Post: #1

I was wondering what other members thought were cities with the best public transportation ie you dont need to own or use a car to get around. Some people want to live near the beach, others want to live in the country, I want to live in a city where I dont have to get around by car. Call me weird, Its a huge motivator for me. I see movies set in Europe and I get insanely jealous. I live in texas and every city is a logistical nightmare. You will do a minimum 20 minutes of driving every day. Public transportation? Sit on a bus or subway and just read on the way to work? forget about it.

Im not talking about those "Top 20 cities with best public transportation" lists we all know those lists are bullshit and Austin made one of those lists due to their metro rail which no one rides and your dating/social life will suffer dramatically if you live in ANY Texas town without a car.

While I have never stayed longer than a few days in these places, these are the first cities that come to mind when i think of public transportation:

NY-subways, taxis
San francisco- small town grid system- huge trolley network
Chicago- ? Ive heard its good but no idea
Many european cities - im extremely jealous

I was only in Chicago for 2 days and mostly in the suburbs but Ive heard if you live and work in DT chicago you dont need a car, public transportation is adequate and not having a car wont even hurt your dating life. It could be bullshit; when I stayed I saw a sprawling city with cars everywhere.

Post: #2

bangkok - skytrain, subway, cheap taxis

Post: #3

Singapore - Small country with a subway/skytrain that goes everywhere, excellent buses, relatively cheaper taxis - around 17 SGD or less from Airport to city center if I remember correctly

Tokyo - Extensive subway with loads of lines, though a little confusing and takes a while to get used to for a foreigner, as lots of stuff are in japanese. Getting on the same trains at the same stations can take you different places according to the time. Wildly expensive taxis.

In Bangkok the skytrain/subway's got you covered if like most expats you only move around in the Sukhumvit/Silom areas. Taxis are plentiful, available all night and dirt cheap for Westerners (though still considered expensive for locals), if you want to go further. Make sure they turn on the meter. Public buses are lousy and the drivers drive as if they are high, but hey it's only $0.30 - $0.70. Horrendous traffic though.

Post: #4

Zurich is said to have an incredible public transportation system made to discourage driving and encourage using it and walking. Huge swaths of the inner city off-limit to cars, and in other areas tram drivers can override red lights with a click (edit: source http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/27/scienc....html?hp). I would generally instantly disqualify any English-speaking country's transport system, because USA, Canada and Australia all depend on driving a lot and cities are built with that in mind, so it's not possible to cover everything with quality public transport like it's done in Europe.

The best I've seen personally was Singapore too.

p.s. did you guys know that there is a transport system called "SLUT" (South Lake Union Trolley), with campaigns like "Ride the SLUT"?

Post: #5

Hong Kong - great subway, boats, trams, affordable cabs

Post: #6

I can confirm you don't need a car in any of the urban Chicago neighborhoods or downtown.

Daily commute = trains and buses
Going out = cabs
Buying groceries = zip car

Suburbs are... suburbs, so yeah you'd need a car then.

Post: #7

Pretty much any non american city.
Hamburg..Berlin
Oslo
Budapest
Prage.
London.
just about every modern europe has great public transportation

Post: #8

Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok are all good.

Post: #9

london and tokyo are the two best I have ever been in, in terms of waiting. Train ever 2-3 minutes

Post: #10

Best cities for public transit I've been to:

NYC
Sao Paulo
Rio

Worst:

Las Vegas
Orange County
Basically the whole West Coast minus San Fran.


Miami isn't great but much better than Vegas or most of Cali

Post: #11

This is one of the few marks that DC probably takes the cake in. Metro goes just about everywhere you need to go (sans maybe Georgetown) and is very clean and efficient. People like to complain about everything but honestly DC metro is pretty top notch for what it is.

Post: #12

Japan -Tokyo hands down, You can go anywhere with in a few prefectures (states) without having to use a car, you can travel from big city to big city by train too. It doesn't even take much to learn the train system, and there's a site called http://www.hyperdia.com that will give you train directions to where you want to go.

Post: #13

Most of the above.

Santiago de Chile.
Despite some complaints about TransSantiago, it works very well and can bring you to any part of the city. The buses may get in some traffic during rush hours (like in all major cities), but the metro is clean and efficient and more than makes up for this.

Post: #14

Mexico City (cheap, efficient transit)
HK (efficient, fast transit all over, very practical)
Tokyo (fun, enormous but adds up quickly, HARD to navigate)
Osaka (my preference, nicer weather, GREAT food, a little easier to navigate)
I liked the subway in Moscow, but it smelled like cabbage and sweat. Dont know about surface
LA (LOL)

Post: #15

Paris within the periphique, never more than 500m from a metro station.

Post: #16

I'm going to add Medellin to my list. Very easy and very clean. Not to mention cabs are dirt cheap.

Post: #17

Barcelona.

The Metro is set up great.

At any given time, you are only about 4 blocks max to a Metro stop.