Sunday Movies: Beautiful & Useful Transit

Paris's ultra-useful transit is getting better. (Transit Tangents)

Stockholm's beautiful metro stations are the world's longest art exhibition". (Not Just Bikes)

We need visionaries like this, and politicians who can prioritize the right things get it done. Paris has automated trains, platform screen doors, service every 5 minutes on many metro and bus lines, station entrances with a pedestrianized street and walk-up retail at both city and suburban stations, no bias against gondolas or funiculars where appropriate, extensive cycletracks, tram tracks in grass beds, etc.

Both Stockholm and Sound Transit spend 1% of their station budget on art, yet Stockholm has much better art. Each station built since the 1970s has a unique look so you can tell at a glance which station you're at. In Seattle each of the DSTT stations are unique, but the U-Link/Northgate Link underground stations all look alike, so if you can't see the signs because they aren't visible from your viewpoint or people's heads are blocking the view and you missed the audio announcement, it can be hard to figure out whether this is your station or not, so sometimes you just have to go out and hope it is. Whereas if each station were unique, you could tell at a glance at any part of the wall or floor whether this is your station.

The two guys narrating each taking up half the picture reminds a bit me of West End Girls. London in the 80s, with transit.

This is an open thread.