Great writeup! I enjoyed reading it. As someone who moved to the Bay Area last year, I think most American systems are geared toward utterly fast and effortless

Great writeup! I enjoyed reading it. As someone who moved to the Bay Area last year, I think most American systems are geared toward utterly fast and effortless everyday use at the cost of steep initial learning curves. Which probably makes sense, I take the Caltrain everyday and almost 99% of the passengers on the express trains are everyday seasoned commuters. Airports on the contrary are geared toward first-time use rather than everyday efficiency -- which sounds sensible too. However, none of this explains the awful analog Caltrain ticket machines. Insert Clipper Card Remove Clipper Card Insert Credit Card in the same slot Remove Credit Card Insert Clipper Card again (in the same slot Please wait... Dialing Host (10 seconds) Connection succeeded (10 seconds) Authorized Remove Clipper Card