MAR 22, 2021

10 Cities With The Best Public Transportation and What Transit Planners Can Learn From Them

REMIX

Living in Arizonia, a place with extremely poor public transportation, we could learn a lot from these model cities.

10. Portland, Oregon

Because Portland, Oregon, residents care a lot about the environment, it’s no surprise that they have a pretty great city transportation infrastructure. They have a bus and rail system (known as TriMet), and residents and visitors alike can easily get around the city for cheap fare.

There is a light rail line that runs to the airport, and both buses and trains run around every 15 minutes each day. The city also has a Hop Fastpass app which makes it easy to manage fares and pay for rides from a smartphone. All transit stations in Portland are ADA accessible, another big plus.

9. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Commuters in Pittsburgh can take advantage of both bus rides and an underground light rail, which is known as the T. A one-way ride on a bus or train is $2.50 if riders have a ConnectCard, or if they pay cash it’s $2.75.

All of Pittsburgh’s buses and light rail vehicles are accessible with ramps or lifts. There are 53 T stations, and the T runs from 5 a.m. until midnight each day. When waiting for the bus, users can get alerts via text with TrueTime-to-Text to find out when a bus is coming‌.

8. Denver, Colorad‌o

Denver has a great system set up for public transit, with 68.4% of residents approving of the infrastructure. All stations are ADA accessible, and the city has both bus and rail options for riders, with over 125 bus routes. These systems connect easily to the airport and sports stadiums.

Rail rides can range from $2.60 to $9.00 depending on the length of the ride, and day passes cost $5.20 for bus or rail for local service. This system is fairly straightforward and helps people get across the vast city each day with minimal effort.

7. Madison, Wisconsi‌n

The smaller city of Madison, Wisconsin, is home to the University of Wisconsin and is a great place for families to settle down. Their Metro transportation system is an example of a bus-only transportation strategy that functions well for residents, visitors, and university students.

The city’s transportation team is redesigning the bus system, which supports about 12.9 million riders. The government is asking for community feedback to help improve the system as the city comes out of the pandemic. This kind of collaboration through community support and feedback is a great way to ensure that riders’ needs are being met.‌

6. Chicago, Illinois

Chicago is the nation’s third-largest city and has one of the best transit structures out there — the CTA. This system includes many different bus routes and train lines that connect all over the city, and 90.7% of residents approve of the transportation system. Chicago also has a robust Metra system of railways to connect to the many different suburbs so commuters can get into town without having to sit in heavy car traffic.

Ridership was down in 2020 because of the pandemic, but these systems normally support nearly 500 million people each year. The train system, known as the El because it is mostly on elevated tracks, has eight different routes designated by color with 145 train stations, many of which are ADA accessible. Getting around the windy city — including from both big airports, to downtown, and to the suburbs — is a breeze with the CTA. One-way trips cost $2.50 for the train and $2.25 for the bus.

5. Washington, D.C.

The nation’s capital has a successful transit system that makes it easy to get around the main city center as well as commute from the suburbs and nearby regions. The city’s subway system is called the Metro, and there are also connecting MARC trains for Maryland riders and the VRE for those coming in from Virginia.

The subway usually takes on nearly 200 million trips each year; it is the second-largest system in the U.S. based on ridership. The bus system also takes on around 130 million trips every year. There are 91 Metro stations, so people can hop on from many different neighborhoods throughout the area.

4. New York, New York‌

Of course, we can’t talk about public transportation in America without mentioning New York City’s Metro, the nation’s largest system. On an average weekday, the subway supports 5.5 million riders with almost 1.7 billion riders each year. There are 472 subway stations with Times Square being the busiest.

The city also has a successful bus system with 2.2 million riders on average per weekday. Over 77% of residents approve of the system, and over half of residents take public transit to commute, a higher percentage than any other U.S. city. New York also has a ferry system for commuters on top of its commuter trains, subways, and buses.

Supporting the largest city in the country, the Metro is a great example of how to coordinate so many moving parts for a successful transportation system.

3. San Francisco, California

Travelers to San Francisco love the city’s historic cable cars, but the city also has a bus system, a light rail system known as the BART, and the Muni, which is a municipal railway. The city uses a lot of electric power for its public transportation, making it more energy-efficient and economical than other cities.

There are about 220 million riders each day in San Francisco. Because traffic can be very congested, taking transit helps cut down the average commute time.

2. Boston, Massachusetts

The Boston metro system includes a subway (known as the T), an extensive bus system, and a trolley car service. Over 30% of Boston residents use public transit to get to work. The T connects to the airport, Harvard, and other key locations throughout the area.

Boston has the fifth-largest mass transit system in the U.S. and serves over 4 million people across the region. Another plus of Boston’s system is that 20% of the electricity is bought from certified renewable energy sources.

1. Seattle, Washington

Seattle can be a role model for many cities on successful transportation infrastructure. Even though Seattle isn’t the largest city by any means, its transportation system is robust and features rail, buses, streetcars, and water taxis.

A study from WalletHub found that Seattle’s ridership numbers continue to grow as the city expands its service. The company ranked Seattle number one when comparing transit systems across 100 cities in the U.S. based on accessibility, convenience, safety, reliability, and available resources. All of the city’s transit stations are ADA accessible‌.

Because Seattle is now the sixth most congested U.S. city, transit helps residents significantly decrease average commute times and provides a fast and easy way for visitors to get around.

What Transit Planners Can Learn

These 10 cities can show city planners a lot about what works in public transportation systems. Here is a walk-through of some of the most crucial components:‌

• Accessibility: Most of these systems have most if not all of their stations and vehicles accessible according to ADA standards. This is a must when planning so that services are available to all residents.
• Convenience: Transit stops should be located in areas that people frequent often, with access to places like universities, airports, downtown areas, and others. Keep in mind why visitors come to the city and which are the top attractions, and ensure these locations are easily accessible by bus or train.
• Affordability: One of the biggest benefits of using public transport is the ability to save money on gas and commuting. This is why fares should be reasonable and affordable for the masses. This requires a study of the average income of a city and surrounding areas, in addition to research about what other cities charge.
• Frequency: Riders need to be able to depend on consistent, reliable service. Otherwise, they’ll resort to finding other ways to get around. According to one survey of 3,000 people, frequency was one of the most important factors when considering satisfaction with transit. Make sure that service is increased during rush hour and other busy periods and that delays are rare and well-communicated to riders.
• Options: Almost all of the top 10 cities with best public transportation included a mix of options, including subways, rails, and buses. This gives riders more choices and opportunities to catch a ride no matter where they are in the city.
• Visitor-friendly: Public transit systems should be easy for visitors to use and understand. This requires posting maps in many different locations and including all applicable details on the city’s website, including timetables and fare information.
• Technology: Today’s riders love using their phones to pay for service or upload funds. Consider creating an app so that people can track buses and trains and even pay for each ride with their smartphones.

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A month ago, my car developed some problems and the dreaded engine light went on. Since I had moved to a new neighborhood, my old mechanic was now, further away. Being enterprising, I thought, ‘Let’s try someone new. Those prices are too high anyway!’ I got on Yelp and found a local shop with good reviews. I set an appointment and took it in. After discussion, it was agreed the mechanic would work on the fuel line. A day later I had 4 new spark plugs, rotated coils and a flushed fuel line. I picked up the car. It worked great. For five days. Then the light went on again. Called back to the shop. Had to bring it back in. What now? Well, could be the ignition coils. How much? $200 per coil. Wow!

So, since I had just paid a small fortune to move into my one-bed apartment ($1,600), I was strapped for cash. I had paid $421 for the first repair job and didn’t have the addition $400 for a second repair. Me: “Can I drive this car?” “Oh, no, Ma’am, don’t drive it with the engine light on.” Got it. Can’t drive the car and can’t afford to fix it. Will have to wait for my next payday.

So, for the rest of the month I have a) walked b) ridden the bus and c) taken Lyft here and there. The cost of gas in this area has now risen to $4.25 per gallon. Lyft sends me a message after each ride to tell me the cost (linked to my checking account) and that includes the miles. My father, who was big into math, used to always talk about algorithms. I wish I had paid closer attention.

The Lyft program follows a algorithm (Uber too) and it calculates the prices of the ride based on a) distance b) time to get there and c) the time of day. Therefore, the ride prices can vary wildly and seem to be particularly high in the evenings going to movie and entertainment events. My rides have swung from a very reasonalbe $1.94 per mile ride (DMV) to a whopping $5.73 per mile coming home from the theater. All in all, in one month, I have paid well over $200 for Lyft rides and usually, I am going less that 10 miles in one direction.

Back to the mechanic. Live and learn. After chaatting up a number of Lyft drivers, I found out (!!!!) that by going to O”Reilly Parts or Autoworld, I could get a free diagnosis on the meaning of the engine light. I drove the mechanical beast to the parts shop. In less than 10 minutes, the man had pulled out a little handheld device, attached to the panel on my dash and diagnosed ‘failure of coil #1’. Viola! Job done. In thinking back to my encounter with the shop, I remembered the words ‘diagnosis’ were never mentioned. We were just pulling out parts and sticking in parts and seeing what worked. Sigh.

So, today I am back to the old shop. The mechanic told me up front that ‘diagnosis’ was $200. Before I start screaming, I guess I need to review the last month and see what the whole mess has already cost me.

The last little bit, and this will be a blog for another day, I was able to experience first hand how very less than perfect our city’s bus system in. However, also, before I start bashing them too much, I was able to hear (overhear) a conversation between a driver and a passenger. Apparently, no less than four female bus drivers had been sexually assualted by passengers in the recent days. It is a sign of our times and one that needs to be addressed. cew