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I have been in Barcelona for nearly two weeks. The public transit here is next level. Their metro trains come so frequently the schedule board displays their estimated arrival time in SECONDS, not minutes. I have not once had to plan my day around train schedules — most come every three minutes, and even the regional trains run every 20 minutes.
It feels like every time I explore a non-American city I get angrier and angrier at my American city for its poor public transit. Richmond's flagship transit option, The Pulse, comes every 10 minutes during peak hours and doesn't even have a fully dedicated bus lane for its entire route. So it inevitably gets stuck in traffic, buses get delayed, and arrival times lose meaning.
Frankly, it's embarrassing. I love my home town, but seeing how other parts of the world live make it hard to love.
P.S. Grassy tram tracks are possibly the best form of transit I've seen yet.
@kevincianfarini Agree on the grassy tracks. You picture reminded me of living in New Orleans!
@Brad_Rosenheim They're so beautiful and the trams are extremely quiet. I genuinely hope one day we retrofit our BRT line with tram tracks, but that requires we deprioritize cars.
@kevincianfarini yes there are grassy tracks in New Orleans, but it does cause a lot of problems for pipes in the ground
Dagnabbit, Pascaline! @kevincianfarini
I remember a friend coming to the Netherlands and visiting Amsterdam, he was amazed. He called his wife, raving about public transport over here, telling her that if the train was much too late you'd get your ticket money back. Those were the days.
If public transport in The Netherlands could get back up to that level it would be good.
Oh and the grass; it really helps keeping the noise down!
@kevincianfarini I lived there for many years, and I wholeheartedly agree that the #TMB really knows how to run a #publictransport system. (I also love that quiet street by the zoo's main entrance!)
I'm glad you were able to enjoy La Mercè despite how crowded it's become. The rest of #Catalonia is just as nice — come back and check it out sometime!
@apicultor We had no idea Le Mercè was happening until we were in the middle of it at dinner one night. What a cool experience.
@kevincianfarini Why do you... ah... hate our freedom?
@kevincianfarini Same in Vienna. There’s an app where you see the time the metro arrives but I actually never use it because it comes so frequent I don’t have to plan around it. Weekends it also runs 24/7 which is great for going out.