CTA #2 in the Nation. Interesting Surprise

[ctrabs74]

The City of Chicago really does have a great transit system in comparison to the rest of the nation. The L system isn't complicated, and all the major streets have a frequent bus line. Additionally, the routes are relatively straight and easy to understand.

San Francisco's MUNI is also one of the better agencies in the nation, with all-door boarding and frequent service. However, service seems to be slower and buses are dirtier and older than Chicago's. The light rail system is also ridiculously overcrowded during peak hours and the trains are small. Also, a ride to the airport on the BART is somewhere around $8.

LA's transit system is quite poor, IMO. Buses run every 30 minutes after 7 pm, even on the busiest lines, trains are also infrequent (12 minutes in the day, 20 in the evenings), and they seem to have some bad delays. Even though the system is well laid out, there are too many operators (25 or 30 agencies in LA County alone) and the service isn't that great.

New York's system is obviously the best, the subway pretty much goes everywhere, and the buses are very frequent.

As for transit to the suburbs, that pretty much sucks everywhere. NY and Chicago probably have the best suburban transit networks, and that isn't saying much.

Philadelphia has decent service to some inner-ring suburbs (eastern Delaware County, lower Bucks County) - a couple of suburban routes even operate 24/7 - and to a few key outer ring burbs (West Chester, Norristown, Doylestown), even if that means a transfer to/from the Market-Frankford El. SEPTA also has an extensive regional rail system similar to Metra. Any suburban transit discussion should also include Philadelphia in addition to New York and Chicago.