Who else loves subway systems?

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I hope this is the right forum to start a conversation about this kind of thing. This isn't something I get to talk about a lot so I wanted to see if anyone else was into the same thing!

I absolutely love transit infrastructure. I love looking at maps of subway systems, looking at pictures of the platforms of individual stations, and of course riding the subway! I live not far from Toronto and when I do go into the city, the most exciting part for me is riding the subway. I memorized most of the TTC system before I had ever even been to Toronto (I'm originally from elsewhere in Canada). A few days ago I was connecting from a VIA train to a GO train at Union Station but I wanted to take the subway. So I took the Yonge line to Bloor-Yonge, the Bloor-Danforth line to St. George, and the University line back down to Union. Visiting St. George and Bloor-Yonge for the first time was the highlight of my day (although I do love taking the GO train)!

Does anyone else love Subways? Where do you live and how do you like the subway system in your city? Anyone else in the Greater Toronto Area also love the subway?

I live in Denver and our only subway is at the airport with a total of four stops which include the main terminal and three concourses...

Only ticketed airline passengers can access it, but I do enjoy riding it when I fly out of Denver.

Every summer I travel to California to see my father and sister and take trains from SFO for about ninety miles to where they live which includes the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) which operates as a subway under much of San Francisco and a few parts of the East Bay...

I have rode in cars, bikes, city buses, trollies, coach buses, quads, trucks, trains, jets, single engine planes, helicopters, speed boats, ferries, canoes, kayaks, monorails, but I have never been on a subway before lol. I live in Hamilton but have never had a chance to ride the subway in Toronto before. Anytime I've been in Toronto I would either be traveling in a car or I would use the GO train and city buses to get around.

I've never been on a subway. Where I live the only subways are the places that sell submarine sandwiches.

I love Subway. They make good subs.

Off topic, but in my area we have Quizno's, which cuts and cooks Subway under the table.
http://www.quiznos.com/colorado/locations/index.html
In addition, Subway sandwich shoppes have taken a beating around here over Jerad's child p0rn scandal. I think I'd feel more secure working for Chipotle.

I was very impressed with the DC subway system back in the 80s when I was in the army stationed near DC. it was unfailingly clean and secure, I felt safe there. it woulda been even better if they served meatball and cheddar subway sandwiches I wonder if it is the same now?

I remember how excited I was the first time I rode the TTC subway in Toronto. Coming down the escalator and hearing that roaring sound was like entering a new world. I was an absolute natural and figured the entire system out almost instantly and I wish my city had something similar Same with the Montreal Metro: had zero issues handling it like a local my first time. I've also rode the subway in Edmonton (officially called LRT but has a number of underground stations) and Boston.

I live in New York City, and have friends in London. Two of the largest subway/metro systems in the world

Yes, I enjoy speaking about the history of the subway cars, especially, of the New York City subway. I enjoy looking at maps of subway systems, too.

The DC Metro is so small that looking at a map of it is boring. The Los Angeles system is actually becoming interesting as they expand on it.

The NYC and London systems are comprehensive and interesting.

The Moscow system would be interesting, too. They play classical music in the stations, and have beautiful art in those stations.. It only costs a few cents to ride on it.

^Like KK I used to live in NYC. I had a deep fascination with the subway system but I never stopped to think that that was an unusual interest.

When I was younger, instead of referencing a dictionary all the time, I found it was simpler to just memorize the definitions so I wouldn't need to look at the book. Same thing for the subway maps. I rode the trains a lot but I could barely read the map because it because someone was always sitting just below it and I didn't want to have them yell at me for lingering over them too long.

So I went to a ticket booth and asked for my own map. They gave me the Port Authority address so I sent for one. When it came I put it up on my wall read it to my heart's content.

The history of the NYC train system (BMT and IRT) is fascinating. Some of the lines are logical (E train runs through Elmhurst, J train is the Jamaica line, M runs through Maspeth, etc). The longest line is the A train because it starts from upper Manhattan, runs through Brooklyn, and terminates at Mott Avenue in Far Rockaway, Queens.

The scariest platform in all of NYC, IMHO, is at the connection of the A and J in East New York. It's an outdoor platform and you can see people shooting casually at each other just across the street. Bizarre.

Generally speaking, though, I preferred the lettered lines (BMT - E, F, N, etc) to the numbered ones (IRT - 1, 2, 3, etc) because the numbered ones went through the Bronx and the Bronx was just an outright scary place to me. Just the sight of burned out towers covered in graffiti makes my heart beat faster.

For the life of me I can't understand why people stand dangerously close to the platform's edge looking down the tracks for a train. One quick, simple bump from behind and they're face down on the track below. Happens all the time.

I've concluded that people are absolute, complete morons. One of the rinks I play at has one pane of glass missing, which is near the dressing room. Almost without fail, not only will kids stand there leaning over the boards but their parents just sit there with them like morons. One time a wayward puck almost hit a kid and did that wake anyone up? Of course not! These shots are fast enough to permanently injure an adult, let alone a child.

I also was working in a Home Depot like store and barricaded the aisles off to load up a giant, heavy pallet of lumber. Idiot ducks under the caution tape and RIGHT UNDER the forks that are now 10 feet in the air to get something off the shelf below. Luckily I looked down for a second while I was placing the pallet on the racking. If they are suicidal there are far better way to go!

With my SPD, standing on the edge of subway platforms is definatly not for me. I'd much rather be back a ways when the train cars come into the station, even if I'm the last to board.
Also "big box" places like Home Depot have been the subject of lawsuits in the past when forklifts have knocked merchandise onto customers and employees off their high steal shelving.
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stor ... tory2.html
This is a big reason why I don't care to shop the warehouse clubs, either.

Growing up in NYC, I was obsessed with the train map. We didn't have a car, so we took the subway everywhere. I remember a school trip to the subway museum and I thought it was the coolest thing.

AT one point I had almost the entire map committed to memory. I'd sit in my room and literally study it. Oddly so would my younger brother.

I loved riding the train.

They've since changed up what trains run on what lines and screwed it all up.

I must confess that I still love the subway system in London despite the changes that I've been going through.

I wish there was a good subway system in my neck of the woods.

We don't have a subway system here in Vancouver. There are a few sections of tunnels now on one of the newer train lines and it's kind of neat to go through them and have a look at the construction style etc. But most of our train system is elevated ~40 feet above ground.

Public transit here is fairly convenient downtown and in the city, but it's pretty terrible for commuting from the suburbs. People love to hate or transit company because they have a budget that is over $1B/year (for transit, roads, bridges etc) and still manage to F things up and constantly try to raise taxes. They pay their executives far too much money & have wasted, so far, over $270M on an electronic fare-gate system that still doesn't work properly.

There's another new train line under construction now that has some tunnel sections. There's also a proposal to build a subway line from the city to the University of BC at a cost of over $1B to replace the most heavily travelled bus route in North America. But the suburbs desperately need light rail & more buses, so there's a big debate about which should get priority.

I'm currently a transit user & it takes me ~1h 50mins to get to work and 2-2.5h to get home every day Monday to Friday. Driving time would depend on what time I leave during morning rush hour, but generally about an hour. Rush hour traffic on the way home could take 1.5 hours or so, but I pretty well never sit in rush hour traffic on the way home. I'll go run errands, visit a friend, read a book, go to the beach until sunset in the Summer etc rather than waste time and gas sitting in traffic and then just drive home in no traffic in about 40mins.

In another couple months when the weather gets nice and I want to go to the beach and kiteboarding again I'll buy another car and ditch taking transit. It's inexpensive at $170/month, but it's horribly inconvenient unless you live and work in the city with a short commute. I much prefer to drive and have the freedom to go to the beaches, mountains, friends places etc vs. my very limited options of a-b and back via transit. I don't care too much about driving in the Winter, though, as there aren't many places I want to go. But once it's kiteboarding season again.. must have wheels to get to the beach! And parties, possible additional side job work etc. Cars are suburbanites' freedom.