Subways of the world, to scale

by cubix • 16 years ago

98 59 16 years ago

limmeau• 16 years ago

Including 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• 16 years ago

Agreed 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• 16 years ago

55% of the London Underground is above ground: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Underground

pmjordan2• 16 years ago

Yep, 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.

Vivtek2• 16 years ago

Same 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.

Empact3• 16 years ago

As 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-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.

gojomo3• 16 years ago

Don'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.

Empact3• 16 years ago

Alright, 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?

drewda• 16 years ago

Two bits of BART history:

- My understanding is that BART was originally intended to go around the entire bay, but budget squabbles among the counties led Santa Clara (San Jose), San Mateo (the Peninsula), and Marina to drop out (c.f. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Bay_Area_Rapid_T...).

- The D.C. Metro is actually based on BART and uses the same trains, ticketing system, and fare structure originally designed for BART.

jeffreyg• 16 years ago

He said he's lived in both SF and DC, if you had bothered to read past the first sentence you'd know this..

diN0bot• 16 years ago

i love it when a metro system goes the distance. what with bikes, buses and feet, getting around a city isn't a big deal. however, getting a 1 or 2 hr drive away from the city is a huge deal. having a cheap and convenient way to get to those beaches, state parks, non-neighboring towns, etc, is so amazingly awesome---worth it.

Empact3• 16 years ago

Let's put it another way: when is that love not worth it? Is it worth $50 a trip? $100? $500? At what point do low ridership numbers to far-away places cease justifying the construction of dedicated fixed-rail infrastructure? (the highest of the high-density modes of transit)

I may love taking a train straight to Paris, but that doesn't mean it should be a part of my city's metro system.

acabal• 16 years ago

From what I understand, BART is not meant to be a local subway type system. It's heavy rail for moving between different cities in the greater Bay Area. It just happens to have several stops in SF. (Thus the acronym Bay Area Rapid Transit).

MUNI is the equivalent of subway/bus in SF (though how well it handles that job is up for debate).

Sukotto• 16 years ago

On the face of it, it seems like there should be an inverse relationship between the people paying the most taxes and the areas of Seattle most in need of public transit. People with money are more likely to drive a car and therefore less likely to need transit.

Did I misunderstand your comment?

naz• 16 years ago

The Vancouver Translink map is missing the new Canada Line.

yread• 16 years ago

[2004]

Some are seriously dated. For example Valencia http://www.metrovalencia.es/planos.php?page=103

igravious2• 16 years ago

If we're sticking with Spain, then Madrid seems also to be outdated http://www.metromadrid.es/export/sites/metro/comun/documento... and so does Barcelona http://www.tmb.net/es_ES/barcelona/moute/planols/planoxarxam...

pmjordan2• 16 years ago

Oddly 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_pha...

run4yourlives3• 16 years ago

And Vancouver's.

yourmomcalled• 16 years ago

They forgot Glasgow. I'll add it here: o

;)

zalew• 16 years ago

I'll add Warsaw: ____________

igravious2• 16 years ago

What would be super awesome would be a globally complete and up-to-date and animated from inception. I dunno why that would make me so happy but it would.

georgecmu2• 16 years ago

I'll add Pittsburgh: .-.-.

kenver• 16 years ago

It's in good company, there's no Prague metro there either :(

jodrellblank• 16 years ago

PyongYang has one: {censored}

(I didn't realize any UK cities other than London have one)

philwelch• 16 years ago

(map of Pyongyang subway) http://debrisson.free.fr/images/dprk/metro22.jpg

cmelbye• 16 years ago

They forgot Minneapolis as well :(

I'll draw it:

_____________

Vivtek2• 16 years ago

Oh, hey, Indianapolis is also missing:

fhe• 16 years ago

a 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• 16 years ago

Interesting, 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).

buster4• 16 years ago

Actually, 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.

tome2• 16 years ago

London 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.

}

adw• 16 years ago

The other important thing to realise about London:

Use the buses. Really.

In most American cities, the bus network is just grim. In London, it's something everyone uses the whole time, so it has a budget, it's (relatively) clean, and it gets maintained. Very different deal.

metatronscube• 16 years ago

Yeah the clockwork orange is missing, its a shame because it was one of the oldest, but its tiny compared to these ones. I would agree that London is one of the most comprehensive, its probably not as modern feeling (and clean) as some of the rest, but it is one of the best IMHO.

inanimate• 16 years ago

Madrid's metro has always been my favorite. Very extensive network, high density of stations, inexpensive (1€ per ride last time I was there), and most stations are pretty modern.

sqrt17• 16 years ago

It'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• 16 years ago

The most bizarre thing is that they don't all appear to be normalized to point North at the top.

mitjak2• 16 years ago

I'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• 16 years ago

Toronto 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• 16 years ago

I 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.

run4yourlives3• 16 years ago

We 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.

mitjak2• 16 years ago

Not sure what you mean. A simple look at Vancouver reveals a modern, plastic accepting, completely automated and growing network of under and above-ground trains. Oh, and that isn't owned by the government. Could that be the issue?

waterside81• 16 years ago

The TTC is also much cleaner than London or NYC. I think we in TO complain a lot, but for what limited area our subway does cover, it is pretty good.

georgecmu2• 16 years ago

Well, 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• 16 years ago

How come there's a "thank you" for a Los Angeles map, but I don't see it on the site?

Subways of the world, to scale

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