Which large cities have the best and worst public transit systems

In My Humble Opinion
141

It depends entirely on where you live.

I split my time between Chicago and Kansas City. I’m incredibly lucky in that my KC apartment in in Waldo, one block from the Max line.

So I can hop on that and make it to Brookside, the Plaza, Westport, Crown Center, Downtown or City Market very quickly, easily and cheaply ($1.50). I can shop at the grocery stores in Brookside or go to the CostCo at Linwood. Just today, I did some network work for a hair styling shop on the Plaza, saw a film at the Palace at the Plaza, went home, had dinner, then saw a different film at the AMC Mainstreet - all using the same $3 day pass.

There are two other lines that go to the Ward Parkway mall, and right in front of one of my very best clients.

My point is that the utility of the KCATA will vary significantly depending on where you live and where you need to go. But I think the Pitch summed it up perfectly that “Kansas City has the bus service they pay for”.

I don’t want an express bus, I want the Country Club train line brought back. The voters approved it, and the damn City Council overruled the voters.

Besides, it has it’s charms - like the Max driver who practices his Highland pipes during layovers.

142

The exact same thing is true of Los Angeles. L.A. now has a very extensive system of rail transit. In fact, a major extension of the Gold Line just opened within the last few weeks. My parents happen to live close to the Universal City Red Line station, so when I visit L.A. there are many trips I can now take largely on the trains.

The problem is that L.A. is so huge that there are still large areas of the city only served by the very slow buses.