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I have yet to go to Seattle yet, and could not tell you what the monorail looks like. The Miami elevated metro is about as known or iconic as some of these others being mentioned. Before I rode Metro in LA years ago I wouldn't have been able to definitively identify it either, and this is with all the movies being depicted in LA.
The only 3 systems that by one shot the average person could stare down a station or at a shot of their rail and mostly identify it would be the NYC subway, the El, and Metro in DC. The front of trains are often the biggest identifiers of them. DC metro has a very distinct front to it when facing the train. The only system who's trains come remotely close from that angle are MARTA trains, but they are still different.
The SF cable cars are completely identifiable as well.
And ferries we're adding to the list?
It reminds me of the monorail at Disneyland. It's only .09 of a mile in length, and only goes from a mall downtown, to the Space needle.
Ferries IMO should only be included if they are part of the transit system.
I love the Seattle Monorail and live an easy walk from the north end. It's known to Seattle tourists. But I don't consider it even remotely on the level of the others. It's a tourist thing mostly...though getting significant investment so it'll act more like real transit, supported by our incoming NHL team. Natnasci, you added an extra zero.
Our ferries are probably more well-known...maybe not iconic on the SIF level, but we have several route pairs with similar visuals, some urban and some between smaller places. For Downtown the dynamic is similar to NYC, if smaller, with I believe 5,000 pedestrians walking off every rush hour.
I have yet to go to Seattle yet, and could not tell you what the monorail looks like. The Miami elevated metro is about as known or iconic as some of these others being mentioned. Before I rode Metro in LA years ago I wouldn't have been able to definitively identify it either, and this is with all the movies being depicted in LA.
The only 3 systems that by one shot the average person could stare down a station or at a shot of their rail and mostly identify it would be the NYC subway, the El, and Metro in DC. The front of trains are often the biggest identifiers of them. DC metro has a very distinct front to it when facing the train. The only system who's trains come remotely close from that angle are MARTA trains, but they are still different.
The SF cable cars are completely identifiable as well.
And ferries we're adding to the list?
The Seattle monorail has been iconic for decades. Maybe I'm older and it's generational or maybe there are other reasons that you're not familiar.
Of course average people in NYC, Chicago, and DC could identify "their" rail, but that's not an indication of them being iconic as much as it is familiar. Iconic to me is when people in other cities can identify them and DC trails in that regard.
I agree with you and don't think that the average person is even aware of the miami metro, much less it being iconic and certainly not more iconic than my list (obviously imo). LA is similar in that quite a few people that live here don't know that we have a subway. I'd guess more than half.
Edit to add that I included the Staten Island ferry because its transit and imo it's iconic in that it is easily identifiable as NYC.
n.y.c., chicago (most would just assume n.y.c.).
maybe boston, d.c. (again, most would just assume n.y.c.).
i dont think others are known at all (most would just assume n.y.c.).
n.y.c., chicago (most would just assume n.y.c.).
maybe boston, d.c. (again, most would just assume n.y.c.).
i dont think others are known at all (most would just assume n.y.c.).
I don't know.. I think elevated trains are more synonymous with Chicago since the elevated parts of the MTA are in the outerboroughs.
I'd rate the most iconic transit systems in this order:
1) NYC subway
2) San Francisco cable cars
3) Disney monorail system
4) Chicago L
5) Amtrak
I feel like even a person who never left their house could instantly recognize those transit systems, because they are prominent in TV, movies, and culture.
The DC Metro is iconic, but really only for people who have used it. The system hardly ever makes an appearance in movies or popular culture about DC. Same with Philadelphia and Boston. When movies and TV shows take place in NYC, SF, or Chicago, you will almost always see the subway, cable cars, and L. That's not the case with other cities, like Boston and Philadelphia. Rocky didn't take the train.
Location: That star on your map in the middle of the East Coast, DMV
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Originally Posted by 2Easy
The Seattle monorail has been iconic for decades. Maybe I'm older and it's generational or maybe there are other reasons that you're not familiar.
Of course average people in NYC, Chicago, and DC could identify "their" rail, but that's not an indication of them being iconic as much as it is familiar. Iconic to me is when people in other cities can identify them and DC trails in that regard.
I agree with you and don't think that the average person is even aware of the miami metro, much less it being iconic and certainly not more iconic than my list (obviously imo). LA is similar in that quite a few people that live here don't know that we have a subway. I'd guess more than half.
Edit to add that I included the Staten Island ferry because its transit and imo it's iconic in that it is easily identifiable as NYC.
When I think of "monorail" or elevated newer trains, Vancouver comes to mind before Seattle. Orlando's monorail is pretty much world renown. The elevated trains in Miami are depicted in movies. SF cable cars and the El in Chicago are obvious for above ground iconic systems. For underground subway trains or stations at least in the US I don't see any places having more iconic ones than DC and NYC. Either by depiction on TV or just common knowledge. Others may be known, but not as iconic. The BART is pretty recognizable at least it's rail cars are, but again the underground subway stations themselves I doubt the average person would differentiate from say LA. This isn't the case with the vaulted waffle ceilings of DC's metro. It's unmistakable.
Staten Island Ferry would maybe the most iconic form of transit that is not rail, but I wouldn't place it in the top 5 on the continent.
Not at all. I've been to Boston multiple times and I didn't notice at all. But I'm well-traveled, so maybe that doesn't stand out to me personally.
Boston's system is not distinctive at all to me.
I don’t get how DC looks so different though.
Like DC looks like a 2nd generation system. If you’re really familiar with it maybe you can tell the different but I don’t get how it’s clearly more distinctive than Boston’s. Like a slightly different front window is now something Joe on the street would see.
Like it’s nowhere near the Chicago L.
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