>>1224715>I rarely hear Philadelphia mentioned when people talk about U.S. cities with decent public transportation (e.g. Boston, Chicago, NYC, SF)You just explained why you don't hear about SEPTA that much. SEPTA is actually a really decent system, but it's outside the top 5 in terms of ridership and system size after NYC, Chicago, DC, SF, and Boston. Philly's system is also every bit as old-school as Boston/NYC/CTA but is largely a no-frills system that's interesting to transit/interurban nerds with stuff like the PATCO Speedline, the electrified main line, or the Norristown High Speed line, but it doesn't have anything like the incomprehensibly gargantuan system size and retarded daily ridership of the MTA, the a e s t h e t i c downtown elevateds of the CTA, the /comfy/ antique vibe and the brahmin panache of the MBTA, or the retro-futuristic weirdness of the BART or the DC Metro, and so it's easily forgotten alongside the other no-frills workhorse rust belt transit systems like Pittsburgh or Cleveland. In addition, it's also forgettably functional compared to the dumpster fires that are LA, Seattle, Portland, and every single major transit system in the south, the Southwest, and the Midwest (other than Chicago), so it doesn't even draw the it that those systems do because honestly, SEPTA is pretty good at what it needs to do.
t. East-coaster.
