11 ms·
Subways of the world, to scale
- limmeau 16y agoIncluding the S-Bahn of Berlin but not the RER of Paris or the S-Bahn of Munich looks like an arbitrary decision. Yes, I know the shapes of the pantographs differ, but that's not relevant to me at that scale.
- 2arrs2ells 16y agoAgreed that the decision about what above-ground rail to include seems very arbitrary. The Tokyo map seems to only include the "subway" lines, for example, while the JR rail lines serve the same function + even share stations within the city limits.
- dalore 16y ago55% of the London Underground is above ground: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground
- pmjordan 16y agoYep, the Vienna map only includes the U-Bahn, not the S-Bahn, even though some of the tracks of both U-Bahn and S-Bahn were built for the "Stadtbahn". (e.g. U4, U6, S45) But then the U2 used to be a tram line, so it's difficult to draw the line.
- Vivtek 16y agoSame for Budapest - Metro only, but not the HÉV, which is the equivalent of Berlin's S-Bahn, more or less (suburban light rail), some of whose lines run entirely within the boundaries of the city proper.
- Empact 16y agoAs for the effects of these differences in layouts, here's an interesting analysis of SF Bart vs. DC Metro, which finds the DC network-style system far more effective - 2.5x the ridership for the same track length (http://www.ctchouston.org/intermodality/2006/05/06/tale-of-two-subways/ http://www.ctchouston.org/intermodality/2006/05/06/tale-of-t...) I'm not sure what institutional reason leads Bart to continue expanding outward, rather than running new tunnels in SF proper, but it doesn't seem to be cost-effectiveness driving them to do it. Interestingly, Seattle made a special institutional provision to ensure this doesn't occur there - they have a system of "sub-area equity", whereby the tax revenues for each of several regions must be spent within that region. So, for example, political power in the suburbs or a desire to expand the agency's tax base doesn't drive them to unfairly allocate transit where it's relatively unneeded, and they can get their second central tunnel whenever the tax revenues for the core call for it.
- gojomo 16y agoDon't trust a Houstonian to interpret SF transit! MUNI light rail, subways, and buses handle most shorter trips within SF -- so Metrorail is more comparable to a mix of MUNI plus BART. (It's possible for visitors to the bay area, or even residents of outlying suburbs, to almost completely overlook MUNI trains. I know when I lived in Berkeley, and took BART into SF, I had no appreciation of all the places MUNI went, even though the downtown MUNI stations are stacked above the BART tubes so you see them while riding the escalator up.) BART was always a longer-trip system, by design.
- Empact 16y agoAlright, so if I'm evaluating the benefits of adding an additional 20 miles of track length to the system, should I added at the low-density edges or the high-density core? How would you evaluate the benefits of the two options? He's said that the core option would get several times more ridership. And I'm sorry you bring up his city of residence. As a Texas-born New Yorker, I'm particularly sensitive to this fallacious ad hominem. Or should I discounting your arguments because you're presumably Californian and your government isn't particularly high-functioning?
- naz 16y agoThe Vancouver Translink map is missing the new Canada Line.
- yread 16y ago[2004] Some are seriously dated. For example Valencia http://www.metrovalencia.es/planos.php?page=103 http://www.metrovalencia.es/planos.php?page=103
- igravious 16y agoIf we're sticking with Spain, then Madrid seems also to be outdated http://www.metromadrid.es/export/sites/metro/comun/documentos/planos/MetroMadriding.pdf http://www.metromadrid.es/export/sites/metro/comun/documento... and so does Barcelona http://www.tmb.net/es_ES/barcelona/moute/planols/planoxarxametro.jsp http://www.tmb.net/es_ES/barcelona/moute/planols/planoxarxam...
- pmjordan 16y agoOddly enough, the Vienna map seems to include the new part of the U2 line to the football stadium, which was opened shortly before the Euro 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_U-Bahn#3rd_expansion_phase_.282001.E2.80.932010.29:_The_first_extensions_of_U1_and_U2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vienna_U-Bahn#3rd_expansion_pha...
- run4yourlives 16y agoAnd Vancouver's.
- yourmomcalled 16y agoThey forgot Glasgow. I'll add it here: o ;)
- zalew 16y agoI'll add Warsaw: ____________
- kenver 16y agoIt's in good company, there's no Prague metro there either :(
- jodrellblank 16y agoPyongYang has one: {censored} (I didn't realize any UK cities other than London have one)
- philwelch 16y ago(map of Pyongyang subway) http://debrisson.free.fr/images/dprk/metro22.jpg http://debrisson.free.fr/images/dprk/metro22.jpg
- cmelbye 16y agoThey forgot Minneapolis as well :( I'll draw it: _____________
- Vivtek 16y agoOh, hey, Indianapolis is also missing:
- fhe 16y agoa design issue: as I scrolled down the page, at half way I was confused if the city name was associated with the map on top of it or below it. of course I could have scrolled back to find out which was which, but it seemed a poor design if I had to do that.
- CWIZO 16y agoInteresting, I always thought London had the biggest underground network. As far as I know Glasgow is missing. Which city, do you think, has the best one? I've only been on the underground in London, Glasgow and Munich. And to me, London seems the best, you really don't need a car there (well at least in the centre).
- buster 16y agoActually, i was quite unimpressed by the London metro last time i visited. London is quite famous for its underground but due to it's age it seems to be extremely overcrowded. My experience on a weekend trip has been that the train did only stop every two stations because of so many people and it was just overcrowded. On the other hand this made me realize how good the Berlin system actually is.
- tome 16y agoLondon Underground trains always stop at every stop[1]. [1] actually not always, but with very rare exception. {EDIT: I'm getting downvoted so I think I misunderstood what you were saying. On rereading again I now think you were saying "unusually due to overcrowding the trains were missing out every other station". Previously, I thought you meant "unusually due to overcrowding the trains stopped as frequently as every other station [whereas usually they visit fewer stations than that]". I was trying to point out that stopping often is usual Underground behavior, thinking that you were assuming it wasn't. }
- buster 16y agoWell, out of two days i've visited London i had the pleasure to walk one station (and because of the elevator being overrun by people, i took the stairs.. the thing i've learned was that the London underground can be quite deep in the ground, it felt like kilometers :P ).
- omh 16y agoTaking the stairs is a mistake you only make once :) There's a very strongly worded sign at Covent Garden station, telling people that it really is faster to wait for a lift. But I often see tourists making their way up the stairs.
- sqrt17 16y agoIt's not quite obvious what the point here is. Many of the cities listed (at least Amsterdam, Munich and Paris) have lightrail lines which can be used seamlessly from the subway. In the case of Amsterdam, the lightrail lines are what you'd actually use to move within the city. On the larger scale, you get Paris' RER lines or Hamburg's S-Bahn and, for most European cities also a comprehensive train network that makes it possible to commute from larger cities that are as far away as 100km (e.g., from Maastricht, Den Haag or other Dutch cities to Amsterdam) - probably also for the (relatively large) Cologne/Düsseldorf area, which comprises as many people as Berlin, but has many local governments instead of one. Not sure how to visualize this, though. (Ideally, you'd provide maps based on (i) actual scale, (ii) commute time, and (iii) commute cost.
- davidu 16y agoThe most bizarre thing is that they don't all appear to be normalized to point North at the top.
- mitjak 16y agoI'm surprised the pathetic Toronto TTC subway made its way to the list. For a city of its size it could really enjoy a more intricate subway system. There are buses and trams here indeed but they get stuck the traffic just like every other vehicle during the rush hour.
- truebosko 16y agoToronto has a few additional forms of transport and many people do not even use the Subway on a daily basis thanks to those. - Streetcars run all along downtown. Yup, they get stuck in traffic too but we have two streetcars running on dedicated lines now (St. Clair and Spadina), and they are pretty efficient. - GO Trains connect the suburbs to the downtown core, and they are basically how anyone living outside of downtown Toronto get into the city if they are not using a car. - Subways here run ever 5 minutes, unless there is a delay (Surprisingly rare), so the system is pretty efficient. Despite all of this. I agree, the system is pretty weak, but after moving here my car's been sitting idle on my drive-way on a daily basis. I can easily get anywhere in the city, using my car only to leave the city. They are doing a lot to increase the subway line, but are also adding a lot more dedicated light rail lines.
- afterburner 16y agoI do really wish it had more actual subway lines (and not dedicated streetcar lanes, etc.). But the Canadian municipal governments are neither powerful nor rich, unlike many of the other large cities listed, despite being a quite prosperous and growing city. A lot depends on the provincial government. Also, it is incredibly lame that there is not a subway to the airport. However, the maximum 5 min waiting time for a subway (and 2-3 min during rush hour) is very nice, and a huge contrast with, say, the Paris subway, where I think I waited 15 minutes for a subway once late at night. But really, with so few lines, you need that frequency for a 5 million person metropolitan area.
- run4yourlives 16y agoWe get health care instead of transit. That is in no means an opinion of what is better, just simply a statement as to how underfunded our transit systems are and how much we spend on health care overall, from a federal and provincial point of view.
- georgecmu 16y agoWell, technically, not all of these are strictly subways: there's plenty of above-ground lines represented here. Still, it's very interesting to see these to scale. I did not realize Parisian subway system was so compact.
- jleader 16y agoHow come there's a "thank you" for a Los Angeles map, but I don't see it on the site?