Just wanted to bring this up for some odd reason. If anyone knows anything about transit outside US, please post it here.
What do you want to know? I've been on systems in Canada, England, Scotland, France, Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, Israel, Switzerland, and Spain...
All of them LOL. Keep it simple and brief though. ;D
Quote from: landoverdivision on October 23, 2008, 10:14:22 PM
All of them LOL. Keep it simple and brief though. ;D
You want simple and brief? Go to Haifa and ride the Carmelit, Israel's only subway (until Tel Aviv finishes building theirs, and Jerusalem has a light rail system under construction as well). The subway there is the smallest in the world, with one, 1.8 km line, 6 stations, 2 trains, and a single track (plus a short passing track). It takes under 8 minutes to ride the line from end to end, a ticket is only valid for 30 minutes. Ironically, when I was in Haifa in 1995, I only made it to 5 of the 6 stations. I didn't complete the system tour until January 2007.
More information and photos at http://orenstransitpage.com/otpisraelpics/carmelit.htm.
Quote from: WMATAGMOAGH on October 24, 2008, 01:39:00 AM
Quote from: landoverdivision on October 23, 2008, 10:14:22 PM
All of them LOL. Keep it simple and brief though. ;D
You want simple and brief? Go to Haifa and ride the Carmelit, Israel's only subway (until Tel Aviv finishes building theirs, and Jerusalem has a light rail system under construction as well). The subway there is the smallest in the world, with one, 1.8 km line, 6 stations, 2 trains, and a single track (plus a short passing track). It takes under 8 minutes to ride the line from end to end, a ticket is only valid for 30 minutes. Ironically, when I was in Haifa in 1995, I only made it to 5 of the 6 stations. I didn't complete the system tour until January 2007.
More information and photos at http://orenstransitpage.com/otpisraelpics/carmelit.htm.
What about Italy's system?
All of Italy? Cut me some slack, I can't give a system by system breakdown of everything I've been on. I'm still catching up on photos from my 6 months there.
I think you're going to be best looking things up on the internet or google-ing things. Oren probably has the most international experience over everyone but to really know a system it will take more than a synopsis.
I agree with Perry -- knowing ren as we do -- for him to write everything about all his excursions would be like writing a book the size of "War & Peace" -- I've yet to meet someone with the international experience that he has
Now, if you narro it down to a particular system, perhaps he can provide you with more of a detailed explanation.
I didn't mean to ask you to tell me detail-to-detail I actually wanted to make it a discussion. After all that's what forums are for right?
IMO the best place to start is Routes International web site
http://routesinternational.com. This has links to the web sites of TA's in most countries on the planet many of which are available in English (Look on the header for "english", "eng" or the Union Jack and click). The English versions may be an abbreviated presentation of the full site primarily for tourists and business travelers. Like here, the maps range from bare bones schematics to National Geographic super-detailed presentations in PDDF that take forever to load on broadband.
Systems in the UK are quite interesting especially since almost of the service is contracted out. For example London's TfL (Transport for London) www.tfl.gov.uk privatized operations in the early 1990's. Operators ( First, Stagecoach, Arriva, Veolia and many others) bid on tranches of routes every few years.
Unlike in the US, operators buy the buses and build/operate their own facilities. TfL requires all buses to meet their specifications and of,course,be Red!! The operators can display their logos and apply some trim in their corporate colors. Double deckers rule but there is a sizable fleet of single deckers and minibuses plus a small number of artics being tested.
At the behest of London's new mayor, TfL held a "Design a New Bus for London " contest soliciting ideas from the public about what a transit bus for 21st Century should look like, what amenities it should have as well as how "green" it should be. Winners will be announced in November or December.
In addition the the Underground London has two light rail operations. Croydon Tramlink has two routes in SW London and is a traditional overhead wire operation. Docklands Light Rail (DLR) in East London is similar in concept to Toronto's Scarborough Line and Vancouver's Skytrain: a smaller scale HRT with small (light) cars powered by third rail. DLR has seen considerable growth in ridership since opening in 1985 and is almost constantly expanding its reach in a rapidly growing part of Greater London.
Quote from: mrpete on October 25, 2008, 05:32:50 PM
IMO the best place to start is Routes International web site
http://routesinternational.com. This has links to the web sites of TA's in most countries on the planet many of which are available in English (Look on the header for "english", "eng" or the Union Jack and click). The English versions may be an abbreviated presentation of the full site primarily for tourists and business travelers. Like here, the maps range from bare bones schematics to National Geographic super-detailed presentations in PDDF that take forever to load on broadband.
Systems in the UK are quite interesting especially since almost of the service is contracted out. For example London's TfL (Transport for London) www.tfl.gov.uk privatized operations in the early 1990's. Operators ( First, Stagecoach, Arriva, Veolia and many others) bid on tranches of routes every few years.
Unlike in the US, operators buy the buses and build/operate their own facilities. TfL requires all buses to meet their specifications and of,course,be Red!! The operators can display their logos and apply some trim in their corporate colors. Double deckers rule but there is a sizable fleet of single deckers and minibuses plus a small number of artics being tested.
At the behest of London's new mayor, TfL held a "Design a New Bus for London " contest soliciting ideas from the public about what a transit bus for 21st Century should look like, what amenities it should have as well as how "green" it should be. Winners will be announced in November or December.
In addition the the Underground London has two light rail operations. Croydon Tramlink has two routes in SW London and is a traditional overhead wire operation. Docklands Light Rail (DLR) in East London is similar in concept to Toronto's Scarborough Line and Vancouver's Skytrain: a smaller scale HRT with small (light) cars powered by third rail. DLR has seen considerable growth in ridership since opening in 1985 and is almost constantly expanding its reach in a rapidly growing part of Greater London.
That's awesome. Imagine if we had that here in the D.C Area. That would own.
Wikipedia is also a good resource for learning about foreign systems, especially for those of countries where you don't speak the native language. Unfortunately in my experience, most fan sites are written at a fairly high level, so even if you have conversational abilities in a language, you aren't going to be able to get much out of the websites.
Quote from: landoverdivision on October 25, 2008, 07:17:21 PM
Quote from: mrpete on October 25, 2008, 05:32:50 PM
IMO the best place to start is Routes International web site
http://routesinternational.com. This has links to the web sites of TA's in most countries on the planet many of which are available in English (Look on the header for "english", "eng" or the Union Jack and click). The English versions may be an abbreviated presentation of the full site primarily for tourists and business travelers. Like here, the maps range from bare bones schematics to National Geographic super-detailed presentations in PDDF that take forever to load on broadband.
Systems in the UK are quite interesting especially since almost of the service is contracted out. For example London's TfL (Transport for London) www.tfl.gov.uk privatized operations in the early 1990's. Operators ( First, Stagecoach, Arriva, Veolia and many others) bid on tranches of routes every few years.
Unlike in the US, operators buy the buses and build/operate their own facilities. TfL requires all buses to meet their specifications and of,course,be Red!! The operators can display their logos and apply some trim in their corporate colors. Double deckers rule but there is a sizable fleet of single deckers and minibuses plus a small number of artics being tested.
At the behest of London's new mayor, TfL held a "Design a New Bus for London " contest soliciting ideas from the public about what a transit bus for 21st Century should look like, what amenities it should have as well as how "green" it should be. Winners will be announced in November or December.
In addition the the Underground London has two light rail operations. Croydon Tramlink has two routes in SW London and is a traditional overhead wire operation. Docklands Light Rail (DLR) in East London is similar in concept to Toronto's Scarborough Line and Vancouver's Skytrain: a smaller scale HRT with small (light) cars powered by third rail. DLR has seen considerable growth in ridership since opening in 1985 and is almost constantly expanding its reach in a rapidly growing part of Greater London.
That's awesome. Imagine if we had that here in the D.C Area. That would own.
Um...isn't that what the point of this website is? Or did you mean the level of contractor competition/operation that they have?
One of the more interesting web sites is run by a Paris bus operator from the operator's point of view, http://bus38.online.fr. He drives Line 38 the heaviest of the RATP's routes. It's in English.
For London check out http://www.busesatwork.co.uk and http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~denny/transport/index.htm this last one is run by a former London supervisor.