MetaFilter posts tagged with publictransportation

Underground Design

brain_drain — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 09:22:37 -0800

If you're planning a visit to Stockholm, Munich, Bilbao, Shanghai, Dubai, Tokyo, Prague, Moscow, Toronto, and/or Barcelona, don't miss the chance to check out some of these amazing subway stations.

Public(YOUR AD HERE)Transportation

maryh — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:41:42 -0800

Clever ads on the sides of city busses. That is all.

So you ditched your car - here's help with public transit

desjardins — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:58:07 -0800

NextBus uses GPS to tell you the predicted time of the next bus. Google maps show buses in real time, and you can get updates on your phone/PDA. The coverage is limited to certain agencies within the US, so these other sites might be useful: Hopstop covers subways and buses in NYC, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, DC, and more. (mobile version) Google Transit has many US metro areas in addition to Canada, Europe, and Japan. (previously) Many more locations inside. Other trip planners (mostly mobile):

MTA (New York City)
MTA (Los Angeles)
Amtrak
New Jersey Transit
MBTA (Boston)
Washington DC Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
Chicago Regional Transit Authority (CTA, Metra)
A Train (Atlanta)
Valley Metro (Phoenix)
San Francisco Bay Area 511 (BART, Muni Metro, VTA Light Rail, Cable cars, Commuter Rail, buses, ferries)
Portland (interactive map; roll your own app)
King County Metro Online (Seattle)
Toronto (TTC Buses and subways)
Vancouver (BC) Translink
Paris (RER, TGV, Metro, bus, more - in French)
London Underground and DLR
Norikae-Annei (Tokyo)

"708ers. What do you expect?"

enn — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 11:18:21 -0800

Then I imagined what my friends would say if I got killed: I kept hearing them retell the story of how I went out to O'Hare to get a cat and instead met my doom wandering down the middle of a highway in a blizzard. I could just hear them saying, It's how he would have wanted to go ... A story originally published in the Chicago Reader by Lee Sandlin (previously).

Readers' Travels

Kattullus — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:44:41 -0800

I know a man who once went to Sioux City, not one of the world’s leading destinations, precisely because he had never been there before. More than a decade later he still talks about the experience, from the Sergeant Floyd obelisk to the dog track of North Sioux and the meat packing plant converted to a shopping mall. The same impulse explains a non-specialist’s reading a history of Byzantine iconography or a survey of Australian wildlife. Both offer a break in daily life and an enlargement of our sense of wonder and possibility. That awareness can provide a sense of transcendence, and connection, or even the spark of divine discontent that leads people to change their lives.

Reading as Vacation, an essay by J. D. Smith and Subway Reader, pictures of people who read while using public transportation.

Michigan to build the country's first Maglev public transportation system

stbalbach — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 07:40:34 -0800

Michigan to build the country's first Maglev public transportation system between Detroit and Ann Arbor. The Interstate Traveler Hydrogen Super Highway will utilize solar and hydrogen power and TCP/IP for communications. The cars will carry people, cars (drive on/off) and cargo. Construction is set to begin this year. Other proposed Maglev projects in the US include the California-Nevada Interstate Maglev connecting Vegas to Anaheim (269 miles) and the Baltimore-Washington D.C. Maglev (39 miles).

This enormous red circular carriage will never fit onto the tracks!

goodnewsfortheinsane — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 07:57:51 -0800

Train tracker.

Streetcars and Trolley Buses

Ljubljana — Tue, 06 Jul 2004 15:39:06 -0800

Streetcars, buses and trolleys of the former USSR. An extensive collection of pictures of public transportation from the Baltic to Siberia. Here's a babelfish translation of the index page. (via The Daily Czech)

A new idea for public transportation

gregb1007 — Thu, 11 Dec 2003 20:47:35 -0800

Intelligent Grouping Design is ... a new idea in public transportation. With many vans out and about town, a passenger can be quickly picked up wherever he happens to be and just as quickly conveyed to his desired destination. Via the cell-phone, people call into the central computer with their current location as well as their destination. The computer finds the nearest van whose route is also the most closest to the passenger's destination. The computer then modifies the route slightly to accommodate the new passenger's pickup and dropoff locations. The drivers don't have to exert themselves mentally on figuring out each route change as the vans equipped with satellite guidance technology.

Whither useful information for an overdesigned site?

calwatch — Tue, 04 Nov 2003 00:12:37 -0800

R.I.P. Bay Area Transit Information Page, 1994-2003. The site, started by two Berkeley students, provided quick access to transit information in the San Francisco Bay Area, who later received funding for their efforts in 1996. Instead, it gets replaced by this abomination of web design. On the other hand, it is very unusual for a web site to keep the same user interface over the span of almost a decade. Already, there have been user interface rants, complaints about not finding information, sarcastic commentary, and a brief eulogy delivered from one of the original creators, and it hasn't even been the first day. Is content over style dead or are information sites like this (flash) the wave of the future?

Hidden Underground

Orange Goblin — Mon, 09 Dec 2002 09:02:45 -0800

Disused Stations on the London Underground - they're there, but we don't see them. This site gives a list of places to spot glimpses of these mysterious stations, as well as details of stations that were almost built. Fascinating for a Londoner, and perhaps something to look out for if you plan on visiting the city.

dolface — Thu, 19 Sep 2002 15:31:46 -0800

Davis signs $9.95 billion bond bill to boost high-speed rail
"Gov. Gray Davis signed a $9.95 billion bond measure Thursday that would clear the way for a high-speed rail system linking California's major cities."
this may be the first step in getting a decent rail-system going in the states. what do folks think about high-speed rail in general, do you think acela's recent problems are indicative of what we have to look forward to?
do those of you who have direct experience with existing high-speed rail systems have insights about the kind of obstacles this project might run into? will it revolutionize travel in the united states, or turn into a massive boondoggle?

vbfg — Wed, 30 Jan 2002 12:37:55 -0800

The building of this has kept the average car driving commuter of my fair city enraged for 18 months. Not one person who complained to me, the token non-driver, knew that they were going to be wind-powered musical bus stops. Aren't they going to be happy when they find out? :) There's also an audio (RM) link here.

ParisParamus — Wed, 25 Jul 2001 17:58:15 -0800

AMTRAK still off-track (NY Times link) Even before living in France I loved trains. So it pains to read that AMTRAK is stillheading towards its last run. Do you progressive, SUV-hating Mefi people have any thoughts on how AMTRAK might get its act together (or whether it's all SUV-futile)?