tbf the nyc subway is extremely convoluted and unintuitive to use compared to more civilized metros, lots of arcane rules like "only the first 3 cars can fit in this station so if you want to get off there you better remember where in the train you are" or "trains with prime numbers only stop at every other station during rush hour" which are never posted anywhere. It's like the least beginner-friendly metro of any on earth, even ones where the beginner doesn't speak the local language.

that said it's still not that hard, you buy a ticket, you try to get on the right train, and worst-case you end up 20 blocks away from your destination and try again

[–] carpoftruth@hexbear.net 19 points 3 days ago (1 children)

every western transit designer should be required by law to visit one or more major east asia cities to see how they do it. I've been a few places in taiwan, RoK, japan and even as a non-local language speaker the transit was super easy to use. lots of colour coding on paths to guide you around and signage was really good too. this was 10+ years ago now but these cities definitely set the bar to me. I'm curious what modern transit looks like in mainland china, I've never been.

[–] quarrk@hexbear.net 6 points 2 days ago

Nordic countries have good transit too, but admittedly nowhere near the same throughput as a metro in China

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