Subway Links

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Subway Links
*Last updated June 20th, 2005*

	Montréal by Métro le Métro de Montréal www.metrodemontreal.com	“The unofficial website for fans of Montréal’s métro system.” Excellent! “Le site non-officiel pour les amateurs du métro montréalais.”
	My Ottawa Transit www.myottawatransit.com	“A website to help visitors and residents of Ottawa get around [the city] using public transportation.”
	New York City Subway Resources www.nycsubway.org	A wealth of information about not only the New York City subway, but also many other systems worldwide.
	UrbanRail.Net www.urbanrail.net	A “gateway to any information related to metros, subways, or similar urban rail transit systems around the world.” (Originally cleverly entitled “metropla.net”.)

The following information is from the article Around the World by Subway that I found in the December 1995 issue of Doctor’s Review, and was originally from Travel & Leisure:

“Not everyone likes to ride the subway, but it’s often the easiest and fastest way to get around town. It also provides an experience unique to a city, allowing tourists to ride with the natives, reach neighbourhoods off the tourist track, and become participants in a city’s life. Here’s a guide to some of the world’s more interesting systems.” (Note that times, fares and numbers of stations have almost certainly changed since this was written.)

City	No. of Stations	Fare (C$ - 1995)	Hours (1995)
Atlanta, GA	33	1.70	05:00 - 01:30
Character: Known as MARTA, it’s a subway system that’s keeping pace with the city’s endless sprawl. Upside: Delightfully air-conditioned in an often steamy city. Downside: Beyond going up and down Peachtree or getting to the airport, the system is limited.

Barcelona, ES	89	1.35	05:00 - 23:00 ESu 06:00 - 24:00 Sun
Character: The subway follows the city’s grand boulevards. Although not overly stylish for this design-conscious metropolis, the system goes where you want to go. Upside: Convenient and reliable. Downside: Given Barcelona’s late nightlife, the hours of operation are limited.

Berlin, DE	131	3.00	04:30 - 00:30
Character: The U-Bahn is the underground equivalent of the farther-reaching aboveground S-Bahn. The vast city system links with the suburban trains. Upside: Clean, efficient, reliable. Downside: Separate development during the cold war means unwieldy configurations; the U-Bahn works well only in combination with the S-Bahn.

Boston, MA	74	1.15	05:00 - 00:30 ESu 06:00 - 00:30 Sun
Character: America’s oldest subway, and one of the best. Known as the T, the system has Red, Blue, Orange and Green lines. Upside: Avoiding Boston drivers. Downside: Poorly-maintained stations.

Chicago, IL	118	2.00 1.25 SSu	00:00 - 24:00
Character: The heart of the system is the famous El, which defines the downtown Loop. Red and Blue lines reach the older, established suburbs of Oak Park and Evanston. Trains also run to O’Hare and Midway Airports. Upside: Riding the El in the Loop to see the architecture. Downside: Spotty service; endless ride to O’Hare.

London, UK	270	1.50 (Central zone) up to 4.05 beyond	06:00 - 24:00
Character: The tube has some of the deepest stations in Europe, which means endless escalators. Upside: Art and poetry programs. Downside: Bad smells; increasingly shabby trains.

Los Angeles, CA	5	1.80 Blue Line; 0.35 Red Line	06:00 - 22:00
Character: America’s newest subway doesn’t really go anywhere, but by 1998 Hollywood will be linked to downtown. The Red Line makes five stops on a five km run in approximately seven minutes. The aboveground Blue Line runs between Long Beach and downtown. Upside: Used by executives to visit their favourite deli – Langer’s – a mile from downtown. Downside: Of no real use to commuters or visitors. Click here for a differing opinion.

Montréal, QU	65	1.75	05:30 - 00:30 Dly 05:30 - 01:00 FSa
Character: A first-class system. Virtually every station has its own aesthetic identity. Upside: Safe and clean. Downside: Closes early, considering that bars remain open until 3 a.m.

Moscow, RU	140	0.15	05:30 - 01:00
Character: This is the system that Stalin built. Stations are workers’ palaces of marble, stucco and even some gold. Trains come every two minutes. Upside: Overall grandeur. Downside: Prone to crowding at rush hours.

New York City, NY	469	1.75	00:00 - 24:00
Character: Among the world’s most thorough systems. Stations can be grimy and noisy, but the trains are used daily by 3.5 million riders. A highly usable network. Upside: Faster than a speeding taxi; station mosaics. Downside: Announcements in stations can rarely be understood. Some stations are bleak and menacing.

Paris, FR	368	1.35	05:30 - 00:30
Character: One of the oldest, most extensive and most fabled systems. Long corridors are great for musicians. Beautiful Art Nouveau subway entrances. Upside: Densest system in the world – a stop every 550 metres in central Paris. Downside: Unsavoury smells; considerable transfer time.

Tokyo, JP	217	1.90 - 3.40	05:00 - 24:00
Character: A system of wholly separate lines that merge with suburban ones. Every portion of this vast city is accessible. Upside: Makes more sense than the maze-like city itself. The Yamanote line circles the city for one low fare. Downside: You have to buy another ticket when transferring to different systems; horrendous overcrowding at rush hours.

Toronto, ON	65	2.00	05:30 - 01:30 ESu 09:00 - 01:30 Sun
Character: You can set your watch by these trains. Much of the system follows the grid of the city. Upside: Smooth ride. Downside: Good only for strict grid-like movement through the city.

Washington, DC	39	1.35 - 2.70	05:30 - 24:00
Character: Most gorgeous subway stations in America. Upside: Coming up the Dupont Circle escalator and seeing the full moon framed in the round opening. Downside: No Georgetown service.

Also, here’s an interesting factoid courtesy of the New York City Transit Authority...


Moscow, Russia	3,160	Paris, France	1,120
Tokyo, Japan	2,740	Osaka, Japan	1,000
Mexico City, Mexico	1,420	Hong Kong, China	779
Seoul, South Korea	1,139	London, England	770
New York City, USA	1,130	São Paulo, Brazil	701