BESIDES NYC What city hsa the best Public Transportation system (population, ranking)
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.
Dude, the percentages of ridership in cities like Chicago, DC, Boston, Philly, and San Francisco are all much higher than Portland. Those cities are congested because they're all much larger than Portland. Obviously there's going to be congestion. If New York is #1, then why is it one of the most congested cities too? By your logic, Portland should be #1. Portland has a decent system. Very good for the size of the city. But compared to cities like Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, Philadelphia and San Francisco, it's laughable.
Just look at the maps.
We would have to compare populations, carbon footprints, tolls, parking costs, number of transit options, miles driven -vs- miles taken by public transit, and a host of other things to get any real answer.
But NYC I would keep at #1 because for example it is ranked 6th on congestion even though it is significantly (and we're talking very very significantly) larger than any of those other cities. So if D.C. is so good why is a metro half the size of NYC (11 million vs 5.3 million) 5 spots higher on the congestion list?
And you're right we are talking about "What city has the best public transportation?" NOT "What city has the most public transit riders?"
You all are answering the second question not the first which is what the title of this thread is.
Portland was designed with Public Transit in mind, they have the most modern and up-to-date transit, they have stayed ahead of the curve while every other metro tries to keep up or catch up.
Based upon total bus and rail ridership, I would say Chicago easily has the 2nd best public transportation system in the US.
Do you know about the percentages of population? It's hard to figure things out from raw numbers alone, and I don't know what the catchment area is for these numbers, so it's hard to figure out a population base. L.A. looks pretty good by these raw numbers for bus ridership, and in fact, even looks pretty good on rail ridership. But I don't think many would argue L.A. is in the same tier as some of these other cities we're discussing. Thanks by the way, for pulling out all the data you've come up with -- very interesting.
Portland was designed with Public Transit in mind, they have the most modern and up-to-date transit, they have stayed ahead of the curve while every other metro tries to keep up or catch up.
Now its official, Portland, the most over hyped city in the U.S.
you can walk up to a car with your bus pass, scan the card on the windshield and reserve it on an iphone.
i.e. if you come into downtown, do some unexpected shopping, just walkover to a parked igo car and go home in that.
you can also track the buses live on gps as they come down the street, so if it is snowing and u don't want to come out of your house yet, just wait a few more minutes, then walk outside, bus will be there.
or secure indoor bike parking right downtown
or the underground pedway
but yes yes, portland, much more modern than anything in the u.s.
Now its official, Portland, the most over hyped city in the U.S.
All you're doing is basing your answer on number of riders. In what way does that answer the question? Do you really believe that most riders = best public transportation?
So let me ask you this, if this were international what would the best public transportation city be?
And this is for anyone who's posted in this thread to answer.
Honestly, in my initial post, I did not take in account of Chicago's commuter line. It is far more extensive than MARC or VRE for DC and it shows in the ridership numbers. I think this along with the bus numbers puts Chicago squarely in the number 2 position. However DC still has the better inner city rail coverage between the two.
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.
