Quote:
Originally Posted by McBane
^ The fact you were able to make such a trip, from Brooklyn to Wall Street to the UWS is enough evidence to show how much better NY's subway is than ours.
The NY subway system has 27 lines and 472 stops, spanning nearly the entire city (except Staten Island) and providing access to a large percentage of NYers. In Philly, large chunks of our city - the entire Northeast and Northwest - are devoid of a subway line, excluding a huge number of the city's residents from using it. And where do the SEPTA subways go? Well, there's no direct subway connection to some of the most important job centers in the city - Market West, the Navy Yard, and the hospital district. How shortsighted is that? Even our "stadium" stop is a good 15 minute walk to the actual stadiums.
Also, the NY subway runs 24 hours a day with frequent headways compared and no transfer fee.
But the most telling thing about the NY subway system is that the riders reflect that city's diversity because pretty much everyone uses it: college kids, working professionals, seniors, tourists, the rich, and the poor. In Philly, outside of the rush hour and during some sporting events, it's almost all poor people who have no other choice.
Sorry, but there's no comparison between the MTA and SEPTA. It's not even close and anyone who thinks it is, is delusional.
PS: NY's most recent transit accomplishment: a brand, spanking new (after decades of delays) subway line. Ours? We finally got rid of tokens and the workers who sat behind the both without any change.
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There is no arguing which is the better system. The MTA is however in a sense a victim of it's own success. As someone who has taken the MTA many times, it is an asset that you can't live without... and it's also kind of a really unpleasant experience.
SEPTA is so much less useful than the MTA and does so much less. But what it does, it does pretty well, especially when you enter funding into the equation. There have been times in my life, when I've had a commute that was perfectly served by a subway station. At one point I lived a few blocks from the Oregon Station and worked right next to the Race/Vine Station. That commute was a piece of cake and so much better than any experience you'd have traveling over 5 miles on the MTA.
Now granted, a big reason why the ride was so much more comfortable was because the subway was so much less crowded because it is so much less useful to so many people depending on where they live and work. But I really think that is the biggest factor, if the subway works for your commute in Philly you'd be kind of crazy not to take it, it's pretty good. I've definitely seen people of all walks of life on the subway, hell I've even seen Mayor Street on he subway a bunch of times.
So while I agree that the MTA is just indisputably a better system, at the end of the day it's just another point on the long list of why NYC is objectively better than philly. But despite also those objective facts favoring NYC, they don't necessarily add up to NYC being a more enjoyable place to live and the MTA is a poster child for this.
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