InsideTransit

Check out the video below – it’s from the Copenhagen Metro and features a flash mob. Watch how the passengers smile when the music begins to play. One of the things I’ve noticed as I travel on public transportation systems around the U.S. and Europe is that most people always seem so unhappy. What if light classical music was playing in the background? Would that help people to enjoy their trip a bit more and maybe instead of thinking about whatever is making them unhappy, they would focus on the music?

Here’s something I never thought I would see in my lifetime – a complete shutdown of the NYC MTA bus and subway system. This is due to approaching Hurricane Irene. MTA’s Aaron Donovan notes that the system will resume, “when conditions make it possible”.

This suspension includes ALL subway lines (both the letters and numbers) and ALL buses in every borough. Also included are the commuter rail lines – Metro North and Long Island Rail Road.

For historical purposes, below is a screenshot of the current MTA.info website showing all subway and bus routes are currently suspended.

If you are a NYC resident, make sure to check mta.info for the latest transit information. I suggest not heading to a subway station or bus stop without verifying that the system is up and running.

By now most of us have seen the “flash mobs” that gather in the subways and train stations around the world. In NYC, we have seen the pants off mobs and in Sydney we saw a Riverdance flash mob gather and dance to the Riverdance tunes.

But this is the first time I’ve ever seen a NYC subway train turned into a fine dining restaurant. The conversion took place on the L subway line which runs from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Melena Ryzik has the story of the train headed for Brooklyn that offered fine foods including: caviar, foie gras and filet mignon, and for dessert and chocolate panna cotta wrapped in gold leaf.

A number of supper clubs participated in the event and boarded the train and different stations along the route that crosses Manhattan on 14th Street.

The “event” brought in just over $1,600 and tickets were priced at $100 per “seat”. Sure beats the bag of McDonalds you usually see someone eating on the subway.

Last night, U.S. President Obama announced that Osama Bin Laden was dead. From the reports I saw on CNN, people took to the streets all across the country singing the songs of this country including the national anthem.

Here’s how a packed NYC subway car full of people reacted to the news of Bin Laden’s death. From the narration at the end of the video, it appears that not only are locals on the train but also people from Poland and Denmark.

There are 2 major international airports around Paris: Charles de Gaulle (a.k.a. Roissy) located north-east of the city, and Orly, located south of the city. You can get to either airport either by taxi or Air France coach for € 15 to € 70, depending on where you start from and where you’re going.

Both airports are run by the Paris airport authority. An excellent image outlining all your options is available here (french only). What follows gives you a general overview of how to get from/to the airports by public transit.

Charles de Gaulle
… by bus
There is a special shuttle (city bus) called RoissyBus which will take you from the CDG airport to the Opéra métro stop for € 9.40. There are also two regular bus routes during the day (#350 from Gare de l’est, and #351 from the Nation métro station), and two night routes (#N140, and N143). Both buses will cost you three (3) zone-1 tickets.

… by train
The quickest and most relaxing way (in my opinion) to get from/to the airport: the RER B line (€ 8,70). Keep in mind this is a commuter-train, so if you are travelling during the work-week the train will be quite full with commuters and there is not much room for luggage.

A quick note on taking the train from CDG:

* There are many automatic ticket dispensers at the CDG train terminal, however North-American credit cards are notoriously difficult to use with these dispensers if they do not have the chip technology (if you have American Express, forget about it)
* If you have to buy your ticket from an employee, the lines are impossibly long. If you’re lucky enough to know someone who lives in Paris, the best thing to do is have them send you a Paris-CDG ticket in the mail before your trip. It will save you a lot of time.

Orly
… by bus
Similar to CDG, there is a bus service (OrlyBus) to take you from the Denfert Rochereau station to the Orly airport (€ 6.60). You can also opt for regular city-bus service from/to the airport with bus routes 183, 285, and 292. Night bus: N31, and N131

… by train
Both the RER ‘B’ and ‘C’ lines pass close to the Orly airport, but you will need to take a shuttle to complete your journey. Use the OrlyVal driverless light rail trainsit line to get you from the airport to the Antony train stop (RER ‘B’) for €10.25, or the “Paris by train shuttle” to get you from the airport to the Pont de Rungix Aéroport d’Orly train station (RER ‘C’).

Summary:
In my opinion, getting to Paris from an airport by train is the best way to go, but there is one disadvantage: all the stairs in the Paris métro! Once you get to Paris by train, you might want to complete your journey by taxi if you have a lot of luggage with you.

Before we get started with our how-to ride the Paris Metro and commuter rail, a little geography: the city of Paris is delimited by a ring road called the Boulevard Périphérique. The city is located in a region called “Ile-de-France”. When you see a reference to the “Ile-de-France”, it is referring to the city of Paris and its surrounding suburbs.

The Paris transit system is made up of four (4) types of transportation: métro (subway), bus, train and tram, and is run primarily by the Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (ratp.fr), which has a rich amount of information in English on their website for tourists.

The Ile-de-France is divided into 6 transit zones with the city of Paris being zone 1. These zones apply only to the commuter train network discussed further on.

The Metro
The Paris metro system is made up of 14 underground and above-ground subway lines numbered 1 through 14 with two lines assigned the suffix “bis” indicating that they were at one time part of the main subway line, but now only serve as an extension to a specific line. As these “bis” lines are outside of tourist areas you won’t need to worry about them.

As is common with most subway systems, the direction of the train is indicated by the name of the last stop in that direction. Two of the metro lines (7, and 13) branches so they will have two terminuses, but, again, this is outside the tourist region, and so you will not need to worry about it.

Read the rest of this entry »

Two years ago I wrote about Casper, a nice cat in the UK who would ride the bus each day and always knew where to get on and off and what time the bus was going to arrive. Today I am back with the story of a dog who was captured on video riding the light rail in Maryland.

I found the video on Subchat and while I am not a pet lover, this is one cute doggie!  The video’s creator is not sure if the dog is lost, a stray or is with a person riding in the light rail car. The dog does appear to get off at the next station with a person but it’s unknown if the person was the dog’s owner.

I have heard that the MTA is looking into to finding the dog to see if it paid its fare – no one is above paying their fare – whether they walk on two legs or four!
Read the rest of this entry »

Ok, here’s one you don’t see everyday…two women get into a fight on a subway train in NYC over, “eating etiquette”. The NY Daily News breaks down what you can see in the video below:

“The video clip begins with a woman chowing down on spaghetti while trading barbs with another woman sitting across from her on a subway car. The feud escalates a few minutes in when the middle-aged passenger asks the woman, “What kind of animals eat on the train?” The diner responds, “What kind of fat —- looks like you?”

After the two women battle it out for a few seconds, other passengers get in the middle including a man who apparently got scratched by a piece of al-dente pasta.

I don’t think you are allowed to eat on the subway although everyone does it. My only real question here is, “did the woman who was eating the pasta properly discard of the food carton and utensils?”
Read the rest of this entry »

Everytime I visit San Francisco, I take the BART subway system from either the San Francisco or Oakland Airports. The system seems pretty reliable, is never that crowded and there are typically escalators and/elevators which help with luggage. I wish the system offered air conditioning but I guess most of the year it’s not needed in SF. I don’t know about you but I often wonder just what might be stewing under the fabric seats the subway cars use. They often look “stained” and sometimes there are some interesting smells also coming from the seat region.

Well it appears we will now be able to provide feedback to the BART officials as to what type of seating should be used in the next generation of subway cars that BART will purchase.

BART web producer Melissa Jordan has a post detailing how BART will allow customers (aka passengers/riders) to test out a variety of different seating choices and options to see which makes their ass as comfy as possible for their daily travels. Personally I prefer the NYC hard plastic style to the current BART fabric style. I also prefer bench seating versus the custom molded seating currently found on BART.

Jordan notes, “…there’s seat height, pitch and hip-to-knee space — considerations not always front of mind for riders.” Interestingly, BART has a very low seat height compared to other U.S. subway systems and now that I think about it – it’s always a chore to get up out of a BART seat vs. Washington or NYC.

BART seats are wider than other systems – and frankly for $8+ to get from SFO to downtown SF, they should offer me a beverage and a napkin.

If I rand BART, the first thing I would do is get some friendly, willing-to-help agents in the booths at the train stations. Otherwise I find the system to be well run.

So SF residents, get ready – the first prototype of the new train will be ready for action in 2014.

Another new year, another No Pants Subway Ride coming to NYC! We wrote about the No Pants Subway Ride last year and this year looks like it will be an even bigger event. You can find all of the details for this year’s No Pants here. This year, the event will take place globally on January 9, 2011 and groups will start from locations in each of the five boroughs and converge on Union Square. RSVP to the event on Facebook – so far nearly 6,000 people have registered.

If you aren’t in NYC, check out all of the cities that will be participating around the world. U.S. cities include: Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, El Paso, San Diego, San Francisco and a dozen more. International cities include: Zurich, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, London, Barcelona, Amsterdam and several others.

The rules include, “As soon as the doors shut at the stop before yours, stand up and take your pants off and put them in your backpack. If you’d like to use a briefcase, purse, grocery bag, or whatever instead of a backpack that’s fine too. If anyone asks you why you’ve removed your pants, tell them that they were “getting uncomfortable” (or something along those lines.) Exit the train at your assigned stop and stand on the platform, pantless. You will wait on the platform for the next train to arrive. Stay in the exact same place on the platform so you enter the next train in the same car as you exited the last train.”

The requirements for participation are:

1) Willing to take pants off on subway
2) Able to keep a straight face about it

Here’s a video from last year’s No Pants Subway Ride:
Read the rest of this entry »