Taking the blue line out of O’Hare airport and we are immediately being yanked around in every direction. Whereas in Tokyo, the curvature of the track and maximum speed inputted by the driver were linked.

In Tokyo, whenever I saw a long row of cushioned seats I thought to myself we could never have this in Chicago. It wouldn’t last one day before being barfed or pissed upon.

In Tokyo, Metro trains are equipped with multiple TV screens displaying the next station, number of minutes to arrival, and a diagram of optimal exits in relation to your current car number. In Chicago, we have two or three sheets of cardstock, that are occasionally not even lined up correctly. That’s the map.

The worst part is, JR is privatized, and they still manage to provide this high quality of service. How??

  •  darling   ( @darling@beehaw.org ) English
    6•11 months ago

    NY/NJ here, but I felt the same way after visiting Tokyo. Another metro system I was really impressed with was Taipei’s; the trains were clean, safe and ran frequently.

    It was so depressing coming home to our public transportation, especially because the airport connections are poor and make you cranky immediately after deboarding.

    Even with the decreased ridership right now some stations and lines remain congested, and the narrower platforms can feel unsafe when there’s crowding. There’s a persistent stank during this swampy time of year and a layer of dust, skin cells and/or unidentified garbage particles on the tracks that cleaning doesn’t ever really fix. There’s just more vomit and pee to clean in the first place. Okay I’m being a little dramatic but it really do be like that sometimes.

    Sure the newest stations are nicer, but the cost and the time it takes is crazy. And it’s impossible to retrofit most of the existing stations with new technology so we’re stuck having to work around this old infrastructure. Meanwhile, there are a lot of neighborhoods that are underserved. At least we finally have contactless readers. The technology has been around for almost two decades but better late than never? Sorry, this is becoming a huge rant but public transportation in the US is such a joke.