# Cities with public transit other than buses. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 12, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671 "2003-12-12T22:11:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/1 "2003-12-12T22:11:45Z")
This [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?&threadid=228827) discussing cities without any public transit (even buses) inspired me to ask a related question. What U.S. (or foreign) cites have public transit other than buses, and what types of transit are available. I can think of the following off the top of my head: **Boston** : Subway, commuter rail. **New York City** : Subway, ferries, commuter rail, cable car. **Newark, NJ** : Subway, commuter rail. **Hudson/Bergen County, NJ** : Light rail. **Philadelphia** : Subway, light rail, streetcar, commuter rail. **Pittsburgh** : Light rail, incline railway. **Baltimore** : Commuter rail. **Washington, DC** : Subway, commuter rail. **Atlanta** : Subway. **Chicago** : Subway, commuter rail. **Seattle** : Ferry. **San Francisco** : Subway. What have I missed? Also, I suppose we can ask what are the largest U.S. cities with only bus transit? ---
**Author:** ![Cerowyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Cerowyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerowyn)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/2 "2003-12-12T22:16:05Z")
**Toronto** : Subway, Street-cars, commuter rail. **Tokyo** : Subway, rail (JR), commuter rail (JR and others) ---
**Author:** ![NBIT33](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NBIT33](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NBIT33)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/3 "2003-12-12T22:16:10Z")
Buffalo New York Light Rail Rapid Transit Go Bills ---
**Author:** ![Robbbbb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9a140/32.png) [@Robbbbb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robbbbb)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/4 "2003-12-12T22:25:12Z")
Los Angeles: Subway, light rail, and commuter rail San Diego: Light rail Sacramento: Light rail San Jose: Light rail ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/5 "2003-12-12T22:26:41Z")
Phoenix, Arizona currently has only bus transit but preliminary construction, moving utility lines, has begun for voter approved light rail. IIRC Phoenix is ranked as the 7th or 9th largest metro area in the US but IMO the makeup of the city and surrounding satellites and suburbs makes that somewhat misleading. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/6 "2003-12-12T22:29:38Z")
For San Francisco, you left out the trolleys, which can also be found in San Juan. How about defunct public transit? Rochester, NY used to have a subway, but no longer. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/7 "2003-12-12T22:35:50Z")
St. Louis: Light Rail ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/8 "2003-12-12T22:40:20Z")
For a bunch of cities worldwide, try [here](http://www.subwaynavigator.com/subway_site/eng/accueil/fset_subway.htm) But the first one that popped to mind when I read the OP was Montreal: subway ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/9 "2003-12-12T22:45:58Z")
San Francisco also has a full sized commuter [train](http://www.caltrain.com/) and commuter [ferries](http://www.blueandgoldfleet.com/schedules.htm). ---
**Author:** ![MikeS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MikeS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeS)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/10 "2003-12-12T22:46:35Z")
The ten largest metro areas in the U.S. are, as of 1998: > [@](#): > > 1 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT-PA CMSA (20,124,377) > 2 Los Angeles-Riverside-Orange County, CA CMSA (15,781,273) > 3 Chicago-Gary-Kenosha, IL-IN-WI CMSA (8,809,846) > 4 Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV CMSA (7,285,206) > 5 San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, CA CMSA (6,816,047) > 6 Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE-MD CMSA (5,988,348) > 7 Boston-Worcester-Lawrence, MA-NH-ME-CT CMSA (5,633,060) > 8 Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint, MI CMSA (5,457,583) > 9 Dallas-Fort Worth, TX CMSA (4,802,463) > 10 Houston-Galveston-Brazoria, TX CMSA (4,407,579) From [here.](http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa122099c.htm) Of these, the previous thread (linked in the OP) established that Houston has no light rail and Detroit has next to none. Not sure about Dallas, and I don’t know if Washington’s & Baltimore’s systems connect (or even if Baltimore has one.) All the same, I would say that the largest U.S. city without any substantial form of light rail is Detroit. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/11 "2003-12-12T22:56:27Z")
If you’re including full-scale commuter rail, then most European cities can be included. Off the top of my head, UK cities with trams or light rail either running or projected: Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham, Croydon (S London), Liverpool(?)…and don’t forget the Glasgow underground 😃 ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/12 "2003-12-12T22:58:09Z")
Calgary - LRT. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/13 "2003-12-12T23:01:55Z")
Top of my head: **Sydney** commuter rail, small mono rail for city centre, ferry, water taxi. **Wellington** rail, cable car **Christchurch** trams ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/14 "2003-12-12T23:09:51Z")
This is probably the definitive list of transit systems in the whole world :- [http://www.metropla.net/index2.htm](http://www.metropla.net/index2.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/15 "2003-12-12T23:11:00Z")
Houston has just finished construction of a light rail system that is scheduled to open in a month or so. If you consider Galveston part of the Houston metropolitan area, then we’ve got a couple of ferries (Bolivar and Lynchburg) as well. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/16 "2003-12-12T23:30:25Z")
Park City, Ut, - town (ski) lift ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/17 "2003-12-12T23:40:49Z")
Vancouver is pretty interesting. They have two different bus lines, an elevated light rail system called the SkyTrain, and ferries called the SeaBus service. There are trolleys, too. It looks like a very exciting city for transitphiles 🆒 Read all about it here: [http://www.translink.bc.ca/Service\_Info\_and\_Fares/](http://www.translink.bc.ca/Service_Info_and_Fares/) And soon, it looks like you can see it at: www.rapidtransit.bc.ca ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/18 "2003-12-12T23:48:46Z")
Oh, and Ottawa has a specialised bus service called the Transitway, which is a dedicated road through town that acts as a trunk line for many of the regular routes, and also as a high-speed, high-frequency trans-urban line. In the latter role it works a lot like a subway or a rail line. Ottawa also has a short section of light rail in service called O-Train, which they hope to expand in the future. [Transitway Map](http://www.octranspo.com/maps_menue_systemMap.htm) [O-Train](http://www.octranspo.com/train_menue.htm), the Light Rail Pilot Project. ---
**Author:** ![Ave\_Minerva](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f0a364/32.png) [@Ave\_Minerva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ave_Minerva)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/19 "2003-12-12T23:54:39Z")
Don’t forget the monorail in Seattle. Monorail! ---
**Author:** ![CADOp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@CADOp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CADOp)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2003, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671/20 "2003-12-13T00:01:52Z")
Dallas has a light rail system that includes most of the surrounding cities as well. There is also a rail system between Fort Worth and Dallas, and eventually between Dallas and Sherman (about 90 miles N. of Dallas). www.dart.org [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cities-with-public-transit-other-than-buses/218671.md?page=2)