I’m off to Europe for a few weeks. I’ll visit a couple of cities that are a little smaller than the Greater Seattle area, but have transit systems that look like this:
I think it’ll be a good trip. I might post from there, but in the mean time, Martin, Ben, John, Eric, Brian, and Nick will keep you posted!
ture … but that is one of the benefits of having gas at like $9.40 a gallon for the past 2-3 decades.
King County has a transit system that looks like that. In fact, it looks better than that. If you would match King County’s transit system up against other county’s transit system’s in the U.S., I would bet we come out somewhere near the top. There aren’t many counties in the U.S. with a better system than ours.
It’s really sad that all these people with rail fetishes keep running down our county’s very good transit system because buses aren’t as glamorous or cosmopolitan as rail.
…or as quick, comfortable, reliable or convenient as rail.
That said, you’re right that our bus system is better than most in the US. Still, I bet more Stockholmers consider transit a first class option than Seattleites do…
It’s a bit unfair to state that King County’s transit system “looks better than that.” If you are comparing King County’s bus (and rail and forthcoming light rail) system to Stockholm’s, then the comparison should include Stockholm’s bus system.
No. Those cities have bus networks that look like ours on TOP of the rail you see in that map. Paris has 250 routes, for instance.
I don’t believe that we think rail is more glamerous, but it does boast a number of benefits and efficiencies over other methods of transit.
Yeah right! Stockholm Metro has a ridership of over 1 MILLION – for a region that has a lower population than Portland! They have 105km of subway. And those are linked trips too, unlike ours.
I was in Vienna, Austria last august and Vienna’s public transportation puts seattle’s to shame – although it is nice to see seattle / king county is making a late run and improving rapidly. What I really liked about Vienna was the CAT (City Airport Train) which went from the airport into the main city subway terminal —- and I now support the seattle light rail system that is currently being developed 100% (I had reservations about it before)
I think education and information could be better for both metro and sound transit. It was less confusing to me in Vienna (I do not speak or read German at all) on the subway and bus system than trying to figure out the public transportation system in seattle / king county and I’ve lived in the seattle area all my life (the trip to Vienna was part of my first overseas trip)
Seattle needs better maps and schedules. It’s pretty pathetic when maps and schedules in a language I do not understand (German) in a foreign city (Vienna, Austria) is less confusing than english language schedules (my native tongue) in my home city. Other than that, I applaud the upgrades to the public transportation in seattle and highly support the light rail and expansions to the light rail system in seattle and vicinity.
It would be good to have more reverse commute for tourists and shoppers as well as linked routes from tacoma to everett (or even portland to bellingham)
one of the problems of a bus system is that they are almost always more confusing than rail because bus lines tend to snake around all over the place and are at the whim of strange and circuitous traffic patterns. rail lines on the other hand can go from useful place to useful place (usually) in their own direct right-of-way.
You’ve hit the nail on the head. Rail has presence with or without the train – signage comes naturally to mark physical space. Buses don’t reserve their own physical space when not present.