I have been using the bus and subway in Philly for almost 15 years now and wouldn't dream of driving into Center City for work. I use the time to read and relax.

PS: Go Phillies!!!

Carol ---guess I should have said "GO ROCKIES". They are battling it out tonight, aren't they?

When I travel to a city with Mass Transit I will take it. You're right so much easier than having to try and park a vehicle. Here we have it but it has short hours and doesn't run on our side of town. It's route is aimed at the retirement homes and low income housing and certain shopping centers.

Go Cubs!

Denver's Mass Transit system is very well planned. Clean well maintained buses and a rail system and it/they go everywhere even to outlying cities.

How 'bout them Rockies?

BART doesn't come up here but it does go up the other side of Suisun Bay in Contra Costa county (with the housing prices to prove it). I often take the ferry from Vallejo into San Francisco when I'm going that way and I love it; it avoids the unpredictability of crossing the Bay Bridge and having to play/pay with parking.

Other times I'll drive as far as Berkeley and just take the BART under the bay to the city. Very nice and again, I don't have to mess with parking or the bridge.

We took the ferry about a month ago on a weekend and ate lunch in Tiburon, spent some time browsing in Sausalito, then went to the city and bought strawberries and sat on a bench and people watched while we ate them--had a very memorable day. It wouldn't be worthwhile to even try to do that by driving.

People up here complain that BART is dirty; it's also worth noting that they also complain of the "insufferable" heat when it gets up to 80--if you catch my drift. Puh-leez. LOL.

MichaelAT

Go Phils!!!

I live in NYC it's all about the subway rare I use a bus the bus system which is quite extensive but nothing moves above ground very quickly. Subways are 24 hours a day 365 days a year. 224 miles of track 442 stations and a good express system as well as local system. Brooklyn Botanical Gardens 30 to 40 minutes NY Botanical Gardens 45 minutes to an hour the beach at Rockaway 90 mins Coney Island 1 hour all for $2 not bad often baffeling.

Considering I can figure out the public transportation system in Denver it appears to be idiot proof. Real Easy.

BTY Stephen S's talk at the Botanical Gardens here last night was wonderful - as usual.

GO ROCKIES

Roz:

Okay 2 - 0 Rockies are ahead in the playoffs. But we aren't giving up on the Phils yet!

SEPTA in the mass transit system in Philly. Most of the time it gets you where you are going but it is always raising the fares.

I adore good mass transit - y'all are so lucky to have it. I love it so much it was a prime reason I wanted to move to Europe a few years back. Trains and metros especially! FWIW, I was desappointed in the London tube compared to other European metros, but it still beat the ridiculous congestion we get even here when driving.

And with my back, it's so nice to not have to drive. I appreciated that fact entirely on my recent trip. Disabled folks unite and get more trains here, dammit!

There used to be a commuter train in to 'town' just up the road barely when my dad lived here. He could put down the flag and ride to town for 10c or something as a boy... hourly or so. I would love that now. Now I get to hear the trains but they are all freight.

They stopped our downtown trolley cars a few years back, and it changes the culture if you ask me. In many ways.

When I go to NYC I use all public transportation, from the train that gets me there to subways that get you around. If you overshop and have too much to carry or are just tired from walking for hours, hailing a cab is fast and easy. But a subway is always handy and you're often only a few blocks away from the nearest subway. Well, late at night you CAN meet some very interesting folks on the subway.

Up here, however, there certainly are no subways. I live in a semi-rural area and there are 2 buses a day -- one leaving at 7:30am and one returning around 5:00pm. No bus service on weekends. Not enough population to justify those costs.

The nearest grocery store is 3 miles away. While walking TO the grocery store is pleasant (unless it's snowing or raining), walking 3 miles back home, trying to lug around heavy bags, would not be so pleasant.

Oh yeah, we don't have sidewalks either, or street lights, so you have to walk on the rocky dirt shoulders of the road, perhaps in the dark once it's the time of year where it gets dark early. :-)

So you pretty much drive everywhere to run errands.

How bout them Rockies.

We took metro rail into DC yesterday, cost $4.70 each round trip -- from the Smithsonian metro stop we had a short stroll to the National Gallery. The roses by the castle are blooming nicely, I detested Blueberry Hill but obviously that's a personal issue. The Turner exhibit is large, he was astonishingly prolific. The gallery walls are painted a shade of blue that's just exactly right. We didn't get into the Hopper exhibit, probably a hundred people were lined up waiting to enter that gallery. Sorta reminded me of Christmas at the Biltmore. Not far from the Hopper gallery was another exhibit titled 'Small French Paintings' that contained a couple of Renoirs and various other treasures. We had the gallery all to ourselves (everybody else was waiting in line to see Hopper). Delightful.

We stopped in at Natural History because its DD's favorite museum but the throng of visitors was overwhelming. A father held his little boy above the crowd so he could glimpse the Hope diamond. "Aw Dad, its just a necklace!" he exclaimed. DH cheered, he feels the same.

DH takes the bus to work, its over an hour from our suburb to the Pentagon and costs $4 each way. Thankfully he receives a transportation subsidy to help defray the cost. I'm glad he can relax and read the Post on the way to work instead of driving.

Roz - congrats to the Rockies and their fans! Maybe next year for the Phils!!