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In the 90s, maybe LA city buses since Speed was such a fantastically ridiculous movie. If not, then maybe the Boston T? It'd be nice if people knew the Pittsburgh funiculars. It's fun to say funicular and the Duquesne Incline has quite a view.
I agree with your list. Those four are it for me. New Orleans may even be a stretch, if you aren't familiar with the movie "A streetcar named desire". San Francisco's streetcars may be more iconic at this point although the fact that they don't use a consistent livery probably makes that not true.
Yeah, that was my point. Below is what you wrote that I responded to. My point was that why would anyone know what a system looked like that they had never seen or been on? It's not an issue specific to "someone in LA". And I think that many that see the DC metro on tv and in movies are actually looking at LA or Toronto many times. They stand in a lot for DC.
I guess, but that's like saying an underground station on the Chicago El could sub in for an NYC subway scene. I guess, sure, any system could be misrepresented using transit from another city, but that doesn't make a system less iconic to me. Just because parts of the Chicago El can be made to look like the NYC subway, the NYC subway is still iconic. Just because the station platform in Baltimore can be used for a DC Metro scene (granted, I would argue they usually put in DC's vaulted ceiling precisely because it then makes it believable) doesn't mean the DC Metro is not iconic.
I think it depends on where the Chicago El is seen. No other city has the El snaking through the CBD like Chicago does. If people saw Chicago's underground stations, they probably couldn't distinguish it between most other places.
Sure, and similarly for DC. If you saw an aboveground station in DC, you might think it could be Atlanta or BART or Miami. But if you saw one of the urban core stations with the architecture, you would know instantly that it's DC.
In all cases, it depends. Different systems have different elements that make them iconic. In NYC it's probably the trains and the numbers/letter on the front. In DC it's the stations. In Chicago it's the elevated Downtown Loop.
I think I replied to that post last year, but of all the transit systems in NA Boston and NYC's cars probably look the least similar. NYC's are aggressively silver/gray (example) while Boston's are almost annoyingly colorful (example).
That's an iconic logo for sure, but I thought the subject had more to do with the vehicles and the physical plant.
Boston's color-coded rail cars are also unique, however (although Philadelphia also uses color cues on its rapid-transit cars, they aren't as noticeable as those in Boston). But the reason they're unique is the same reason Philadelphia can do this: the equipment isn't interoperable, that is, it can't be used on any other route than the one it was made for.
(I was ready to dust off my old cudgels when someone referred to the Washington Metro's squashed-barrel-vault underground stations as "most unique" — "unique" means "there's only one of these," and thus it doesn't admit to relative or comparative adjectives ("truly" is the only really acceptable modifying adjective) — but I realize I lost that battle eons ago. However, not all of the underground Metro stations are deep-tunneled. Most of the tunnels and stations in downtown DC, including the two interchange stations (Metro Center and Gallery Place), are cut-and-cover.
Outside of NY and Chicago, not much. the SF cable cars are iconic. That's about it.
Chicago is known for its L-train, though history and Hollywood have muddied the water a bit on whether NYC has elevated trains as well (Spidey 2 perhaps the most memorable recent-ish example). I think nationally, cable cars and NYC subways are still tops for near universal recognition. Chicago would be an “almost” next tier. At least to me.
Chicago is known for its L-train, though history and Hollywood have muddied the water a bit on whether NYC has elevated trains as well (Spidey 2 perhaps the most memorable recent-ish example). I think nationally, cable cars and NYC subways are still tops for near universal recognition. Chicago would be an “almost” next tier. At least to me.
I have totally seen Ls in say Brooklyn and initially thought the s show was in Chicago until they proved otherwise.
Most Chicago Media has the L very prominently featured. Shameless, Chicago PD, Ferris Bueller, Blues Brothers etc.
The Center City is named after a feature of its Transit system.
here is a tour of Vancouver's Fully automated Skytrain network which is one of the most advanced systems on the continent, also many great views of Vancouver's multiple skylines
Interesting video.
His routes are a bit odd, but it was done for coverage rather than commuting.
Another iconic-ish piece of Vancouver transit is of course the specially built 400 passenger seabuses.
I have totally seen Ls in say Brooklyn and initially thought the s show was in Chicago until they proved otherwise.
Most Chicago Media has the L very prominently featured. Shameless, Chicago PD, Ferris Bueller, Blues Brothers etc.
The Center City is named after a feature of its Transit system.
Chicago is firmly in the first tier.
There’s never any confusion where about where cable cars are, and NYC may have a copyright on the public’s mind regarding subways. I don’t think Chicago and the L-trains are quite there, but I do think they are clearly at 3 though, so tiering is perhaps just semantics. The only other mode of transit I think that is within shouting distance is Disney’s monorail. Otherwise Americans just don’t know/don’t care.
Agreed: SF cable cars, NYC subway, and Chicago L are the most "iconic," by a wide margin.
Another, less famous but distinctive, and perhaps not mentioned yet in the thread,
are Seattle's big green-and-white ferry boats.
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