Comments on: Is Fake The New Real??

Is Fake The New Real??

anastasiav — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 11:08:50 -0800

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 ::

By: LeLiLo

LeLiLo — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 11:31:33 -0800

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.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 11:42:20 -0800

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)

By: eddydamascene

eddydamascene — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 11:45:22 -0800

apprx scale Heh. JFK is not quite 80 miles from Manhattan. It just feels that way.

By: carter

carter — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 11:49:32 -0800

Cool! Nice links to transit authorities, too.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 12:08:56 -0800

Very nice. Thanks.

By: PrinceValium

PrinceValium — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 12:48:30 -0800

Railfans unite! nycsubway.org is also an excellent repository for photos, maps, and mementos.

By: George_Spiggott

George_Spiggott — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 12:49:36 -0800

appx scale 1 mi = 2 pixels 2 km = 7 pixels This would seem to imply that 1 km = 1.75 miles.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 12:58:17 -0800

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.

By: dydecker

dydecker — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 13:13:17 -0800

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.

By: bashos_frog

bashos_frog — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 13:21:03 -0800

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.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 13:22:56 -0800

London and Paris and Brussels and Rotterdam and Amsterdam all have zoned systems. Most places do, I think.

By: antifreez_

antifreez_ — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 13:29:39 -0800

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.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 13:31:54 -0800

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.

By: dvdgee

dvdgee — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 13:52:38 -0800

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 :)

By: dydecker

dydecker — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 13:58:50 -0800

Plus Moscow has the most stations.

By: UlfMagnet

UlfMagnet — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 13:59:56 -0800

There are subway systems with UPHOLSTERY in the world??!!??

By: dydecker

dydecker — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 14:00:05 -0800

Uh, the most beautiful stations.

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 14:06:17 -0800

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.

By: SisterHavana

SisterHavana — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 14:07:31 -0800

The other thing I really liked on that site was Chicago Mile By Mile.

By: boltman

boltman — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 14:25:05 -0800

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.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 14:47:25 -0800

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.

By: Cicerius

Cicerius — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 15:10:25 -0800

What goes on in the middle of Tokyo?

By: dydecker

dydecker — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 17:46:04 -0800

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.

By: ParisParamus

ParisParamus — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 17:53:53 -0800

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...

By: emyd

emyd — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 18:00:49 -0800

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!

By: stavrosthewonderchicken

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 18:11:33 -0800

I'd love to see Seoul's system on that map. It's freakin' big.

By: crunchland

crunchland — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 18:18:37 -0800

By the looks of them, I'm betting they were made by just sitting on the subway and letting a GPS keep track, eh?

By: elpapacito

elpapacito — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 19:50:01 -0800

crunchland: yeah they look like GPS tracks, but there one problem. GPS doesn't work underground :)

By: titboy

titboy — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 19:58:51 -0800

here's the Montréal subway map

By: CrayDrygu

CrayDrygu — Thu, 04 Mar 2004 21:41:44 -0800

I am disappointed to see that Boston, home of the nation's first subway system, is not there. I'm equally disappointed that I don't have a map of it to donate to him.

By: gregb1007

gregb1007 — Fri, 05 Mar 2004 00:49:40 -0800

I was expecting to see Boston there too. A shame.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Fri, 05 Mar 2004 07:35:22 -0800

Me too, but the footnotes say they are working on it.

By: halleck23

halleck23 — Fri, 05 Mar 2004 12:02:19 -0800

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.