Is Fake The New Real??
March 4, 2004 11:08 AM   Subscribe

subway systems of the world presented on a scale of 1 mile = 2 pixels.
Just one of the cool things found at fake is the new real
:: via the always excellent Satan's Laundromat ::

posted by anastasiav (32 comments total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Ah, life underground. This is cool — even though it kind of looks like hair in the bathtub (or swatted mosquitos.) Years ago I thought it would be a great idea to go and ride all the subways in the world, and then write some sort of book or consumer magazine article about the experience. Then I figured it sounded too much like work, so I never did it.

The best subway history book seems to be the long out-of-print Labyrinths of Iron, by Benson Bobrick.
posted by LeLiLo at 11:31 AM on March 4, 2004


cool, and very hairball-y. I think ours is most recognizable (it follows the shape of manhattan for the most part), as opposed to the ring-and-tentacles model so many other cities have. (come to think of it, we really should have more tentacles tho--for the vast swathes of Queens and the Bronx without subway service)
posted by amberglow at 11:42 AM on March 4, 2004


apprx scale

Heh. JFK is not quite 80 miles from Manhattan. It just feels that way.
posted by eddydamascene at 11:45 AM on March 4, 2004


Cool! Nice links to transit authorities, too.
posted by carter at 11:49 AM on March 4, 2004


Very nice. Thanks.
posted by languagehat at 12:08 PM on March 4, 2004


Railfans unite!
nycsubway.org is also an excellent repository for photos, maps, and mementos.
posted by PrinceValium at 12:48 PM on March 4, 2004


appx scale
1 mi = 2 pixels
2 km = 7 pixels

This would seem to imply that 1 km = 1.75 miles.
posted by George_Spiggott at 12:49 PM on March 4, 2004


New York's system is one fare to go anywhere. Is that true of the other systems? I seem to recall in Paris that were, at least in the past , two or three zones to pay for.

Although it's pretty useless, it's also pretty cool to be able to go to the near-forest of northern Manhattan, all the way to sand dunes on Rockaway on a $2.00 fare and one A train.
posted by ParisParamus at 12:58 PM on March 4, 2004


Tokyo charges from US$1 to $3 depending on distance. The two subway companies charge their own seperate fares, so you must pay twice. The subway lines run on to become surface train lines which are owned by separate companies, so you have to pay twice for that even though you've only used one seat.

The subways here all stop at one in the morning, which kind of sucks. Luckily lots of bars stay open all night.
posted by dydecker at 1:13 PM on March 4, 2004


NYC is up to $2.00? Damn. I was just getting used to the $15 Metrocard when I left. It seemed to me for a long time that the Tokyo system was much bigger, but I guess that is a result of the connection with surface lines, the size of the stations, and the fact that I don't live in the heart of the city, as I used to in Manhattan.
posted by bashos_frog at 1:21 PM on March 4, 2004


London and Paris and Brussels and Rotterdam and Amsterdam all have zoned systems. Most places do, I think.
posted by amberglow at 1:22 PM on March 4, 2004


I was tempted to give info on Vancouver's system (specifically, the yellow and blue lines running diagonally along the map -- bigass PDF, give it a minute or two) but then I realized that compared to the systems of NYC, France, or Berlin, it's -- well, it's just boring.
posted by antifreez_ at 1:29 PM on March 4, 2004


It's $2.00, but with the weekly or monthly cards (monthly=$70), it's an amazingly good deal. I just wish they would invest in some new signals so that the speed of things could go up a bit.
posted by ParisParamus at 1:31 PM on March 4, 2004


Not only is New York's subway one zone, that price is far cheaper than London's, and it's a 24 hour service. Plus, they have plastic seats, not upholstery, so the smell of urine is, at the very least, minimized. However, for sheer efficiency, nothing beats the Moscow subway... every 3 minutes or less, can't be beat :)
posted by dvdgee at 1:52 PM on March 4, 2004


Plus Moscow has the most stations.
posted by dydecker at 1:58 PM on March 4, 2004


There are subway systems with UPHOLSTERY in the world??!!??
posted by UlfMagnet at 1:59 PM on March 4, 2004


Uh, the most beautiful stations.
posted by dydecker at 2:00 PM on March 4, 2004


Chicago's El is one zone as well. $1.75 to go wherever you want, no matter how far away. (Fare was raised on 1/1) I know the DC Metro has zones, but I also thought it was cool that you could go to two different states as well as DC on that system.

The weekly pass in NYC is an amazing deal. $7 for a daily pass but only $21 for a weekly pass. Not bad. : ) I like that you can buy them in any station. In Chicago, there are 1, 2 ,3, and 5 day visitor passes available (ranging from $5-$18) but you can ONLY buy them at certain tourist attractions, currency exchanges, and at a grand total of four El stations.
posted by SisterHavana at 2:06 PM on March 4, 2004


The other thing I really liked on that site was Chicago Mile By Mile.
posted by SisterHavana at 2:07 PM on March 4, 2004


I was always impressed by the DC metro. Far more than most of the above-ground parts of the city, actually.

Of course, there was that wee problem of not being able to get to a large chunk of the city on it, including Georgetown.
posted by boltman at 2:25 PM on March 4, 2004


Hey, I can do this too. Check this out...

O

That's a map of the Glasgow subway.

Vancouver aint got nothing on tedium there. Used to be chain-driven, so it's in a big circle and all the stations are the same distance apart.
posted by bonaldi at 2:47 PM on March 4, 2004


What goes on in the middle of Tokyo?
posted by Cicerius at 3:10 PM on March 4, 2004


What goes on in the middle of Tokyo?

Nobody really knows. The Imperial Palace, which is huge, is surrounded by a moat and off limits to the public.
posted by dydecker at 5:46 PM on March 4, 2004


FYI: best subway ride in NYC: the Q, D, N or B over the Manhattan Bridge. (cool rail ride not the subway = Amtrak arriving or departing Penn Station toward Boston. Once you get to Queens, it's like your flying over the city for about five miles...
posted by ParisParamus at 5:53 PM on March 4, 2004 [1 favorite]


Wow, what's creepier than clicking randomly on someone's personal photos and seeing people you know?

Thanks, Lelilo, I was looking for Labyrinths of Iron for a while but forgot both the title and the author. I shall resume my search!
posted by emyd at 6:00 PM on March 4, 2004


I'd love to see Seoul's system on that map. It's freakin' big.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 6:11 PM on March 4, 2004


By the looks of them, I'm betting they were made by just sitting on the subway and letting a GPS keep track, eh?
posted by crunchland at 6:18 PM on March 4, 2004


crunchland: yeah they look like GPS tracks, but there one problem. GPS doesn't work underground :)
posted by elpapacito at 7:50 PM on March 4, 2004


here's the Montréal subway map
posted by titboy at 7:58 PM on March 4, 2004


I was expecting to see Boston there too. A shame.
posted by gregb1007 at 12:49 AM on March 5, 2004


Me too, but the footnotes say they are working on it.
posted by CunningLinguist at 7:35 AM on March 5, 2004


Interesting local history about the DC Metro and Georgetown: Apparently when Metro was built in the '70s, the rich denizens of Georgetown successfully fought against a Georgetown station because they didn't want to be served by public transportation, which would of course allow hoi polloi to flock to their tony neighborhood. So what happened? People drive to G'town instead, parking and traffic is a nightmare all day, all night, and all weekend, and now 30 years later G'town residents are demanding the city build a metro station to serve them! What a capricious lot.
posted by halleck23 at 12:02 PM on March 5, 2004


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