InsideTransit

SNCF, the group that manages the French railways has put together a short video showing then and now on what the French railways used to look like and what they look like today. The trains in the video just look so modern and comfortable compared to the trains that Amtrak uses here.

The video is only two minutes long but the synchronized trains at the end is well worth the view.

This weekend a new light rail system opened in Phoenix, Arizona. The system is named "Valley Metro" and combines light rail with bus service to serve the greater Phoenix area. The light rail portion of the system covers 20 miles and a full trip takes approximately 60 minutes to complete. Each ride is $1.25 and an all-day pass is $2.50.

Tech blogger Brian Shaler is excited about the light rail opening. He notes, "While it won’t cure the problem, the Phoenix Light Rail will help scratch some itches and help feed the nightlife in downtown Phoenix, Tempe, and other cities struck by the route."

As Brian notes, light rail projects are very expensive but they can help to move transit forward for cities where a full subway (i.e. NYC, Chicago, etc.) isn't possible or financially warranted. I think we will see more light rail over the next decade and hope that the light rail serves more locations so more people will consider using it over a car. More public transit options are always a good thing.

Here are some hilarious signs from transit systems around the world. I've left my thoughts on what the sign means, leave your thoughts in the comments.

#1 - Designedly close people may take your valuables

continue viewing the signs »

I really have no words for the video below. The kid dug a hole in the tracks and went into the hole and allowed a fast moving train to run over him. I wonder if the kids would have been laughing if the train sliced the kid in half or crushed him. The whole group gets my "transit idiot of the year" award.

The problem with these videos is that they will only get worse and worse. There is a lot of cursing in the video and you should absolutely, never try this.

If you are a regular here at InsideTransit, you know we bring you excellent videos like the talking pencil in the Berlin U-Bahn. I'll be honest here, tonight's video might be the most boring bus video you will ever watch. No seriously, it really is just that boring. It's someone sitting at the back of a new bus in NYC and they film the bus on a ride for a few stops. The only excitement in the video is when the bus stops and the light pops on at the rear door. Enjoy!

Have you taken a ride on a bi-level train? There are bi-level trains across many parts of the U.S. and around the world. A blogger in New Jersey took a look at how many steps a trainman/trainwoman must take each day and each week to collect tickets from passengers on the train. It's pretty staggering!

From the blog post:

If a trip between Dover and New York, for example, makes 17 stops, to collect all the tickets on both levels (assuming passengers are not restricted to one level) the trainperson must traverse these 20 steps 17 times for a total of 340 steps per trip. On an assignment that runs 4 trips the trainperson must traverse 1360 steps for the day. If the job does the same work for 5 straight days that is a total of 6800 steps each week!

A normal staircase in a residence (your house) is 13 steps so a normal week working a MidTown assignment is the pretty much the equivalent (even if the step rise on the multi-level is shorter by a few inches) of climbing up and down (6800 divided by 13 = 523 divided by 2 [up and down flights] a 261 1/2 story residential building or essentially climbing and descending the Empire State building (102 commercial stories) over two and a half times every week.

Damn. You need to be in better shape to collect tickets than operate the train!

I came across an interesting site this evening that allows commuters in NYC to voice their gripes (and leave compliments too) about the MTA. It's called DearMTA and reminds me a bit of Digg in that there's voting and comments. You can leave a story either anonymously or by creating a user account. You must have a user account to vote or leave comments.

Now if there was a way to tie this into the mta.info website, that'd be awesome. Similar to how the MTA pimps Google all over town. DearMTA could be a great way to foster discussion between normal, average transit riders.

Here's an example complaint - I provided the answer to the user's question.

Today we have an image of a long tractor-trailer from the White Rose supermarket in New York City. Apparently this truck driver assumed he/she could fit under the elevated subway line in the Bronx. Well they got that wrong! The truck hit into the train structure and did some pretty big damage to the truck as well.

Subway blogger Brian Weinberg caught the action and he notes:

A tractor pulling a White Rose trailer somehow ended up in the northbound parking lane of Broadway, while facing south! Not to mention that he drove OVER the new raised concrete pedestrian refuge area adjacent to the Bx9 bus stop. And in the process, he tore up part of the roof of the trailer.

Check out all of the photos from the incident on RailFanWindow.

In our quest here at InsideTransit to bring you nothing but the best quality transit videos from around the world, may I present to you... the talking pencil. No serious, I am not kidding, this is no rickroll. I've got to believe that if a talking pencil showed up in the NYC subway, it wouldn't last very long.

In this first video, the pencil talks to a woman who just moved to Berlin -- this video is in English:

Here we see the pencil speaking to an older woman -- this video is in German but just as much fun!

NYC commuter Austin LaGrone explains regarding traveling on the L train from Brooklyn to Manhattan, "if I were inclined towards suicide, those would be the moments when I'd ponder it the most". Here's a video from intothebox.tv describing what it's like to ride the L train during rush hour. Considering that the station the reporter is at is the FIRST station from Manhattan, these people need to stop moaning. I am sure if you head out on the Queens Blvd. line or out to Coney Island, then you can start bitching.