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I’m not talking about ridership or usefulness or reliability I mean which cities Transit systems have the most association with the city. Like if you had an opening montage of establishing shots in a movie which ones would transit system first?
Nearly choked on my coffee when I read this. Right let's talk about transit but forget about ridership, coverage, system reliability, functionality, or every other factor that defines what a modern public transit should be.
Nonetheless, fun thread!
Here's my criteria for the "top 5" most iconic/picture worthy transit systems:
1. Oldest, most antiquated rolling stock (e.g. no A/C, no accessibility, cramped interiors)
2. Frequent system breakdowns (e.g. NYC or Chicago)
3. Rampant cleanliness issues around stations (e.g. rats, trash, urine smell, graffiti, etc. etc.)
4. Minimal frequency, utility (e.g. goes in a loop, does nothing to alleviate people's daily need to get from point A to B)
5. Inconsistent state/municipal funding that has led to service deteriorations over the years
Last edited by bostonkid123; 04-20-2020 at 08:17 AM..
Historical memory matters if the average person can actually remember it. Just because Budapest has the 2nd oldest subway in the world (after London, before Boston), doesn't mean the system is iconic or immediately associated with identity of Budapest. While it might be significant to locals, the majority of the world does not associate Budapest with subway innovation.
Would you just give up already? The T is absolutely not more recognizable than the DC Metro. There is literally nothing special about the T that your average person would pick up on. The DC Metro is the most visually distinct and architecturally consistent metro system in the United States and arguably the world.
San Diego's system is called "the trolley", which is a unique term not shared with any other system. But that doesn't mean it represents the city "much more than others".
Some historical association or fact doesn't make a system iconic (maybe 50-100 years ago...but today it is not really relevant). Who even knows this tidbit of information?! Like 0.01% of...Boston? 0.0001% of Americans?
At this point, the colored lines and metro map of DC Metro has far surpassed Boston's in terms of recognition.
Go to Cincinnati or Memphis and ask if someone has ridden “the Trolley” and they’d think you were talking about the Cincinnati streetcar or Memphis’s Heritage streetcars not some trolley in a far away place.
If you say ask about the L or the T or the Underground unless you’re in Pittsburgh they’ll likely know what system you’re talking about.
This is one aspect where the T exceeds the DC metro. While the DC metro has a more distinctive style and grander stations the T has more distinctive branding and Trains.
I personally think DC, Boston, Philly, Toronto (maybe even Portland) all have an argument for number 5.
Although some people seem to think New Orleans isn’t in the top 5 but I think their streetcars are very well known and compared to most heritage routes actual transit
Toronto's streetcars are reasonably iconic, as are Montreal's métro stations, many of which were designed with artistic flair that's extremely rare in this part of the world.
I disagree. Yes, we know NYC's subway has plenty of 'L' lines that come out of the ground and ride over streets in the boroughs-- I believe New York actually has more elevated rail mileage than Chicago. But given its name, and identity, people still associate New York's rapid transit as an under-the-street operation with those classic cast iron street entrances (with the red or green balls on top of the 2 columns, green = enter here; red = don't).
But when it comes to Chicago, can you name to me one movie or TV show that did not feature L trains? -- with most rumbling around the Loop... To most of America, and perhaps the world, the L is Chicago.
[never been to chicago] are yoo saying chicago has no underground tunnels (then technically, chicago doesnt have subway service) ?
Honestly never even knew New Orleans had a streetcar. Makes sense though old small and flat and open container law makes for drunk drives.
That being said I’ve never seen it in a movie set in Louisiana.
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