In the US, I'm partial to my own DC Metro system. It's still a tourist attraction in its own right.

Overseas, I was most impressed with Hong Kong's MTR.

Paris line 14 - driverless, so it's great fun sitting at the front and hurtling through the darkened tunnels :p

Why do you say that? Every time I've been on it, it's been pretty full. During rush hour, it's packed. Obviously, people use it.

Ed

I like taking the Metro but it closes every night and opens rather late on weekend mornings. Which subway systems run 24/7 like NYC?

The DC Metro works on the weekends until around 2.30 to 3.30 a.m. and c. midnight/12.30 a.m. -- depending on route/destination -- during the other nights.

24-hour subways/rail .... cannot recall using one besides NYC after 3.30 a.m. for quite some time.

Then again NYC has some of the nastiest stations I've ever been to. Between the urine and the heat .... it can be really foul. Don't generally have that issue with the DC Metro

Tracks need maintenance, so they can't run 24 hours. NYC is an exception - also why I already said it's great - because most lines have 4 tracks. They can use two and run maintenance on the other.

BTW, here's a thought. The Hong Kong MTR opened in 1979 (I rode it on the first day). Except for the newer cars (which aren't much different from the originals), platform doors and Octopus, most aspects remain the same. So, can we say that subway technology has basically reached a plateau worldwide? That's unlike regular trains, where there are so many more high-speed rails around the world since 1979.

BART "drivers" generally close the doors, and not much else. Only in case of emergency, or right after an earthquake (low speed for visual track inspection by the operator until the next station), are the trains manually operated.

Chicago is the only other system in the world with 24/7 subway operations like NYC.

In Philadelphia, the express tracks on the Broad Street Line are most certainly used. Philly also has express trains (but not tracks) on the Market-Frankford El.

Budapest most certainly has the fastest escalators. Those things can give you whiplash.

DC needs to remove seats from the cars to allow for more standing. At least 3 days a week I have to let a train or two go by before I can get on.

Other cities besides Paris are developing those "never-ending" snaking cars. I think I've seen them in Prague and Vienna, (but maybe it was elsewhere in Europe?).

I would argue that Chicago has the loudest subway I've been on. You can hardly carry on a conversation on the Red Line.

And unlike NYC, Chicago's late night system runs on an actual schedule that seems to be very much on time -- at least on the Blue Line.

I will never justify the foul stench of the homeless and the drunks make in subways and train stations. I'm not comparing the two! I remember my days taking the metro from College Park when the Green Line was in two parts. It stunk then of the same things.

What I remember from taking the metro on weekends, it doesn't start until after 8am. Are they kidding???

Whoa, whoa, don't kid yourself. The subways run on a schedule. The E train, which I know the best, is pretty good with keeping to it.

A loud subway car....wow. I'm used to the hum of Ipods all over the place. :D

Ugliest subway: Amsterdam. Unless you're a grey concrete fetishist.

So they say. And besides the E train and for New York proper, the subway sticks to a printed schedule like on Day 8 at 25:00 and what other time?

http://www.mta.nyc.ny.us/nyct/service/schemain.htm fails me often.