There are two types of rail transit systems in the United States. The first are actual genuine rail transit systems, you know, that get people around and without which their cities would collapse. Or at least not work very well. New York’s subway, Chicago’s El, Boston’s T, Philadelphia’s SEPTA, San Francisco’s much-hated Muni, even (after many years in the second category) Washington’s Metro.
And then there’s art. Take Miami-Dade’s Metrorail. In fact, the county went so far as to deck the tracks out in neon tubing, just in case you missed that the point was public art, not public transportation. And there are others. How many people would notice if San José’s light rail shut down?
Barcelona’s Metro (above) falls into the first category. It’s incredibly efficient: never did we have to wait more than two minutes for a train. It’s got these signs that tell you when the next train will arrive, and it does. The old trains are comfortable, and the new trains have arrived out of the future, with open articulated connections between the cars and bright video screens. There’s even this bitchen feature that you first think is stupid until you realize that it really speeds things up: to get the doors to open, you got to push a button.
One of the things that Amma and I like to do when we’re in a strange city is grab a public conveyance and take it to the end of the line. You can learn a lot that way. And Sevilla has a futuristic streetcar that runs along the pedestrianized downtown. So ...
... we got on. And a minute later, we got off. Along with everyone else. Was there a criminal in the train? A police check? Should we be smelling something? Nope, just the end of the art exhibit.
The thing runs a whopping 1.4 kilometers, all within the historic center, between the “New Plaza” near city hall and the bus stop at Prado de San Sebastián. (See below.) You can walk its whole route in less than 15 minutes.
Then again, they’re building a rather extensive metro, so maybe it won’t always be art. But right now?
All I can say is that when we first saw the strikers blocking the train, we thought that they were pretty damn militant. And after riding the thing, we think they’re pretty damn mild.
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