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publictransportation posts
VIDEO: Vintage Turkish Taxis
May 15th, 2012 at 6:00PM:
Millions of people get around Istanbul each day via dolmuş, a shared taxi. Similar to the colectivo of Latin America or the dollar vans of New York City, a dolmuş is generally a mini-bus or van that follows a fixed route for a fixed price. At the beginning of the route, the bus waits until it is full of passengers (dolmuş means stuffed in Turkish) before departing. You hand your money ...
No skeletons on the New Delhi metro, please
Jul 30th, 2011 at 3:00PM:
A friend of mine, freelance photographer Jane Shepherdson, was recently in New Delhi and rode on the city's metro (subway system). She captured this odd sign about what's prohibited for passengers to carry.
Some of it is predictable, such as explosives, guns, and radioactive materials. You also can't carry "manure of any kind" (including your own, one would suppose) or rags. That includes ...How to Navigate Washington, D.C. Without Going Nuts
Jul 8th, 2011 at 11:00AM:
I've been on the road for more than a month, and here's my number one tip: Don't drive in Washington, D.C. Nightmare would be a measure too generous.
As soon as I could park my ride, I did, content to not touch it until I pulled out of the District two days later. And considering the byzantine fare structure and bizarre routing of the Metro, it's something I avoid, too. Here's a better ...Moscow Metro celebrates 76th anniversary
May 20th, 2011 at 1:00PM:
This year marks the 76th anniversary of the Moscow metro system. From the public to the private areas, the stunning architectural images showcase one of the world's most fascinating transportation masterpieces, far exceeding the beauty of those in the United States.
Opened in 1935 with one 11 kilometer line and 13 stations, it was the first underground rail system in the then Soviet ...Video of the Day: Big Wheel vs. Bus
Apr 18th, 2011 at 6:30PM:
We're all for using public transportation whether you're at home or exploring a new city. It keeps excess cars off the roads, allows you to see a real cross-section of the population and is cheaper than taking taxis everywhere. That said, buses can be slow. Especially in major cities like New York. How slow? Well, comedian Mark Malkoff decided to find out. He raced a New York City bus across ...
New Roosevelt Island Tram in NYC
Nov 30th, 2010 at 3:15PM:
Cities employ myriad modes of transportation for commuters and tourists. From subways to rickshaws to monorails to water taxis, there is no shortages of ingenuity when it comes to moving people around. In 1976, however, New York City became the first city in the world to operate a tram for urban transportation. The Roosevelt Island Tram transported people between Roosevelt Island and east side ...Ten things to know about your destination before you go
Nov 18th, 2010 at 10:00AM: So you've chosen your vacation destination - booked the tickets, agonized over TripAdvisor to find a hotel, and bought the guidebooks or downloaded the apps. Whether you like to plan your itinerary in advance or play it by ear, there are a few things you should research in advance to make your arrival - and your trip - go smoothly.
From airport taxis to local laws to transit passes, what should ...Top ten cities with best public transit systems
Nov 4th, 2010 at 11:30AM:
These ten public transportation systems, in random rather than top-to-bottom order, are among the world's best. The transit systems profiled here include some of the most impressively massive as well as some of the best-scaled urban transportation systems. Today's focus is on international public transit systems; as such, the better US public transit systems (New York, Chicago, and Portland, ...The Chinese bus that straddles traffic
Sep 16th, 2010 at 4:30PM:
China is suffering some growing pains. Its cities are booming and road builders are having trouble keeping up. After last month's nine-day traffic jam that stretched for 62 miles, it's become obvious that something needs to be done.
One company has come up with an innovative result--a large bus with a tunnel underneath to allow two lanes of traffic to pass below it. The so-called Straddling ...
London starts bike hire scheme
Jul 31st, 2010 at 1:00PM: Transport for London is responsible for the arduous task of getting millions of Londoners around this giant city every day. Besides the Tube, bus, and Docklands Light Rail, they've added a new service--public bicycles.
Similar to public bike programs in other cities, people can get a bike at one of the self-service docking stations. You don't have to be a UK resident to use one, but residents ...Affordable Beachy Day Trips from NYC
May 28th, 2010 at 12:00PM: Memorial Day weekend in New York City is either an excuse to barbecue or to hit the beach. From Manhattan, reaching a decent beach can become quite the odyssey, especially if you don't have a car.
Even if you're not lucky enough to summer in the Hamptons, you can leave the city and lounge on a beach without spending a fortune. Not all beaches around New York City, however, are created equal. ...Seven ways to explore the world without leaving home
Nov 27th, 2009 at 9:30AM:
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Travel can be an escape - a chance to get away from the stress of our daily lives - but it can also be much more. Travel is about exploring a destination (new or familiar), understanding and connecting with the local culture, and seeing how people in a ...Ten reasons why I dislike the airport
Oct 21st, 2009 at 10:00AM: I hate airports. It never used to be like this, because most of my travel used to take me abroad. I always looked forward to spending some time at the various major international Airports. Most of my travel nowadays is between US airports, and it is obvious all my years of international travel spoiled me for life. There are just a handful of decent airports in the US, but the vast majority are ...Five ways to get to the airport
Jul 28th, 2009 at 4:00PM: Your bags are sitting in the hallway, and you're ready to go to the airport. How to get there involves a tradeoff between cost and hassle. A sacrifice is always necessary, and it's significant: you'll have to give up something important. But, this is the nature of travel, so the best you can do is understand the good and bad associated with each.
1. Drive Take yourself to the airport, and you ...Five tips for booking a better town car
Jul 21st, 2009 at 4:00PM:
There are many ways to get to the airport, from public transportation to sitting behind the wheel yourself. My preferred method is town car. I don't have my own vehicle, and I don't like having to hope I'll find a cab – especially early in the morning or in the rain. Also, I got used to town cars during my stint as a management consultant. Choose wisely, and your trip to the airport will be ...Dim Sum Dialogues: Planes, Trams, & Automatic Doors
Jul 8th, 2009 at 9:00AM: This is a continuation of yesterday's column on the transportation of Hong Kong. After seeing various Youtube videos of the infamous landing at Hong Kong's now defunct Kai Tak Airport, I'm disappointed that I never had the chance to experience a 747 roaring over a narrow Kowloon street. But the beauty and convenience of Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport make up for that disappointment, and have ...How to visit Los Angeles without a car
Jul 1st, 2009 at 10:30AM: Los Angeles is known for a lot of things: celebrities, beaches, smog and police chases, to name a few. But, when it comes to planning a trip to LA, perhaps the fact that will stick out the most is that LA is a car town (which explains the smog and police chases). Los Angeles is a sprawling city that is really several towns and neighborhoods that are connected by a series of highways that stretch ...$50bn needed to keep train system from going off the rails
May 1st, 2009 at 4:00PM: The Federal Transportation Administration believes that $50 billion is needed to repair major metropolitan train systems ... and another $5.9 billion a year to maintain them. Railways that need the money, it continues, are in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Together, they carry more than 80 percent of the train passengers in the country ...Undiscovered New York: Going underground
Feb 18th, 2009 at 3:00PM: Welcome back to Undiscovered New York. If New York was a human body, with Times Square as the heart and Central Park as its lungs, the city's subway system would certainly be its veins and arteries - unnoticed yet vitally important. No public transportation system could possibly encompass as many hyperboles. The smelliest. The slowest. The dirtiest. The most confusing. The hottest in the summer ...Play chicken in Helsinki traffic
Feb 6th, 2009 at 9:00AM: I was pretty impressed by Helsinki's public transportation, which was more than ample with trolleys, subways and buses. There were few SUVs, and the bike lane was rarely empty. While the Finns got the ingredients right, the mixing was ... well ... suboptimal. The least menacing of the interesting transportation overlaps involves the bike lanes and sidewalk. Neither is clearly defined, and I ...
