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I would say that the problem about entering and exiting the subway car isn't the seating as it is the doors itself. Most major transit systems like New York, Seoul, or Hong Kong (those are the ones I am most familiar with) have four doors on each side of a car. Here, the Metro only has 3. What ends up happening is that no one wants to move in because they might be too far to exit; and as someone mentioned earlier, the doors do shut on people who are trying to exit.

Does anyone know if Metro has added an extra set of doors to each car for the 7000 series?

Escalators:

I agree with someone that Metro needs start/stop escalators. I've seen these work in the Seoul Metro and they not only are energy efficient, I'm sure they also cut down on the wear and tear of the machinery itself.

Cleanliness:

I've seen workers constantly picking up newspapers and what not from subway cars. The one thing I noticed though is that they never end up on the floor from passengers because there is a rack above the seats that passengers can leave bags on; they're just rods of metal in the shape of a rack. Here, people will just throw newspapers on the floor which made it a lot messier. Given that the seats have open space underneath it and in rows, it makes it hard to clean.

Farecards:

Again, I'll have to compare with Seoul. There, they use what is known as T-money cards. They come in various shapes and sizes from credit card sized to a charm that can attach to your phone. T-money can be used and reloaded not only in the subway, but every major convenience stores (i.e. 7-11, FamilyMart). These cards can be used to pay for everything transit related (with free bus-rail transfers) and also in cabs and to pay for purchases at convenience stores. It is by far the most advanced transit fare system I have seen.

Buses:

Again, I will compare to Seoul. They have bus only lanes in the middle of the roads (without curbs) and for some reason, I hadn't seen violators of the lanes when I lived there for half a year. The buses were always very punctual and fast and many times, it would be faster to take the bus than the subway. I've heard that many metropolitan areas around the world have visited Seoul to see the bus system in action. I think it might be worth checking out as well.

Their bus numbering system also divides Seoul into 10 distinct districts. If a bus number was 412, the first number 4 would denote that the start of the route was in that district, the end of the route was in district 1, and the 2 would note that it is the 2nd line for routes that go from 4 to 1. Also, along the side of the buses, major landmarks along the route are displayed so a passenger will have a general idea of which route the bus will take.

Metro can definitely do more and I think if they were to go on fact finding missions around the world, it would definitely be helpful to improving our system.

by Pathfinder on Feb 3, 2011 1:57 pm • link • report