Public Transit

Next week I'll be in San Francisco for work, and as I was planning my transportation from the airport to the office, I noticed how easily understandable the San Fran subway map is.

Look at it - like a nice pretty rainbow....which I suppose is appropriate for big gay San Fran.

But, it's easy to figure out what's going where. Not tough at all.

And then I think about the NYC subway map, and that looks like someone gave a box of crayons to a kid who threw a tantrum and had a seizure at the same time.

I'm serious - have you looked at a NYC subway map? Okay, maybe that's a bit strong, but it certainly is a big ol' mess. I remember the first time I went to NYC and stood in front of a subway map in a station, just staring like a frightened tourist. Sigh.

I guess what might be annoying about San Fran's subway is that it's just a big line, whereas NYC's at least goes many different places.

And there's subway systems like those in Washington DC and Boston, where it's more like a spider and those who live in the city have few options if they want to travel around the city. It's either into or out of the city - no traversing within - are you crazy?!

And then there are cities like Baltimore...where the subway only has one line (the green line on this map). Thanks, crappy urban planning! Sigh. Off to San Fran!