subway stop.
SF's BART basically serves no one unless you're right on Market Street. Philly only serves people in basically an "X". Chicago has more lines, but misses huge swaths of the city, including most of the South Side. Boston proper has lots of neighborhoods without subway service. How is DC so different?
The Woodley Park stop is easily a half mile outside of Adams Morgan.
As for the black neighborhoods thing, there's no metro in Petworth or Trinidad or, frankly, most middle-class black neighborhoods.
Both Petworth and Trinidad have Metro stops. In fact there's a Metro stop named Petworth.
You could even play this game for NYC. Until the Second Avenue Subway opens, there's no north-south rail on the Far East Side. Far West Chelsea has no subway. Red Hook has no subway. Parts of Northern Bed Stuy have poor subway service. Midtown west of 8th/north of 42nd, has no subway. Parts of Dumbo/Vinegar Hill are a long walk to the train.
The Woodley Park stop is easily a half mile outside of Adams Morgan.
When I lived in DC I'd walk from that stop to Adams Morgan all the time. It's only 15 minutes on foot. Not terrible at all, though I guess it would get old if I had lived there.
NYC is, of course, heads and shoulders above all the rest.
The remaining are the usual suspects, and all of these transit systems have their shortcomings in one way or another:
Chicago
DC
Boston
Philly
SF
LA (hesitate somewhat to add, but they have a very useful and extremely extensive bus system, but an extremely underutilized subway system)
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