Transit vs Car: a Few Conclusions

“You were mostly a stay-put teacher, Tim, and now (you lucky, worthless bum, Tim) you’ve chased trams and metros in cities around the world. How has this affected your transit views?” De-lighted you ask! * * * * * In Zurich, Copenhagen, Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Stockholm and Amsterdam I traveled on transit networks that struck me…

How I Get Around

I didn’t pull a flat EKG after the last post after all, and will celebrate with an overdue account of my own travel habits.  A next-to-nobody like me could bump along on a Chalmers Rotobaler, for all anyone cares, but I think that those who vote or sound off on transit issues should be forthcoming…

Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai

Those are the Asian cities I visited, lucky me, and I can prove it: you’ll find photo sets at: Tokyo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/36217981@N02/sets/72157642352812245/ Seoul: https://www.flickr.com/photos/36217981@N02/sets/72157642390067303/ Shanghai: https://www.flickr.com/photos/36217981@N02/sets/72157642406170383/ Fellow transit aficionados will recognize these burgs as home to some of the world’s most formidable metro networks, by system length and annual passenger rides.  I spent much of the last decade telling…

Transit riding tips at random

What follows are one veteran straphanger’s tips, tricks and general counsel on getting about on public transit.  I don’t think they’ll amount to much, and cheerfully acknowledge that you regularly share seats with riders better qualified than me to write this post.  But they didn’t write it, and I have.  So: In no particular order:…

Graffiti on the 14 bus

Two years ago in Public Transit in L.A.: an older-but-wiser look back, I grumbled that I have seen graffiti in some San Francisco buses worse than I’d expect in a public bathroom on Venice beach.  Those of you lucky enough to straphang in better governed cities might have thought I was exaggerating. If only, if…

Public Transit in L.A.: an older-but-wiser look back

     What follow are some thoughts on public transit that I haven’t read elsewhere and think I should share.  This is a “wrapping up” essay for me.  I don’t live in L.A. anymore, and doubt I’ll move back.  The few Angelenos who knew of my TransitPeople labors probably thought of me more as a…