london has the best public transport in the world, still!

[HackneyE9]

One thing I've notice about the Paris metro is it's all radials and no spokes (bar the line 1) whilst London is all spokes an no radials. Basically meaning that in Londres you have to into town and out again to move around the clockface whilst in Paris any journey usually involves three changes as you swap between the swoops of ever decreasing circles. The Paris metro map is crap too - too many similarly coloured lines and odd curves.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

But London is 6 Zones! (not counting the really silly ones, somewhere in North West Outer Space). So haven't you just proved the point?

I have to use the metro once a month (mainly Line 4, always Saturday daytime), and it's always rammed, from Gare du Nord right down to Porte d'Orleans. Off peak, and rammed.

Yep, that is good. And I think there's some kind of mandatory subsidy thing - your employers have to pay your travel pass (can't quite remember the exact detail).

And as for Paris traffic... London is a joy in comparison.

Yeah, I meant that a zone 1&2 travelcard is in the region of 60 odd quid a month, (possibly more now) while the carte orange was just 26 quid, a huge difference, for roughly the same area.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

One thing I've notice about the Paris metro is it's all radials and no spokes (bar the line 1) whilst London is all spokes an no radials. Basically meaning that in Londres you have to into town and out again to move around the clockface whilst in Paris any journey usually involves three changes as you swap between the swoops of ever decreasing circles. The Paris metro map is crap too - too many similarly coloured lines and odd curves.

Yeah I remember moaning about this when I was back in London over the summer. For instance, Chingford and Gants Hill are quite near each other as the crow flies, but to travel between the two is truly torturous. Really sucks for people who live in those kinds of areas but don't have cars.

I like the bus route in Paris which goes right round the entire edge over and over again.

The tube needs an 'outer circle line' to join up all the suburban areas IMO.

 

[Monkeygrinder's Organ]

Yeah, I meant that a zone 1&2 travelcard is in the region of 60 odd quid a month, (possibly more now) while the carte orange was just 26 quid, a huge difference, for roughly the same area.

Zone 1&2 travelcard is £89 now if I remember rightly.

 

[davesgcr]

Paris fares are subidised by employers tax. London captures more from the farebox revenue ....

It has to come from somewhere !

The sheer variety of London tube architecture is a joy though.

 

[Bodmass]

Paris is a much smaller city than London,

Both have populations just under 10 million

 

[DG55]

One thing all other European Metro systems lack is any sort of recent staff presence. I'm suprised so many people like Paris' system so much, sure it gets you from A to B, and im sure its slightly more reliable than London, but there are far more manky trains, dark dilapidated stations, and absolutely no staff at many stations - especially at night. All you get at stations are a lone police bloke with a muzzled guard dog. Lovely.

Londons definately feels safer, and just has more character than any other system I've been on! As someone else said, it is definately the most memorable.

 

[upsidedownwalrus]

Both have populations just under 10 million

You sure about that? I seem to remember that Paris's population was about 2.5 million.

 

[Thora]

One thing all other European Metro systems lack is any sort of recent staff presence. I'm suprised so many people like Paris' system so much, sure it gets you from A to B, and im sure its slightly more reliable than London, but there are far more manky trains, dark dilapidated stations, and absolutely no staff at many stations - especially at night. All you get at stations are a lone police bloke with a muzzled guard dog. Lovely.

Londons definately feels safer, and just has more character than any other system I've been on! As someone else said, it is definately the most memorable.

I've never felt as unsafe or been sexually harassed more often than on the Paris metro. Even London's dodgiest night buses felt safer! Berlin is all well lit and safe, and I've never been harassed by anyone.

 

[Cid]

I've never felt as unsafe or been sexually harassed more often than on the Paris metro. Even London's dodgiest night buses felt safer! Berlin is all well lit and safe, and I've never been harassed by anyone.

Yeah I was impressed with Berlin, mind you there are some really tatty old trains on the U-bahn (I think - the one's with horrific plastic seat covers and terrifying amounts of... beige) although most are up to date. Tram system is good too and I love late night trains. To be fair though the equivalent of the entire population of Berlin use the London underground everyday... It has 275 stops and 253 miles of line (well according to wiki) which is an absolutely incredible feat of engineering when you think about it. Of course a network like that (especially a very old one) is always going to cost a fortune to maintain. London buses are pretty comprehensive now as well.

 

[SpookyFrank]

You sure about that? I seem to remember that Paris's population was about 2.5 million.

More like 5 million in the city as a whole, but the population is falling fairly rapidly, due in no small part to the hideously bad transport networks apparently. The metro is fucking horrible