5 ms·
Isn't the fascinating thing here that "metro" has become the universal moniker for urban mass transit? Even in places that speak a language unrelated to Latin.
by whoopdedo 11y ago
Isn't the fascinating thing here that "metro" has become the universal moniker for urban mass transit? Even in places that speak a language unrelated to Latin.
Germany has the U-bahn and S-bahn, Sweden the T-bana. And of course the one that started it all, the London Underground.
- thaumasiotes 11y agoUniversal? I don't think "metro" sees use in the US for any mass-transit related purpose, and I'd be surprised to see it used for buses anywhere.
- desdiv 11y agoLos Angeles: LA Metro Washington D.C.: Washington Metro Miami: Metrorail
- thaumasiotes 11y agoFair enough. I guess I was thinking more along the lines of words rather than names. "Detroit Metro Airport" is a use of metro in relation to mass transit, too, but I suspect not what whoopdedo was talking about.
- brent_maxwell 11y agoI hear the word "Metro" used as a generic term for transit systems often. I think it reflects the variety of transportation options usually included in a "Metro" system: subway, elevated trains, street cars, buses, etc.
- Angostura 11y ago> And of course the one that started it all, the London Underground. It's never called the Metro here. The Metro is a free newspaper.
- grabcocque 11y agoIt's a weird sort of universality that excludes the oldest and biggest mass transit systems, the London Underground and the New York Subway.
- morgante 11y agoI've heard people call the New York system the metro.
- 6502nerdface 11y agoNew York's subway stations are stilled marked on the street by a big "M", and you'll occasionally hear people say "metro," but "subway" is much more common -- it is the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, though. In Chicago, which has another pretty old mass transit system, people call it the "el," even the parts that aren't elevated (i.e., the subway, though you'll hear "subway," too). Oddly, the commuter rail between Chicago and suburbs is the "Metra".
- grabcocque 11y agoDoes the New York Subway have a logo? I know the MTA does (it's kinda cool) but most New York subway street signs just have little roundels indicating the various lines through the station. http://www.nyhabitat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/etiquette-guide-new-york-times-square-subway.jpg http://www.nyhabitat.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/eti... Maybe the Subway doesn't have its own logo.
- Symbiote 11y agoThe line that started it all is the Metropolitan Line in London.
- DanBC 11y agohttps://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/culture-and-heritage/londons-transport-a-history/london-underground/a-brief-history-of-the-underground https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/culture-and-heritage/...
- grabcocque 11y agoNobody in London refers to the Underground as the "Metro". It is, of course, The Tube.
- dewiz 11y agosome people do. there is also a Metro newspaper free for all commuters
- blowski 11y agoI guess some tourists do, but in my anecdotal experience they are in the vast minority. I can't recall ever having heard someone refer to the Tube as the 'Metro' in 15 years of living in London. I think the name of the Metro newspaper may refer more to 'Metropolitan', as it is published in many different cities throughout the UK. Also, they probably would not have been allowed to publish a newspaper called 'The Tube' because of copyright.
- brent_maxwell 11y agoEven with Londoners, I commonly hear "Metro" used as the generic term for a underground mass transit system, as opposed to "subway".
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- dewiz 11y agoNot sure why downvotes, one cannot disagree? I know people calling it metro, they live in London, that's my experience and a reply to someone saying "nobody in London".
- whoopdedo 11y agoI mentioned it as an outlier. London, Glasgow, Germany, and Sweden were the ones I found that don't call it metro.
- mxfh 11y agoDon't worry the German language has lot's of Ms to throw around, so we had to start stacking them: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-1983-0315-111,_Leipzig,_Fr%C3%BChjahrsmesse,_Nordeingang.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_18...
- olalonde 11y agoIn Hong Kong, it is commonly referred to as the MTR (the company that operates it).
- colanderman 11y agoIn Boston it is also the T (properly stylized as T⃝ if you have a good Unicode renderer). It doesn't stand for anything (it's run by the MBTA, and it's not ever called anything but "the T"), though Wikipedia tells me the logo is modeled after that of Stockholm's.
- sksksk 11y agoI always thought it stood for Transit