Seattle has the most ambitious expansion plans, SF can barely finish two additional stations. I wish Seattle all the best if they can triple ridership in the next ten years it will be a huge success story.
While it is great that Seattle is trying to expand their system, the SF Muni Metro is in a completely different league. And this isn't just because SF is much better designed for transit than Seattle. Muni has several times more ridership (almost 3x!) and the 3rd largest ridership in the US. And Muni has no problems adding "new stations". What you are referring to is the Central Subway project, which while it has been delayed, is a monumental improvement to the system and an incredibly complex project. It's the first North=South link in the system and is completely in an underground tunnel. They have encountered pretty serious tunneling issues in the form of a previously unknown underground river. The tunnel is also extremely complex because it needed to go under not one but two sets of tunnels under Market street, BART and the existing Muni Subway! It is a deep and technically challenging tunneling job in a seismically active highrise district that was built on a former lagoon with complicated soils. SF Muni Metro does have some systemic issues preventing it from being an even better system. Namely the fact that the city refused to give it traffic priority and signal priority. But this is literally being dealt with right now, with a lot of lines getting priority over auto traffic and grade separations or dedicated lanes. Another major issue was that the entire system was nearing end-of-life in terms of equipment and rolling stock. But here again Muni has already dealt with the issue. They have begun taking delivery of their new Siemens trains and are actively modernizing trackside equipment. Muni is being transformed into a much more high-performing and better system as we speak and more improvements are on the way! Basically, the Muni Metro did have a number of issues which in such a widely used and vital system were incredibly hard to deal with. But they have already dealt with them or are actively doing so. It is safe to say that the system will only be more and more heavily used with the new lines and improvements that they are doing. Seattle will have a very hard time even catching up to Muni in the next few decades. y have begun
@@andrewharmon5843people didn’t want a regular old metro, so they built a metro with light rail vehicles and overhead wires! :) Actually people thought a regular metro would be too loud weirdly enough.. it’s not very true but we got the best of both worlds
Dont forget light rail is only 1 small part of Bostons subway. We have 3 other heavy rail subway lines Red, Blue, Orange, plus Silver line BRT, Commuter rail lines that cover half the state and even some of Rhode Island and the Acela high speed trains that cover the northeast corridor.
It’s interesting how in some cities the light rail is the backbone of the transportation system, like in Dallas or Portland, but in other places like Jersey City or Newark it’s only a small portion of the transportation system. The primary lines are heavy rail commuter lines or full rail subway stations with light rail just servings secondary routes.
The light rail system in newark is unfortunately very small and only is availible in small parts of the city. It is complemented by a much larger bus network.
Newark City Subway was this quirky little system that didn't mean much to outsiders until New Jersey Transit took it over, added some extensions and converted it to Newark Light Rail. Jersey City's HBLR has only been around for a little over 20 years. In both cases Port Authority Trans-Hudson was their major subway system.
The San Diego Trolley and Sprinter are excellent light rail. You would be surprised how many parts of the city you can get to with that. It's an underrated system IMO.
Something funny is that the ones in Austin, Oceanside and Trenton use what is considered here in Europe as heavy regional rail vehicles for a "light rail"
I ride the Austin train daily! We are a metro of 2 million+ but we have ONE rail line. People here are so hesitant about rail that we could barely scrape together enough money for a single line. I believe our metro authority chose diesel over electric for these trains due to cost. Also - it actually runs on very old freight track - not even built for commuter service. Depressing. It's getting better though. Final note - we call it "commuter rail."
Its because “everything is bigger in America” even light rails. When we got our light rail in Phoenix, I thought it was going to be the ones I rode all over Europe. Nope this thing was huge. Lol!
The Stadler GTWs from Austin are used as standard Commuter regional rail (S-Bahn) here in Austria. They even use tracks of a future high speed railway line.
The United States have some very good light rail systems, and just imagine good they would be if the light rail systems were kept running and improved from the 1960s/
1960s? Don't you mean the 1800's and early 1900s? Light rail began in America almost 200 years ago, the first system being erected in 1832 in New York (we are just 12 years shy of its 200th year anniversary). These were "street car" systems, later billed as "light rail", but there's no denying that they in effect were very much the same for passengers.
@@amapparatistkwabena First electric light rail was i. Richmond VA in the 1880s as a test to see if it would work in Boston to replace the Omnibus Horse Trolley. NYC never had an extensive light rail. They used elevated steam trains. NYC built their subway by learning from Boston's mistakes.
ava gd Well, that implies a level of sophistication and imagination that hasn’t existed for a very long time if ever. The right wing is like a parasite. They enjoy the economic benefits of their blue state neighbors without actually contributing anything. They just take take take.
I disagree. Compared with European or even Canadian cities, it's pitiful. The frequencies are too low and the speeds are too slow to get a serious number of people out of their cars. Case and point: - Dallas (USA) - pop. 2.4 million - less than 100,000 daily ridership - Calgary (Canada) - pop 1.4 million - over 300,000 daily ridership
I lived in Denver for ten years, best light rail service. I've lived in Austin for five years and take public transit as my main form of transport: the train is useless, it serves a niche group of people and was built as a publicity stunt. The line could be perfectly served by bus, and in fact most of the line is already covered by bus as well. Its only excuse for existence is its service to the nearby city of Leander.
Fun fact about the Hudson Bergen Light Rail and Newark Light Rail: even though both systems use the same Kinki-Sharyo rolling stock, the trains on both lines are not interchangeable, due to the two systems having slightly different rail profiles.
@David Nightjet That's kinda like Portland's: The older Siemens fleet is not interoperable with the newer Siemens fleet, despite being the same brand. They are, however, interoperable with the Bombardier fleet in that system, which is really cool.
How about the most stressed operators? As a former VTA operator--I would have to say VTA operators are do to the number of supervisor/operator ratio. I would also include lack of break time and places to stop and take a 10-7B--a bathroom brake. Add to that when I was hired on the total system operated the same way. When they opened the Winchester Line that all changed because they wanted to save money. As for operating an LRV --I would have to say it was still the best job I ever had. If it had not been for a mold problem that many coastal cities have--I would still be working there today. I always enjoyed having children come into the cab at the end of the line. Because I don't have any of my own I always enjoyed how their eyes lit up when they came in. For the very young ones I would open a sandbox and let them feel the sand. The parents also enjoyed seeing the reactions of their children. I figured it was good PR for VTA. Thank you VTA for a giving me a chance to do what a lot of little boys dream of doing but never get the chance.
As cars are becoming more expensive to own and maintain, I think you're going to see more of these light rail/suburban/intra-urban lines returning to service...
Chemnitz in Germany has a light rail system that goes through the city center and then switches from electric motor to diesel motor and goes to remote villages on train tracks. They call it "chemnitzer Modell" if you are interested.
I live in LA and the Metro Rail system is pretty convenient, lot of lines that connect Downtown throughout the rest of the city. My favorite route is the Expo Line!
@ steven kelly - YES , I like it too , in Karlsruhe as well the S2 (tram-train / suburban light rail) runs 24/7 on the _part_ inside Karlsruhe & Friday + Saturday the entire line 24h de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:AVG-Netz2011.png (Karlsruhe = Violet ) www.kvv.de/fileadmin/user_upload/kvv/Bilder/liniennetz/KVV-Liniennetzplan_Schiene.png ( S2 = violet - Yellow area = Karlsruhe)
Both the Blue and Green Line run 24/7 that fact was not included in the video though. Also the Blue Line is getting expanded but the project is held a bit due to complications with BNSF Railways. I also live very close to Minneapolis so i know a lot about it.
Both light rail lines, about 25 soon to be near 40 miles (possibly 50+ with blue line extension after green line extension) of track and a small handful of bus lines run 24/7 even on Christmas and as a former Amazon employee who worked on Christmas I can vouch that this system is amazing despite being relatively small.
My favorite is Pittsburgh. I’m the third, and possibly 4th generation to ride on it. My grandmother and mother rode it from our hometown of Charleroi all the way to downtown Pittsburgh back in the 1920s and 1930s. It was gone from Charleroi by my era, but some of the track was still there. There were several high bridges on the line back then, one close to 300 feet above the river.
The only two light rail systems I've ridden are the SEPTA Media/Sharon lines, SEPTA subway surfaces trolleys and SF MUNl. Both are nice but the MUNI is slow and crowded(Lexington Ave subway crowded!). The SEPTA Media/Sharon lines are pretty fast. The SEPTA trolleys also move along at a good pace.
I used to be a train operator for RTD in Denver. These LRT consists are generally electronically limited to 55 mph and run on direct current. Because of the length of the city blocks downtown no more that four car consists can be run. Each car is an 80 foot articulated unit, with two traction motors nose mounted on the front axles of the bogies on either end. RTD has a heavy rail commuter line out to DIA that is under FRA regulations and can operate at speeds of up to 79 mph and run on AC.
Obviously LA Metro Blue,Expo and Green Lines are my favorites. Rode them all the time when I lived in LA. Grew up riding the old Yellow Cars along Pico and Vermont as an infant until they got ripped out in 1963. Also grew up with Muni PCC trains in the Twin Peaks tunnel on the K Ingleside and the N Judah on the street. And ride the Metro when I'm in SF. Also have rode the Red San Diego trolleys to San Ysidro and La Mesa. And SEPTA trolleys 11,36 and 101.
Gotta love the classic Red Car San Diego Trolley. I grew up seeing it. Sprinter is also special to me since I rode it opening day as a kid. Charlottes also looks pretty cool.
I vote Los Angeles. The LRT routes do provide great vistas from the many bridges, elevated section or unobstructed views. For example Expo Line starting at La Brea Station you can see the whole city/hills/ Hwood sign. Gold Line crosses the LA River and along the Arroyo Seco valley and views of the San Gabriel Mountains along the 210 freeway. Some dont like rail along freeway medians but sometimes I love seeing cars stuck in traffic and the LRT just passing all of them. Except for a few sections along the entire route, the LRT system in LA gets good speed from the grade separate sections and underground tunnels or along the freeways.
Overall, LA's LRT system is actually good. I have noticed in the past 10 years especially the last 5 years, there is a huge interest in building along near light rail and heavy rail stations. The Expo Line has the most activity a lot of new mixed use residential/shops below. Some with hotels/offices. This will create walkable areas and people can live near stations to get to work, go for restaurants, etc. Still it will take a few decades at this rate for LA to totally change from a car dominated culture to a walkable/ bikeable, / public transit user type of city culture. With the need for more housing in the LA area, I hope that 80% of that is located within walking distance of a Metro station. Then people have the option to use rail to work or not
Have yall been to LA? There light rail system is the best in the country. Los Angeles metro covers 81 miles more than any other city in the u.s. therefore they have the most ridership and the most lines and they also have the cheapest transportation
Dallas has the most mileage of light rail track, not LA. LA also pretends that some of its commuter rail is light rail while dallas doesn't. If dallas included that it would add another 20 miles of track to its number
Lynx Blue Line in Charlotte follows the "light rail" model in that it mostly follows existing track lines and runs at grade. Additional lines to serve the airport and northern suburbs are in planning. Just broke ground on a new transportation center that will link Lynx, street car, bus, and Amtrak in Uptown.
I'm partial to Boston's Green Line because I grew up using it, but the Dallas, Portland, Minneapolis, Phoenix and New Jersey lines look very interesting, I'd love to try them
In Seattle the Link stations are so unique that connects SeaTac Airport and Downtown within a 40 min trip using the Orca Card & also there's other Street cars in Seattle near the King Street station of Amtrak & in LA i took the E line the entire route and is very unique also from Santa Monica to Downtown LA
The "Diesel lightrails" like the Sprinter, Austin Metrorail and Riverline are not something I would consider light rails. If you were to ask me I would say they fall more so into the "Local Railroad" category as a short distance suburban or rural commuter service. I myself live in Denmark and have 4 railroad lines of similar size running in each direction from my hometown, all using Coradia Lint 41 sets (very similar to the sets used on these lines) except these lines have never been classified as lightrail ever.
@@RRansomSmith Yes it does. Just because it's a DMU doesn't mean it's not a light rail. In America, heavy rail refers to subways, commuter and intercity rail. DMUs here are light rails
@ DrDewott - Same situation in Germany , these "Sprinter, Austin Metrorail and Riverline" are classified as "Eisenbahn" / "Vollbahn" = _Heavy-Rail_ in Germany ... Light rain in Germany are the AVG/KVV Tram-Train en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Avg-898-00.jpg (on "DB" National Railway track) , which have Diesel variants too like in Nordhausen en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nordhausen_DUO_TramTrain.jpg
American 'heavy rail' cars are just that, very heavy. American requirements for rail cars prevent using European mainline equipment on our systems. This is based on what happens in a crash and our rules are biased towards safety. If you look at the 'trolleys' used in LA, the 'Red Car' lines, these look just like the electric commuter trains in the eastern US, except they sometimes ran on the street. Most European tram systems use mostly dedicated ROWs in the downtown and do residential running in the street. American cities are different with less emphasis on downtown retail and of course much more suburban residential, a lot of commercial and industrial business is also in the suburbs, this greatly complicates the many into one model of most transit systems. I don't think it makes any sense to overdefine systems as 'lightrail' or heavy rail. Seattle has a subway system (heavy rail) that looks way more 'lite rail' and a trolley (tram?) that looks pretty heavy. The new cars that replaced the originals on the Philadelphia 'high speed' line that runs out to Norristown are way heavier than the originals that were aluminum and I bet they can't go as fast, I had the opportunity to ride the old ones in a private charter and we pretty much matched the test speeds achieved before the line opened to the public, not bad for 'antique' equipment. Worrying what you call a system is really not productive, what is productive is defining a need and developing a system that can meet that need at an affordable cost.
Thanks for mentioning Pittsburgh's "T" as we call it. Yes it is a mix of old trolley and dedicated r.o.w. that our local leaders back then somehow brilliantly cobbled together for the Port Authority of Allegheny County as the last remaining PCC cars disappeared for the bus. I use it occasionally, and have more often in the past.
Since I grew up in Philadelphia and now live just outside of the city, my vote is for the Philadelphia/suburban street rail system known as the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority or SEPTA. There are 5 subway-surface trolley routes and 1 all surface car route. The subway-surface routes all use Japanese Kawasaki cars (K cars, for short) and the all surface route uses rebuilt PCC cars. The Kawasaki cars run so smooth it is almost like floating on air when riding in one. I dare say that the rebuilt PCCs now run almost as smooth. Anyone visiting the city should be treated to a ride on one. What I like about our cars is that they are traditional trolleys in that they use poles on the roof to collect the electricity for power instead of the pantographs which seem to be the common method of power collecting on newer cars. I also like the fact that they are single cars with visible wheels instead of articulated (accordion) ones and with hidden wheels. I have been reading lately that there are plans to purchase new cars for the city and develop dedicated rights-of-way to speed up boarding and travel times. These are great goals but my personal preference is for cars that look like traditional trolley cars but larger, since the goal is to increase passenger capacity. Of course, during rush hours cars could be coupled together. I did not mention that the 2 suburban trolley routes, which are shown above as being in Drexel Hill, only run briefly in the street and mostly on private right-of-way. They also have pantographs which I suppose was done so that the operators would not have to lower and raise poles at the end of the lines, which do not have turnaround loops. The old cars had poles on each end. If anyone who is studying (light) rail transit comes to Philadelphia, I'm sure you will love our system for its efficiency and functionality. Other cities returning to streetcars should study and copy ours. So you see why I think our system is the best in the US. From what I've seen on You Tube of Toronto's rail system, I would vote them no. 1 for Canada and no. 2 for North America.
A couple things to bear in mind... As recently as the early 1980’s, there were WELL over a dozen streetcar (tram/trolley) lines, and at least five Trolley Bus (trackless trolley) lines in Philly! Today, while the WORLD is securing a promising future of Light-Rail infrastructure, SEPTA (Philly’s diesel-oriented backwards mentality Transit agency), is sparing NO expense to dismantle, and more-so completely remove what was arguably (Short of San Francisco MUNI), the greatest rail and electric transit infrastructure in the US! Since 1980, the following has been destroyed and ultimately removed from FULL functioning service (in order by Route from 1980): 60-Allegheny, 50-Olney/Rising Sun, 53-Wayne, 6-Ogontz, 56-Erie_Torresdale, 23-Germantown, and recently the 29Tasker and 79-Snyder Tolley Bus lines! That’s EIGHT ELECTRIC LINES! The 23-Germantown line is 22.3 MILES!
Janette McClelland Hi Jannette! Thank you for taking the time to read my post! Can you PLEASE send me, or post ANY links about the 15-Girard? Thank you!!! 🙏
I used San Diego's high floor system for a few years and hated them. A real pain to get in and out of them if you were hauling anything around. LA Metro I used for a while and really liked it especially the link to Amtrak in Union Station.
Dont forget light rail is only 1 small part of Bostons subway. We have 3 other heavy rail subway lines Red, Blue, Orange, plus Silver line BRT, Commuter rail lines that cover half the state and even some of Rhode Island and the Acela high speed trains that cover the northeast corridor.
I also like the River line, because I usually take it to Camden to connect with the Patco train, and the Newark Light Rail, I take to Grove Street, to connect with the NJT Montclair Boonton Line at Watsessing Avenue.
Ford Escape That river line is quite a line starting in Trenton and running to Camden. I did it once probably a year or two after it opened then took the PATCO to Philly. Never knew back then that besides NJT and PATH that SEPTA and PATCO ran in NJ. I’m going back to the early 2000’s when I was a teen.
Portland Oregon's 'Washington Park Station' (shown in the video 12:00) is the deepest below ground platform in the U.S. at 260 feet (69m). The MAX system is really good, I can go from my home in the west-side suburbs and travel to the airport on the east-side of Portland (approximately 30 miles) in under an hour. During rush hour that drive would take 2-1/2 hours by car, yeah the traffic jams are that bad here. If properly ran and maintained light-rail is awesome and everyone should be using it at least on occasion to cut down on pollution and traffic.
I've ridden most of these systems and each has its pros and cons. One important fact is that many (if not most) of these cities have multiple modes of rail transit (light rail, heavy rail, commuter rail, intercity/regional rail, and streetcars/trolleys) that include several transfer stations. DFW now has the massive DART system, TWO commuter rail lines, a vintage trolley line, and multiple intermodal transfer stations including two that connect DFW Airport to the region.
Well, I live and die by Tri-Met’s MAX every week. And appreciate Sound Transit’s Link Light Rail come gameday. But, I love the frequency of the METRO and all the major places it services.
Dallas Dart is my favorite. I've also been on that system before and loves it. Originally from NYC and every time I go to a city with light rail I ride the trains to see how it feels. Been on several of the ones you showed but Dallas is the best to me....
Disagree. The rail is too slow for a commuter rail. And carries less people than an actual light rail. LA, Seattle and Denver are way better. The wait time is ridiculous for Dart. Also many stations are placed in the middle of nowhere
@jeSuisbar the wait time is 15 minutes and soon to be 10 minutes during peak times, and never goes below 30 as far as im aware. Considering it's a hybrid commuter rail/light rail system that's not that bad. The speed also isn't too bad as long as you aren't going all the way through downtown. It's a 30 minute ride from the furthest stations out in plano or the airport to downtown, which while slower that the freeway at night is actually faster than it during rush hour. The trains can also go up to 70 mph, they just don't because scheduling around the downtown bottleneck is a pain. As for stations... yeah... but at least they're getting better. Infil development is actively happening at several stations, with plans for mixed use infil development currently being planned for several more, and the new silver line(not light rail technically but functions as a northern orbital line for the light rail) is going to have TOD from the get go. Very limited park and ride, much more bus and bike links and homes/business/offices within walking distance
It's a fascinating system , but it probably would have been a better idea for them to keep investing in bus services. Sadly they have a strong rail network without much of a (multi-modal) transit network.
Appable As a Portland native, I can say that we have a very well integrated system with a vast multi-modal network. We are also getting a BRT in one of our busiest corridors
As Nostalgic as Boston's Green Line is to my childhood, I really love the Twin Cities light rail, it's reliable, easy to use, and each stop is built in mixed use neighborhoods, it really makes being car free possible in a Midwest city.
Well it's less expensive and faster to get the service up and going by using the DMU vehicle's. But I agree it is wrong to consider them light rail vehicles.
I've never been to any of the other cities. I live in NJ. Started using NJT Light Rail a couple of years ago to visit friends in Bayonne. Now that I live in Bayonne, I take it several times a week. I honestly enjoy it. My ride is 30-35 minutes. Just sit back, read a book, listen to music. The good thing about my line is I'm at both the beginning and end of the line. So I always get a seat!
I like the Dallas dart light rail. It has 93 miles of track just in one line! And it's also the longest light rail in the US. I am lucky enough because I ride it all the time.
Salt Lake City also connects with a heavy rail commuter line called Frontrunner. FrontRunner runs for 88 miles North-South down the center of the state.
I think it's helpful to think about "light rail" systems in a couple of levels. There are systems that are basically intra-urban trolleys, designed to increase transport capacity along specific corridors within a city. Among these are New Orleans, which you don't mention, and the Bergen-Hudson lines, and the Dallas system. Then there are urban-suburban lines such as those in Pittsburgh. Finally, there are regional rail systems like the LA Metro or the San Diego Trolley (which isn't really a trolley any more) that serve an extended urban area. All of them have different characteristics, and the little ones can grow into big ones, like Portland and San Diego. It's hard to pick a favorite. I haven't ridden them all. The Seattle system is very nice, LA Metro is a bit harsh but useful, Bergen-Hudson offers a lovely ride along the river, and San Francisco has a nice feel to it. Philly tends to be a bit old and clanky, or at least it was when I last rode it, and MBTA is pretty confused. San Diego is unpretentious and functional, very much a regional rail network that serves the international border as well as metro San Diego. The Sprinter in San Diego is in effect an extension of the commuter rail system that runs from downtown San Diego to Oceanside, connecting there with LA's Metrolink regional rail system. Big systems are much more difficult to operate and maintain, and much more important to their regions. Smaller systems can be little more than an expression of municipal pride - Phoenix being an example of that. (If they wanted it to be functional, it would serve the airport and dip down south to pick up the Amtrak station at Maricopa.)
San Diego Trolley gets my vote, though they could improve night & weekend frequencies. Salt Lake City is 2nd: fast efficient service with 15 min frequency (20 on weekends) until last service and longer trains are used in rush hours.
The Red Line north of Philly was left out. It uses a third rail and can attain 60 MPH with tilting cars. It used to be part of a larger line that went up past Allentown. Also the new line in D.C> was also left out although it can be considered a trolley line. I have been on some of these: Jersey City, Philly, Boston, St. Louis and Charlotte.
If you are referring to the red line in Philly, that is the PATCO Speedline, which is a subway/heavy rail. If you are referring to the Norristown High Speed Line, then I would agree that it is light rail. It is the purple line.
St. Louis because they used beautiful historic tunnels and many of the stations are creative/beautiful. Also, it crosses the historic Eads Bridge. Most of this is not shown in the video, but worth looking at. However, I am a San Franciscan and appreciate the the downtown to ocean route of Muni. Oh, and I love the Green Line in Boston. It offers a great old school experience.
@@ryanneistat2676 Ryan, As I understand it, the subway tunnels under downtown St. Louis were originally regular train tunnels (freight or passenger). I think there is an entire network of tunnels down there. They may have been the way from the regular lines under downtown to Union Station. Or something like that.
@@stevenhardy6842 right on that's pretty cool I've always wondered what is all underground ST.LOUIS I know we got a lot of caves from the old brewarys.
Portland ties bus to Street cars to light rail to train. Has the highest ridership of all them. Than Seattle has a great system. Dallas has low ridership for the longest light rail.
@reedermh They're occupied with reworking and improving the bus network. 5 minute delays on the train is annoying but fairly uncommon. A 30 minute delay on the bus is a big problem and much more common
One of the things they don't mention about Cleveland's RTA line, is that it runs directly from Hopkins International Airport, to the heart of downtown Cleveland, and beyond, actually. It also has one of the most haunted stations in the country. So bad, in fact, that RTA has considered closing it down on several occasions.
I love the Boston light rail system. It looks the best and I have great memories of riding it. Especially the mesh part in the middle that turns. Absolutely great.
My vote goes to the Tide. I live in Norfolk, so I occasionally ride it. One cool thing is the articulators between cars. You can also get a view of the controls if you sit on the left hand side of the car at the very first seat.
@@TheOnlyOneStanding8079 Indeed. I live in Dallas. Awful. The wait times are insane. 20 minutes. What is worst is the train is a hybrid of light rail and commuter. So it skips important parts. And gigantic parking lots around the stations with limited bus service
@@neiandresamuels5428 Indeed. And it’s very slow. Especially since it goes at the pace of a street car 90% of the time. You are better off buying a car there.
I use the River Line (NJT) at least twice a month to go from my hometown of Trenton to Camden to go to the Adventure Aquarium, and places in South Jersey. The River Line provide a cheaper alternative to Philadelphia as you take the River Line to Camden and connect to either the PATCO Speedline, or any NJ Transit bus going over the Ben Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia as that’s only $3 ($1.60 for the River Line, and $1.40 for the PATCO Speedline from Broadway to Center City Philadelphia) one way compared to $9.25 to take SEPTA Regional Rail from Trenton. I have used the other two NJT light rail lines in North Jersey, SEPTA in Philadelphia, and the Baltimore Light Rail as well. Love when I ride the River Line (NJT).
Just curious: what do you consider Philly’s Norristown high speed line to be? It has trolley-like vehicles but it uses high floor vehicles on an entirely grade separated route.
Los Angeles. I travel up to LA via Calif Metrolink and then take the Los Angeles metro system just about anywhere in the city. As a Senior I pay a very low price compared to regular tickets. I just like public transportation period.
As a former New Yorker it is difficult for me to give any kind of praise to Boston but, in all honesty, they have the best system because of its trolleys, buses, trackless trolleys subway. I understand it may be a bit cumbersome at times but they keep operating it just the same. Kudos to the good folks there. My vote for second place is Philadelphia - close margin for both.
You failed to mention that expansion of the Metro Rail system in Los Angeles is not only planned but under construction, and there are further plans for expansion decades into the future.
Not everything here is typically "light rail" which you would more associate with streetcar / tram / subway. Some rolling stock would qualify more as regional trains, I think.
always love to watch TM's videos; great to see how many different solutions are possible within this mode of transport, light rail is definitely not a 'one size fits all'. must be plenty of local authorities kicking themselves that they were so quick to pull up the tracks!
Wow! Thanks for such a great video. I would love to ride all of them and Canada as well. I live in Australia and i must say any rail system that recreates that "Yesteryear look" gets my vote! Although not practical. if you look at the old trolleys used in San Fran and Melbourne Australia they evoke a sense of Wonder and Fun.
I'm from Sacramento and on September 8th 2019 SacRT launched their new bus network called "SacRT Forward" which included for example, a deletion of our route 22 but is now covered by extending our existing route 13, so now it's a kind of "cross-town" route. Same thing with our route 2, got rid of that line which is now partially covered by our existing route 11 etc
DART is also building a Subway under downtown Dallas. And has 4 Rail-Lines and a 5th one being built. I think DART just needs to update the trains to a bigger an newer train.
@@colormedubious4747 It actually needs stations in places with higher density. Dart's ridership is below average for 93 miles. San Diego has about the same ridership with just 56 miles.
I like the video of all the light rails that you posted! My favorite is Pittsburgh Pa! I am born and raised in Pittsburgh Pa and lived in Pittsburgh for 23 years and the trolley ride is awesome! I now live in NJ doing ministry with my family for Newark NJ but I never have taken the NJ light rail! Although I did live in and around the routes of the NJ light rail and passed up the light rail system going through Downtown Newark! I do have to say though NJ is a lot cheaper as far as the bus system goes than Pittsburgh. The Port Aithority of Allegheny County bus and Trolley service have gone down hill. The bus drivers make ridiculous amount of money meanwhile they cut off a lot of bus routes and waiting long period of time for a bus to come and they raised the fare up so much its not really worth riding anymore. Last time I rode the Trolley from downtown Pittsburgh to South Hills village which is about 45 minute ride cost me almost 7 dollars one way.
The Valley Metro in Phoenix is actually pretty good. The 2 problems is that Phoenix is the perfect example of the city that grew out instead of up because of the Automobile, and There is nothing to do Downtown unless there a Suns or DBacks game. So all the entertainment is also spread out. The light rail would be perfect if it expanded towards Estrella/Maryvale/Laveen, Glendale, and Gilbert, If Phoenix stopped expanding out as rapidly as it is and built up, and if more things were put Downtown or at least along the routes.
As a guy who lives in Boston the green line can be a real pain, everything is old, the system is so old it's increasing causing problems, good thing they are actually fixing the damn thing
Melbourne Australia. 250 kilometres (160 miles) of double track. 206 million passenger trips in 2017-18 Trams have operated continuously in Melbourne since 1885
I use L.A. Metro and like it! I live at the beach and can go from beach to Airport or to Museums at Exposition Park, or to Rose Bowl parade, or to Downtown. For me it's the best!
I am live in Manchester UK and twice a year I am in Long Beach for two weeks. The (Free) Red Passport bus takes me to the Blue line (Now 'A' Line) and I can be downtown LA in less than an hour and from there ANYWHERE ! Superb and CHEAP ! You just buy a tap card and go !
Coming January, 2019, TEXrail serving Downtown Fort Worth thru several municipalities to DFW International Airport. The cars are Stadler FLIRT Diesel units. Testing is already underway on several sections of track thru December, 2018. This matches Dallas' DART line from the airport to Downtown Dallas and other areas.
mlf1218 Texrail just opened and they are already discussing an extension south to TCU and the hospital district. Also, the new DART Cotton Belt line just got their environmental permits AND a 900 million federal loan. Construction will start by the end of 2019. Once completed, you will be able to take a train from downtown ft worth, jump on cotton belt line east to Plano
i rode the Newark Light Rail (city subway) for seven years commuting one stop (from Newark Penn Station to Military Park). Lots of people rode the train in the am and pm and i say this because it's only one stop. Service is so reliable and quick that I don't think many people would wait for the train if it wasnt. My daily commute started in Manhattan, where I'd take the new Q train to 42nd, switch to 2,3 and go one stop to Penn Station NY. From there Id take NJ transit to Newark Penn. So subway, commuter and then light rail All three are perfectly good. The commuter were probably the fastest.
don't get me started on Phoenix's. It's like if LA had zero rail transit, and their solution is to build a clickity-clack streetcar in the middle of the road and said "There! Problem solved." Phoenix built themselves a political tool, not a reliable transportation alternative.
Seattle has the most ambitious expansion plans, SF can barely finish two additional stations. I wish Seattle all the best if they can triple ridership in the next ten years it will be a huge success story.
As a UW student, I can confirm the recent expansion was and is very successful!
While it is great that Seattle is trying to expand their system, the SF Muni Metro is in a completely different league. And this isn't just because SF is much better designed for transit than Seattle. Muni has several times more ridership (almost 3x!) and the 3rd largest ridership in the US. And Muni has no problems adding "new stations". What you are referring to is the Central Subway project, which while it has been delayed, is a monumental improvement to the system and an incredibly complex project. It's the first North=South link in the system and is completely in an underground tunnel. They have encountered pretty serious tunneling issues in the form of a previously unknown underground river. The tunnel is also extremely complex because it needed to go under not one but two sets of tunnels under Market street, BART and the existing Muni Subway! It is a deep and technically challenging tunneling job in a seismically active highrise district that was built on a former lagoon with complicated soils.
SF Muni Metro does have some systemic issues preventing it from being an even better system. Namely the fact that the city refused to give it traffic priority and signal priority. But this is literally being dealt with right now, with a lot of lines getting priority over auto traffic and grade separations or dedicated lanes. Another major issue was that the entire system was nearing end-of-life in terms of equipment and rolling stock. But here again Muni has already dealt with the issue. They have begun taking delivery of their new Siemens trains and are actively modernizing trackside equipment. Muni is being transformed into a much more high-performing and better system as we speak and more improvements are on the way!
Basically, the Muni Metro did have a number of issues which in such a widely used and vital system were incredibly hard to deal with. But they have already dealt with them or are actively doing so. It is safe to say that the system will only be more and more heavily used with the new lines and improvements that they are doing. Seattle will have a very hard time even catching up to Muni in the next few decades.
y have begun
Seattle is the size of the Minneapolis-St.Paul area, it's doing fine for its size; it just has a weirdly outsized cultural impact like Portland.
Seattle is building a light rail with the infrastructure and cost of a metro, being the question, why aren’t they building a metro?
@@andrewharmon5843people didn’t want a regular old metro, so they built a metro with light rail vehicles and overhead wires! :)
Actually people thought a regular metro would be too loud weirdly enough.. it’s not very true but we got the best of both worlds
My vote goes to Portland. Extensive system that continues to add lines
The trains are also pretty clean for being downtown.
Toyota1949 it is also interesting that they use Skoda on their light rail.
Dont forget light rail is only 1 small part of Bostons subway. We have 3 other heavy rail subway lines Red, Blue, Orange, plus Silver line BRT, Commuter rail lines that cover half the state and even some of Rhode Island and the Acela high speed trains that cover the northeast corridor.
Toyota1949 its a streetcar so it’s already inferior to any metro-style systems on the list
TheLocalLt portland native here, we have a streetcar in addition to our light rail, not just a streetcar.
Encouraging to see the push for light rail in so many cities in the last 40-years.
It’s interesting how in some cities the light rail is the backbone of the transportation system, like in Dallas or Portland, but in other places like Jersey City or Newark it’s only a small portion of the transportation system. The primary lines are heavy rail commuter lines or full rail subway stations with light rail just servings secondary routes.
same for philly and NYC
The light rail system in newark is unfortunately very small and only is availible in small parts of the city. It is complemented by a much larger bus network.
@@SD4philly NYC doesn't have light rail
@@SD4philly NY dosnt have light rail
Newark City Subway was this quirky little system that didn't mean much to outsiders until New Jersey Transit took it over, added some extensions and converted it to Newark Light Rail. Jersey City's HBLR has only been around for a little over 20 years. In both cases Port Authority Trans-Hudson was their major subway system.
The San Diego Trolley and Sprinter are excellent light rail. You would be surprised how many parts of the city you can get to with that. It's an underrated system IMO.
Something funny is that the ones in Austin, Oceanside and Trenton use what is considered here in Europe as heavy regional rail vehicles for a "light rail"
imaginox9 Actually the way they operate looks like commuter rail,and the trains they use are commuter rail train cars
Those are diesel multiple unit, not light rail
I ride the Austin train daily! We are a metro of 2 million+ but we have ONE rail line. People here are so hesitant about rail that we could barely scrape together enough money for a single line. I believe our metro authority chose diesel over electric for these trains due to cost. Also - it actually runs on very old freight track - not even built for commuter service. Depressing. It's getting better though. Final note - we call it "commuter rail."
Its because “everything is bigger in America” even light rails. When we got our light rail in Phoenix, I thought it was going to be the ones I rode all over Europe. Nope this thing was huge. Lol!
The Stadler GTWs from Austin are used as standard Commuter regional rail (S-Bahn) here in Austria. They even use tracks of a future high speed railway line.
The United States have some very good light rail systems, and just imagine good they would be if the light rail systems were kept
running and improved from the 1960s/
1960s? Don't you mean the 1800's and early 1900s? Light rail began in America almost 200 years ago, the first system being erected in 1832 in New York (we are just 12 years shy of its 200th year anniversary). These were "street car" systems, later billed as "light rail", but there's no denying that they in effect were very much the same for passengers.
@@amapparatistkwabena First electric light rail was i. Richmond VA in the 1880s as a test to see if it would work in Boston to replace the Omnibus Horse Trolley. NYC never had an extensive light rail. They used elevated steam trains. NYC built their subway by learning from Boston's mistakes.
ava gd Well, that implies a level of sophistication and imagination that hasn’t existed for a very long time if ever. The right wing is like a parasite. They enjoy the economic benefits of their blue state neighbors without actually contributing anything. They just take take take.
I disagree. Compared with European or even Canadian cities, it's pitiful. The frequencies are too low and the speeds are too slow to get a serious number of people out of their cars.
Case and point:
- Dallas (USA) - pop. 2.4 million - less than 100,000 daily ridership
- Calgary (Canada) - pop 1.4 million - over 300,000 daily ridership
NYC had streetcars all over the place! Brooklynites were even called 'Trolley Dodgers' !
Of the ones hat I had the chance to ride. I liked Minneapolis, Phoenix and San Diego's light rail.
Denver has expanded so much in the last 6 years with two new light rail lines and an extension. RTD now also has commuter rail.
I lived in Denver for ten years, best light rail service. I've lived in Austin for five years and take public transit as my main form of transport: the train is useless, it serves a niche group of people and was built as a publicity stunt. The line could be perfectly served by bus, and in fact most of the line is already covered by bus as well. Its only excuse for existence is its service to the nearby city of Leander.
It's also so weird to see "H Line - Florida" instead of "H Line - Lincoln" I left Denver right before the A Line opened
Fun fact about the Hudson Bergen Light Rail and Newark Light Rail: even though both systems use the same Kinki-Sharyo rolling stock, the trains on both lines are not interchangeable, due to the two systems having slightly different rail profiles.
@David Nightjet That's kinda like Portland's: The older Siemens fleet is not interoperable with the newer Siemens fleet, despite being the same brand. They are, however, interoperable with the Bombardier fleet in that system, which is really cool.
How about the most stressed operators? As a former VTA operator--I would have to say VTA operators are do to the number of supervisor/operator ratio. I would also include lack of break time and places to stop and take a 10-7B--a bathroom brake. Add to that when I was hired on the total system operated the same way. When they opened the Winchester Line that all changed because they wanted to save money.
As for operating an LRV --I would have to say it was still the best job I ever had. If it had not been for a mold problem that many coastal cities have--I would still be working there today. I always enjoyed having children come into the cab at the end of the line. Because I don't have any of my own I always enjoyed how their eyes lit up when they came in. For the very young ones I would open a sandbox and let them feel the sand. The parents also enjoyed seeing the reactions of their children. I figured it was good PR for VTA.
Thank you VTA for a giving me a chance to do what a lot of little boys dream of doing but never get the chance.
As cars are becoming more expensive to own and maintain, I think you're going to see more of these light rail/suburban/intra-urban lines returning to service...
Chemnitz in Germany has a light rail system that goes through the city center and then switches from electric motor to diesel motor and goes to remote villages on train tracks. They call it "chemnitzer Modell" if you are interested.
I live in LA and the Metro Rail system is pretty convenient, lot of lines that connect Downtown throughout the rest of the city.
My favorite route is the Expo Line!
Same
I like the fact Minneapolis runs for 24 hrs.
Not all of it tho
@ steven kelly -
YES , I like it too ,
in Karlsruhe as well the S2 (tram-train / suburban light rail) runs 24/7 on the _part_ inside Karlsruhe & Friday + Saturday the entire line 24h
de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:AVG-Netz2011.png (Karlsruhe = Violet )
www.kvv.de/fileadmin/user_upload/kvv/Bilder/liniennetz/KVV-Liniennetzplan_Schiene.png ( S2 = violet - Yellow area = Karlsruhe)
Only one line
Both the Blue and Green Line run 24/7 that fact was not included in the video though.
Also the Blue Line is getting expanded but the project is held a bit due to complications with BNSF Railways.
I also live very close to Minneapolis so i know a lot about it.
Both light rail lines, about 25 soon to be near 40 miles (possibly 50+ with blue line extension after green line extension) of track and a small handful of bus lines run 24/7 even on Christmas and as a former Amazon employee who worked on Christmas I can vouch that this system is amazing despite being relatively small.
I have ridden on the Riverline between Camden and Trenton. San Francisco's Muni Metro when PCCs were used, St Louis's Metrolink.
My favorite is Pittsburgh. I’m the third, and possibly 4th generation to ride on it. My grandmother and mother rode it from our hometown of Charleroi all the way to downtown Pittsburgh back in the 1920s and 1930s. It was gone from Charleroi by my era, but some of the track was still there. There were several high bridges on the line back then, one close to 300 feet above the river.
The only two light rail systems I've ridden are the SEPTA Media/Sharon lines, SEPTA subway surfaces trolleys and SF MUNl. Both are nice but the MUNI is slow and crowded(Lexington Ave subway crowded!). The SEPTA Media/Sharon lines are pretty fast. The SEPTA trolleys also move along at a good pace.
My vote goes to the San Diego Trolley but I love how you put the sprinter in
I used to be a train operator for RTD in Denver. These LRT consists are generally electronically limited to 55 mph and run on direct current. Because of the length of the city blocks downtown no more that four car consists can be run. Each car is an 80 foot articulated unit, with two traction motors nose mounted on the front axles of the bogies on either end. RTD has a heavy rail commuter line out to DIA that is under FRA regulations and can operate at speeds of up to 79 mph and run on AC.
excellent comment! Thank you for the insight!
Obviously LA Metro Blue,Expo and Green Lines are my favorites. Rode them all the time when I lived in LA. Grew up riding the old Yellow Cars along Pico and Vermont as an infant until they got ripped out in 1963. Also grew up with Muni PCC trains in the Twin Peaks tunnel on the K Ingleside and the N Judah on the street. And ride the Metro when I'm in SF. Also have rode the Red San Diego trolleys to San Ysidro and La Mesa. And SEPTA trolleys 11,36 and 101.
Seattle is extending their rail east 25 mines of Seattle to Redmond, WA and 30 miles south of Seattle to Federal Way.
Gotta love the classic Red Car San Diego Trolley. I grew up seeing it. Sprinter is also special to me since I rode it opening day as a kid. Charlottes also looks pretty cool.
I vote Los Angeles. The LRT routes do provide great vistas from the many bridges, elevated section or unobstructed views. For example Expo Line starting at La Brea Station you can see the whole city/hills/ Hwood sign. Gold Line crosses the LA River and along the Arroyo Seco valley and views of the San Gabriel Mountains along the 210 freeway. Some dont like rail along freeway medians but sometimes I love seeing cars stuck in traffic and the LRT just passing all of them. Except for a few sections along the entire route, the LRT system in LA gets good speed from the grade separate sections and underground tunnels or along the freeways.
Overall, LA's LRT system is actually good. I have noticed in the past 10 years especially the last 5 years, there is a huge interest in building along near light rail and heavy rail stations. The Expo Line has the most activity a lot of new mixed use residential/shops below. Some with hotels/offices. This will create walkable areas and people can live near stations to get to work, go for restaurants, etc. Still it will take a few decades at this rate for LA to totally change from a car dominated culture to a walkable/ bikeable, / public transit user type of city culture. With the need for more housing in the LA area, I hope that 80% of that is located within walking distance of a Metro station. Then people have the option to use rail to work or not
Have yall been to LA? There light rail system is the best in the country. Los Angeles metro covers 81 miles more than any other city in the u.s. therefore they have the most ridership and the most lines and they also have the cheapest transportation
Dallas has the most mileage of light rail track, not LA. LA also pretends that some of its commuter rail is light rail while dallas doesn't. If dallas included that it would add another 20 miles of track to its number
DART for sure. You can also get a day pass on DART and connect to the public transit in Fort Worth through the TRE.
I will say San Francisco because of Munis close proximity to the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) system and surface bus routes.
Especially downtown between Embarcadero and Civic Center. And the Balboa Park BART station where the J,K and M trains end near CCSF.
Lynx Blue Line in Charlotte follows the "light rail" model in that it mostly follows existing track lines and runs at grade. Additional lines to serve the airport and northern suburbs are in planning. Just broke ground on a new transportation center that will link Lynx, street car, bus, and Amtrak in Uptown.
I'm partial to Boston's Green Line because I grew up using it, but the Dallas, Portland, Minneapolis, Phoenix and New Jersey lines look very interesting, I'd love to try them
In Seattle the Link stations are so unique that connects SeaTac Airport and Downtown within a 40 min trip using the Orca Card & also there's other Street cars in Seattle near the King Street station of Amtrak & in LA i took the E line the entire route and is very unique also from Santa Monica to Downtown LA
The "Diesel lightrails" like the Sprinter, Austin Metrorail and Riverline are not something I would consider light rails. If you were to ask me I would say they fall more so into the "Local Railroad" category as a short distance suburban or rural commuter service. I myself live in Denmark and have 4 railroad lines of similar size running in each direction from my hometown, all using Coradia Lint 41 sets (very similar to the sets used on these lines) except these lines have never been classified as lightrail ever.
Honestly, it depends on it's characteristics
No it doesn't
That's diesel multiple unit, not light rail
@@RRansomSmith Yes it does. Just because it's a DMU doesn't mean it's not a light rail. In America, heavy rail refers to subways, commuter and intercity rail. DMUs here are light rails
@ DrDewott -
Same situation in Germany , these "Sprinter, Austin Metrorail and Riverline" are classified as "Eisenbahn" / "Vollbahn" = _Heavy-Rail_ in Germany ...
Light rain in Germany are the AVG/KVV Tram-Train en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Avg-898-00.jpg (on "DB" National Railway track) , which have Diesel variants too like in Nordhausen en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nordhausen_DUO_TramTrain.jpg
American 'heavy rail' cars are just that, very heavy. American requirements for rail cars prevent using European mainline equipment on our systems. This is based on what happens in a crash and our rules are biased towards safety. If you look at the 'trolleys' used in LA, the 'Red Car' lines, these look just like the electric commuter trains in the eastern US, except they sometimes ran on the street. Most European tram systems use mostly dedicated ROWs in the downtown and do residential running in the street. American cities are different with less emphasis on downtown retail and of course much more suburban residential, a lot of commercial and industrial business is also in the suburbs, this greatly complicates the many into one model of most transit systems. I don't think it makes any sense to overdefine systems as 'lightrail' or heavy rail. Seattle has a subway system (heavy rail) that looks way more 'lite rail' and a trolley (tram?) that looks pretty heavy. The new cars that replaced the originals on the Philadelphia 'high speed' line that runs out to Norristown are way heavier than the originals that were aluminum and I bet they can't go as fast, I had the opportunity to ride the old ones in a private charter and we pretty much matched the test speeds achieved before the line opened to the public, not bad for 'antique' equipment. Worrying what you call a system is really not productive, what is productive is defining a need and developing a system that can meet that need at an affordable cost.
Thanks for mentioning Pittsburgh's "T" as we call it. Yes it is a mix of old trolley and dedicated r.o.w. that our local leaders back then somehow brilliantly cobbled together for the Port Authority of Allegheny County as the last remaining PCC cars disappeared for the bus. I use it occasionally, and have more often in the past.
Since I grew up in Philadelphia and now live just outside of the city, my vote is for the Philadelphia/suburban street rail system known as the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority or SEPTA. There are 5 subway-surface trolley routes and 1 all surface car route. The subway-surface routes all use Japanese Kawasaki cars (K cars, for short) and the all surface route uses rebuilt PCC cars. The Kawasaki cars run so smooth it is almost like floating on air when riding in one. I dare say that the rebuilt PCCs now run almost as smooth. Anyone visiting the city should be treated to a ride on one. What I like about our cars is that they are traditional trolleys in that they use poles on the roof to collect the electricity for power instead of the pantographs which seem to be the common method of power collecting on newer cars. I also like the fact that they are single cars with visible wheels instead of articulated (accordion) ones and with hidden wheels. I have been reading lately that there are plans to purchase new cars for the city and develop dedicated rights-of-way to speed up boarding and travel times. These are great goals but my personal preference is for cars that look like traditional trolley cars but larger, since the goal is to increase passenger capacity. Of course, during rush hours cars could be coupled together. I did not mention that the 2 suburban trolley routes, which are shown above as being in Drexel Hill, only run briefly in the street and mostly on private right-of-way. They also have pantographs which I suppose was done so that the operators would not have to lower and raise poles at the end of the lines, which do not have turnaround loops. The old cars had poles on each end. If anyone who is studying (light) rail transit comes to Philadelphia, I'm sure you will love our system for its efficiency and functionality. Other cities returning to streetcars should study and copy ours. So you see why I think our system is the best in the US. From what I've seen on You Tube of Toronto's rail system, I would vote them no. 1 for Canada and no. 2 for North America.
I'm happy to see Portland so high on so many people's lists
Not only is it a very extensive system, but Portland is also my home City, makes me proud
My vote goes on to Philly. It is quite expansive, covers a lot of the city, and is accompanied by multiple subway lines
Skier I live in Philly I can definitely agree
You mean Broad Street, not Broadway, that's a different city.
A couple things to bear in mind... As recently as the early 1980’s, there were WELL over a dozen streetcar (tram/trolley) lines, and at least five Trolley Bus (trackless trolley) lines in Philly! Today, while the WORLD is securing a promising future of Light-Rail infrastructure, SEPTA (Philly’s diesel-oriented backwards mentality Transit agency), is sparing NO expense to dismantle, and more-so completely remove what was arguably (Short of San Francisco MUNI), the greatest rail and electric transit infrastructure in the US! Since 1980, the following has been destroyed and ultimately removed from FULL functioning service (in order by Route from 1980): 60-Allegheny, 50-Olney/Rising Sun, 53-Wayne, 6-Ogontz, 56-Erie_Torresdale, 23-Germantown, and recently the 29Tasker and 79-Snyder Tolley Bus lines! That’s EIGHT ELECTRIC LINES! The 23-Germantown line is 22.3 MILES!
@@litephazeAnd the 15 trolley on Girard Ave is gone.
Janette McClelland Hi Jannette! Thank you for taking the time to read my post! Can you PLEASE send me, or post ANY links about the 15-Girard? Thank you!!! 🙏
Don't forget that my city Atlanta has the Atlanta Streetcar light rail system now.
My vote goes to Valley Metro light rail which has been in service since 2008 and has recently celebrated it's 12th year of service.
I used San Diego's high floor system for a few years and hated them. A real pain to get in and out of them if you were hauling anything around. LA Metro I used for a while and really liked it especially the link to Amtrak in Union Station.
And go early to Union Station get a drink and a sandwich and sit in the beautiful quiet garden for a while.
Los Angeles the best. For $1.75 you can go to so many fun places, beaches, work, home, airports, Amtrak
Portland
Boston
Seattle
San Francisco
Good systems and lovely towns!
Portland? Best at what? Creating noise?
Dont forget light rail is only 1 small part of Bostons subway. We have 3 other heavy rail subway lines Red, Blue, Orange, plus Silver line BRT, Commuter rail lines that cover half the state and even some of Rhode Island and the Acela high speed trains that cover the northeast corridor.
@@thomasmann9216 No......
Thos are your favorite cities. You just claim they have the best metros to make yourself feel good.
@@josephdowney6816 Bad Grammar...
I also like the River line, because I usually take it to Camden to connect with the Patco train, and the Newark Light Rail, I take to Grove Street, to connect with the NJT Montclair Boonton Line at Watsessing Avenue.
Ford Escape That river line is quite a line starting in Trenton and running to Camden. I did it once probably a year or two after it opened then took the PATCO to Philly. Never knew back then that besides NJT and PATH that SEPTA and PATCO ran in NJ. I’m going back to the early 2000’s when I was a teen.
Ford Escape Where do you go after Watsessing Avenue?
@@a.b.s_productions Yeah the riverline and patco are the best in my opinion.
@@heli-crewhgs5285 To the near by mall over there.
Portland Oregon's 'Washington Park Station' (shown in the video 12:00) is the deepest below ground platform in the U.S. at 260 feet (69m). The MAX system is really good, I can go from my home in the west-side suburbs and travel to the airport on the east-side of Portland (approximately 30 miles) in under an hour. During rush hour that drive would take 2-1/2 hours by car, yeah the traffic jams are that bad here. If properly ran and maintained light-rail is awesome and everyone should be using it at least on occasion to cut down on pollution and traffic.
Los Angeles Metro rail is the Best one
I've ridden most of these systems and each has its pros and cons. One important fact is that many (if not most) of these cities have multiple modes of rail transit (light rail, heavy rail, commuter rail, intercity/regional rail, and streetcars/trolleys) that include several transfer stations. DFW now has the massive DART system, TWO commuter rail lines, a vintage trolley line, and multiple intermodal transfer stations including two that connect DFW Airport to the region.
Well, I live and die by Tri-Met’s MAX every week. And appreciate Sound Transit’s Link Light Rail come gameday. But, I love the frequency of the METRO and all the major places it services.
Dallas Dart is my favorite. I've also been on that system before and loves it. Originally from NYC and every time I go to a city with light rail I ride the trains to see how it feels. Been on several of the ones you showed but Dallas is the best to me....
As a Dallas resident I agree
Disagree. The rail is too slow for a commuter rail. And carries less people than an actual light rail. LA, Seattle and Denver are way better. The wait time is ridiculous for Dart. Also many stations are placed in the middle of nowhere
@jeSuisbar the wait time is 15 minutes and soon to be 10 minutes during peak times, and never goes below 30 as far as im aware. Considering it's a hybrid commuter rail/light rail system that's not that bad. The speed also isn't too bad as long as you aren't going all the way through downtown. It's a 30 minute ride from the furthest stations out in plano or the airport to downtown, which while slower that the freeway at night is actually faster than it during rush hour. The trains can also go up to 70 mph, they just don't because scheduling around the downtown bottleneck is a pain. As for stations... yeah... but at least they're getting better. Infil development is actively happening at several stations, with plans for mixed use infil development currently being planned for several more, and the new silver line(not light rail technically but functions as a northern orbital line for the light rail) is going to have TOD from the get go. Very limited park and ride, much more bus and bike links and homes/business/offices within walking distance
I'm said Charlotte the transit system fantastic and it goes underground onto the campus University North Carolina at Charlotte.
Ive ridden the Minneapolis and Dallas systems. I would love to go portland because from what ive read it looks like a great system.
It's a fascinating system , but it probably would have been a better idea for them to keep investing in bus services. Sadly they have a strong rail network without much of a (multi-modal) transit network.
Appable As a Portland native, I can say that we have a very well integrated system with a vast multi-modal network. We are also getting a BRT in one of our busiest corridors
Los Angeles, it's my home and you can travel to so many places on the Blue, Expo, and Gold lines!
LA has more space and cheaper land than NYC... LA metro system should be as large or bigger than NYC.
@@drewsteps Los Angeles was Long overdue to have a rapid transit system.
🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱🥱
As Nostalgic as Boston's Green Line is to my childhood, I really love the Twin Cities light rail, it's reliable, easy to use, and each stop is built in mixed use neighborhoods, it really makes being car free possible in a Midwest city.
Oceanside: Has light rail.
Also Oceanside: it’s powered by diesel.
Me, an electric traction fan: “You’re doing it wrong.”
I don’t really consider the Oceanside system light rail, it’s more of a quality regional rail line
Well it's less expensive and faster to get the service up and going by using the DMU vehicle's. But I agree it is wrong to consider them light rail vehicles.
I've never been to any of the other cities. I live in NJ. Started using NJT Light Rail a couple of years ago to visit friends in Bayonne. Now that I live in Bayonne, I take it several times a week. I honestly enjoy it. My ride is 30-35 minutes. Just sit back, read a book, listen to music. The good thing about my line is I'm at both the beginning and end of the line. So I always get a seat!
I like the Dallas dart light rail. It has 93 miles of track just in one line! And it's also the longest light rail in the US. I am lucky enough because I ride it all the time.
Salt Lake City also connects with a heavy rail commuter line called Frontrunner. FrontRunner runs for 88 miles North-South down the center of the state.
LA Metro Rail is the best, Dallas DART is a close second, and Minneapolis Metro is third.
David Nissim 😄😂😂😄😂😂 your a funny guy
Yeah old stuck on da freeway city does have a excellent light rail system.Keep it up LA.
Nope Minneapolis has the best trains light rail
Denver is the best
@@stevenkelly9731 We're talking about light rail you know? Not cars
I think it's helpful to think about "light rail" systems in a couple of levels. There are systems that are basically intra-urban trolleys, designed to increase transport capacity along specific corridors within a city. Among these are New Orleans, which you don't mention, and the Bergen-Hudson lines, and the Dallas system. Then there are urban-suburban lines such as those in Pittsburgh. Finally, there are regional rail systems like the LA Metro or the San Diego Trolley (which isn't really a trolley any more) that serve an extended urban area. All of them have different characteristics, and the little ones can grow into big ones, like Portland and San Diego. It's hard to pick a favorite. I haven't ridden them all. The Seattle system is very nice, LA Metro is a bit harsh but useful, Bergen-Hudson offers a lovely ride along the river, and San Francisco has a nice feel to it. Philly tends to be a bit old and clanky, or at least it was when I last rode it, and MBTA is pretty confused. San Diego is unpretentious and functional, very much a regional rail network that serves the international border as well as metro San Diego. The Sprinter in San Diego is in effect an extension of the commuter rail system that runs from downtown San Diego to Oceanside, connecting there with LA's Metrolink regional rail system. Big systems are much more difficult to operate and maintain, and much more important to their regions. Smaller systems can be little more than an expression of municipal pride - Phoenix being an example of that. (If they wanted it to be functional, it would serve the airport and dip down south to pick up the Amtrak station at Maricopa.)
San Diego Trolley gets my vote, though they could improve night & weekend frequencies.
Salt Lake City is 2nd: fast efficient service with 15 min frequency (20 on weekends) until last service and longer trains are used in rush hours.
The Red Line north of Philly was left out. It uses a third rail and can attain 60 MPH with tilting cars. It used to be part of a larger line that went up past Allentown. Also the new line in D.C> was also left out although it can be considered a trolley line. I have been on some of these: Jersey City, Philly, Boston, St. Louis and Charlotte.
If you are referring to the red line in Philly, that is the PATCO Speedline, which is a subway/heavy rail. If you are referring to the Norristown High Speed Line, then I would agree that it is light rail. It is the purple line.
I like Charlotte, NC's light rail a lot because it has a very modern feel and they're on time, most of the time
If you live in the in the two places for access. Charlotte needs more lines to make it accessible. Their so slow in building it.
Charlotte has the CityLynx gold line being tested now. It should be open in a month or two.
St. Louis because they used beautiful historic tunnels and many of the stations are creative/beautiful. Also, it crosses the historic Eads Bridge. Most of this is not shown in the video, but worth looking at. However, I am a San Franciscan and appreciate the the downtown to ocean route of Muni. Oh, and I love the Green Line in Boston. It offers a great old school experience.
I'm from st. Louis does anybody know what the old tunnels were used for?
@@ryanneistat2676 Ryan, As I understand it, the subway tunnels under downtown St. Louis were originally regular train tunnels (freight or passenger). I think there is an entire network of tunnels down there. They may have been the way from the regular lines under downtown to Union Station. Or something like that.
@@stevenhardy6842 right on that's pretty cool I've always wondered what is all underground ST.LOUIS I know we got a lot of caves from the old brewarys.
Portland ties bus to Street cars to light rail to train. Has the highest ridership of all them. Than Seattle has a great system. Dallas has low ridership for the longest light rail.
3:57 Ayyyyy it's Dallas Dart Light Rail! My favorite! I ride it most of the time and I enjoy it! Smoothest ride and is up to 93 miles long! :D
I like long light rail rides....You get to see a lot of the city that way
The only weakness is having all four lines use the same stretch of downtown line. Any accident there and the entire system is shut down.
@reedermh They're occupied with reworking and improving the bus network. 5 minute delays on the train is annoying but fairly uncommon. A 30 minute delay on the bus is a big problem and much more common
MBTA Green Line crushes all others in ridership, but Seattle Link Light Rail is growing fast
One of the things they don't mention about Cleveland's RTA line, is that it runs directly from Hopkins International Airport, to the heart of downtown Cleveland, and beyond, actually. It also has one of the most haunted stations in the country. So bad, in fact, that RTA has considered closing it down on several occasions.
Thanks for all your videos bro, I really enjoy them Keep up the good work 😁
I love the Boston light rail system. It looks the best and I have great memories of riding it. Especially the mesh part in the middle that turns. Absolutely great.
What are you doing in those light rails....Are you copying the movie Risky Business? Lol
Ah, the red limo (San Diego Trolley) used to get me from high school to work to home. I miss my hometown.
My vote goes to the Tide. I live in Norfolk, so I occasionally ride it. One cool thing is the articulators between cars. You can also get a view of the controls if you sit on the left hand side of the car at the very first seat.
My favorites are Denver Los Angeles San Francisco Houston Phoenix and Philly!
Lmao Houston barely has any rail extensions ..the rail doesn't go beyond Uptown
I would replace Houston for Seattle. And Phoenix for Minneapolis. Those light rails are short and slow like a streetcar
@@jeSuisbar SF California muni light rail is very good
@@TheOnlyOneStanding8079 Indeed. I live in Dallas. Awful. The wait times are insane. 20 minutes. What is worst is the train is a hybrid of light rail and commuter. So it skips important parts. And gigantic parking lots around the stations with limited bus service
@@neiandresamuels5428 Indeed. And it’s very slow. Especially since it goes at the pace of a street car 90% of the time. You are better off buying a car there.
I use the River Line (NJT) at least twice a month to go from my hometown of Trenton to Camden to go to the Adventure Aquarium, and places in South Jersey. The River Line provide a cheaper alternative to Philadelphia as you take the River Line to Camden and connect to either the PATCO Speedline, or any NJ Transit bus going over the Ben Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia as that’s only $3 ($1.60 for the River Line, and $1.40 for the PATCO Speedline from Broadway to Center City Philadelphia) one way compared to $9.25 to take SEPTA Regional Rail from Trenton. I have used the other two NJT light rail lines in North Jersey, SEPTA in Philadelphia, and the Baltimore Light Rail as well. Love when I ride the River Line (NJT).
Just curious: what do you consider Philly’s Norristown high speed line to be? It has trolley-like vehicles but it uses high floor vehicles on an entirely grade separated route.
Rt 100 is Light- rail
@@SD4philly No it is not light rail. It is interurban/rapid transit.
@@Ih8kone that and it's heavy rail
Los Angeles. I travel up to LA via Calif Metrolink and then take the Los Angeles metro system just about anywhere in the city. As a Senior I pay a very low price compared to regular tickets. I just like public transportation period.
San Francisco! Los Angeles ! Phoenix! Portland! These have my vote
RedLight GreenArrow Lnyx look really European as well.
And were are to believe they are on the West Coast, just as what, a coincidence? YOU are not from the West Coast by any chance? By any coincidence?
Yes the west coast has some nice lightrails
I had no clue Los Angeles had a light rail lol
@@thatnewyorksportsguyveryde7568 Light rail and subway!
As a former New Yorker it is difficult for me to give any kind of praise to Boston but, in all honesty, they have the best system because of its trolleys, buses, trackless trolleys subway. I understand it may be a bit cumbersome at times but they keep operating it just the same. Kudos to the good folks there. My vote for second place is Philadelphia - close margin for both.
Pittsburgh! It is a very good hybrid of a trolley, subway, and LRV. Plus the downtown section is free!
I am impressed. Easy to travel anywhere.
You failed to mention that expansion of the Metro Rail system in Los Angeles is not only planned but under construction, and there are further plans for expansion decades into the future.
I like how the very first “light rail” that you showed is actually a commuter rail
Seattle is the most of my lover of their linkrail
Not everything here is typically "light rail" which you would more associate with streetcar / tram / subway. Some rolling stock would qualify more as regional trains, I think.
Phoenix Arizona
always love to watch TM's videos; great to see how many different solutions are possible within this mode of transport, light rail is definitely not a 'one size fits all'. must be plenty of local authorities kicking themselves that they were so quick to pull up the tracks!
I did not know there was so much LRT in the US. There is something about rail that I like.
Permanance and comfort?
Newark City Subway is now called Newark Light Rail since the opening of the branch to Broad Street Station.
Wow! Thanks for such a great video. I would love to ride all of them and Canada as well. I live in Australia and i must say any rail system that recreates that "Yesteryear look" gets my vote! Although not practical.
if you look at the old trolleys used in San Fran and Melbourne Australia they evoke a sense of Wonder and Fun.
I'm from Sacramento and on September 8th 2019 SacRT launched their new bus network called "SacRT Forward" which included for example, a deletion of our route 22 but is now covered by extending our existing route 13, so now it's a kind of "cross-town" route. Same thing with our route 2, got rid of that line which is now partially covered by our existing route 11 etc
don’t forget we have the Green Line extension to the Int’l Airport
DART is also building a Subway under downtown Dallas.
And has 4 Rail-Lines and a 5th one being built.
I think DART just needs to update the trains to a bigger an newer train.
Those trains are already MASSIVE! Making them longer might be a problem for many of the station platforms. What they need to do is increase frequency.
@@colormedubious4747 It actually needs stations in places with higher density. Dart's ridership is below average for 93 miles. San Diego has about the same ridership with just 56 miles.
I like the video of all the light rails that you posted! My favorite is Pittsburgh Pa! I am born and raised in Pittsburgh Pa and lived in Pittsburgh for 23 years and the trolley ride is awesome! I now live in NJ doing ministry with my family for Newark NJ but I never have taken the NJ light rail! Although I did live in and around the routes of the NJ light rail and passed up the light rail system going through Downtown Newark! I do have to say though NJ is a lot cheaper as far as the bus system goes than Pittsburgh. The Port Aithority of Allegheny County bus and Trolley service have gone down hill. The bus drivers make ridiculous amount of money meanwhile they cut off a lot of bus routes and waiting long period of time for a bus to come and they raised the fare up so much its not really worth riding anymore. Last time I rode the Trolley from downtown Pittsburgh to South Hills village which is about 45 minute ride cost me almost 7 dollars one way.
The Valley Metro in Phoenix is actually pretty good. The 2 problems is that Phoenix is the perfect example of the city that grew out instead of up because of the Automobile, and There is nothing to do Downtown unless there a Suns or DBacks game. So all the entertainment is also spread out. The light rail would be perfect if it expanded towards Estrella/Maryvale/Laveen, Glendale, and Gilbert, If Phoenix stopped expanding out as rapidly as it is and built up, and if more things were put Downtown or at least along the routes.
As a guy who lives in Boston the green line can be a real pain, everything is old, the system is so old it's increasing causing problems, good thing they are actually fixing the damn thing
LACMTA, VTA, SacRT, and Bi-State MetroLink are my favorites with Charlotte's and DART as honorable mentions
Portland, Salt Lake City, Sacramento, St Louis, Houston, Toronto is in Canada, but it's pretty cool.
Minneapolis looks great, strong, stable, assuring regardless of weather, clean, modern, tough, flexible
Melbourne Australia.
250 kilometres (160 miles) of double track.
206 million passenger trips in 2017-18
Trams have operated continuously in Melbourne since 1885
I use L.A. Metro and like it! I live at the beach and can go from beach to Airport or to Museums at Exposition Park, or to Rose Bowl parade, or to Downtown. For me it's the best!
I am live in Manchester UK and twice a year I am in Long Beach for two weeks. The (Free) Red Passport bus takes me to the Blue line (Now 'A' Line) and I can be downtown LA in less than an hour and from there ANYWHERE ! Superb and CHEAP ! You just buy a tap card and go !
Coming January, 2019, TEXrail serving Downtown Fort Worth thru several municipalities to DFW International Airport. The cars are Stadler FLIRT Diesel units. Testing is already underway on several sections of track thru December, 2018. This matches Dallas' DART line from the airport to Downtown Dallas and other areas.
mlf1218 Texrail just opened and they are already discussing an extension south to TCU and the hospital district. Also, the new DART Cotton Belt line just got their environmental permits AND a 900 million federal loan. Construction will start by the end of 2019. Once completed, you will be able to take a train from downtown ft worth, jump on cotton belt line east to Plano
Seattle by far has the best light rail
This was an Excellent Video . Light Rail has come a long way .
i rode the Newark Light Rail (city subway) for seven years commuting one stop (from Newark Penn Station to Military Park). Lots of people rode the train in the am and pm and i say this because it's only one stop. Service is so reliable and quick that I don't think many people would wait for the train if it wasnt. My daily commute started in Manhattan, where I'd take the new Q train to 42nd, switch to 2,3 and go one stop to Penn Station NY. From there Id take NJ transit to Newark Penn. So subway, commuter and then light rail All three are perfectly good. The commuter were probably the fastest.
Ours here in phoenix az looks the most modern
don't get me started on Phoenix's. It's like if LA had zero rail transit, and their solution is to build a clickity-clack streetcar in the middle of the road and said "There! Problem solved." Phoenix built themselves a political tool, not a reliable transportation alternative.