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ummh... have you ever been on any of those subways? Paris is a marvel for its density and well-planned routes. But some of the lines are more like underground

ummh... have you ever been on any of those subways? Paris is a marvel for its density and well-planned routes. But some of the lines are more like underground light rail compared to e.g. the Lexington line, which on its own carries like 1/3 of the passengers of Paris or London. The London Tube trains I've been on felt like a subway for midgets compared to the 10-foot wide BMT trains. They stop running at night. One of the only times I've missed a flight was due to a London Tube delay. The new Chinese subways really put the US to shame, quiet, double glass doors, video screens everywhere, cell phones work everywhere, very cheap, very dense and very crowded. The NY subway is pretty reliable and fast. Apps like Moovit and Citymapper make it pretty easy to get where you want as quickly as possible. Train Time coverage and wifi coverage could be better, the latter is improving. It could be nicer but all I can say is if you think the New York subway is bad now, you should have tried it in the 70s. Edit: I'd add that an Oyster-type payment system would be nice. Also, a couple of MTA alumni have led systems in London, Hong Kong, Toronto, other cities, so NY is probably not at the very bottom in best practices. Bottom line is you can get anywhere quickly and reliably at all hours, if not always in luxurious style, and you don't need a car to live here. So I'll take it, until your driverless taxi can deal with NY traffic and get there faster.

jgalt212 10y ago
> The London Tube trains I've been on felt like a subway for midgets compared to the 10-foot wide BMT trains. Indeed, taking luggage on the tube during rush hour is a truly painful experience.
- pm215 10y ago
  Taking luggage on any mass transit system during rush hour is likely to be a painful experience...
  - jgalt212 10y ago
    Yes, that's correct, but taking luggage on the Tube during off hours is just regular painful.
robotmlg 10y ago
Fun fact: The Lexington avenue line carries as many passengers in a day as the entire DC Metro
ucaetano 10y ago
Paris has well-planned routes? Not at all! Take line 12 for example, a crooked, slow line with stations sometimes a single block apart. There are no escalators or elevators except for a few stations, and the trains rattle and shake as much as NYC. Not to mention the narrow trains running on standard gauge, created like that on purpose so the federal government wouldn't take it over and run their own trains. Line 14 is the only one which would qualify as a modern transportation system.
- RockyMcNuts 10y ago
  anywhere you go in Paris, you're a few minutes walk from a métro station...NYC subway mostly goes down main transportation axes, there are pretty big deserts where you have a very long walk or take a bus to the subway, even in Manhattan but especially in outer boroughs.
lmm 10y ago
> Paris is a marvel for its density and well-planned routes. But some of the lines are more like underground light rail compared to e.g. the Lexington line, which on its own carries like 1/3 of the passengers of Paris or London. So maybe that indicates that more, smaller lines are the way to go? Passengers don't care how many passengers each line carries, they care about being able to make their journeys. > The London Tube trains I've been on felt like a subway for midgets compared to the 10-foot wide BMT trains. You get used to it. They're small but again that's not inherently a problem. (Being overcrowded is a problem - I don't know how NY or DC compare on this front) > They stop running at night. As of a few months ago there's now limited service on friday/saturday nights. But yeah, all-night running is absolutely something NY has over other subways. How much of a priority that should be is a judgement call of course - it's achieved by four-tracking the lines, so if you didn't need all-night running you could have ~twice as many lines (build the same number of tunnels, but spread them across the city better) for the same price. > One of the only times I've missed a flight was due to a London Tube delay. Anecdote != data - how do the statistics on late running compare?
- RockyMcNuts 10y ago
  Here's some data, comparison left as an exercise ... https://osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093016/14s23.pdf https://osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093016/14s23.pdf http://www.straphangers.org/statesub14/ http://www.straphangers.org/statesub14/ https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-underground-performance-reports https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-underground-perfor... Tube reliability was a bit of a crisis at one time during reorgs but seems to have improved http://urbs.london/strikes-are-a-commuting-disaster-but-what-delays-your-daily-tube-journey/2387 http://urbs.london/strikes-are-a-commuting-disaster-but-what...

jgalt212 10y ago

> The London Tube trains I've been on felt like a subway for midgets compared to the 10-foot wide BMT trains. Indeed, taking luggage on the tube during rush hour is a truly painful experience.

pm215 10y ago
Taking luggage on any mass transit system during rush hour is likely to be a painful experience...
- jgalt212 10y ago
  Yes, that's correct, but taking luggage on the Tube during off hours is just regular painful.

robotmlg 10y ago

Fun fact: The Lexington avenue line carries as many passengers in a day as the entire DC Metro

ucaetano 10y ago

Paris has well-planned routes? Not at all! Take line 12 for example, a crooked, slow line with stations sometimes a single block apart. There are no escalators or elevators except for a few stations, and the trains rattle and shake as much as NYC. Not to mention the narrow trains running on standard gauge, created like that on purpose so the federal government wouldn't take it over and run their own trains. Line 14 is the only one which would qualify as a modern transportation system.

RockyMcNuts 10y ago
anywhere you go in Paris, you're a few minutes walk from a métro station...NYC subway mostly goes down main transportation axes, there are pretty big deserts where you have a very long walk or take a bus to the subway, even in Manhattan but especially in outer boroughs.

lmm 10y ago

> Paris is a marvel for its density and well-planned routes. But some of the lines are more like underground light rail compared to e.g. the Lexington line, which on its own carries like 1/3 of the passengers of Paris or London. So maybe that indicates that more, smaller lines are the way to go? Passengers don't care how many passengers each line carries, they care about being able to make their journeys. > The London Tube trains I've been on felt like a subway for midgets compared to the 10-foot wide BMT trains. You get used to it. They're small but again that's not inherently a problem. (Being overcrowded is a problem - I don't know how NY or DC compare on this front) > They stop running at night. As of a few months ago there's now limited service on friday/saturday nights. But yeah, all-night running is absolutely something NY has over other subways. How much of a priority that should be is a judgement call of course - it's achieved by four-tracking the lines, so if you didn't need all-night running you could have ~twice as many lines (build the same number of tunnels, but spread them across the city better) for the same price. > One of the only times I've missed a flight was due to a London Tube delay. Anecdote != data - how do the statistics on late running compare?

RockyMcNuts 10y ago
Here's some data, comparison left as an exercise ... https://osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093016/14s23.pdf https://osc.state.ny.us/audits/allaudits/093016/14s23.pdf http://www.straphangers.org/statesub14/ http://www.straphangers.org/statesub14/ https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-underground-performance-reports https://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/london-underground-perfor... Tube reliability was a bit of a crisis at one time during reorgs but seems to have improved http://urbs.london/strikes-are-a-commuting-disaster-but-what-delays-your-daily-tube-journey/2387 http://urbs.london/strikes-are-a-commuting-disaster-but-what...