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It's clean and so incredibly comprehensive that it's said no household in Munich is more than 1,300 feet from a transit stop of some kind. (http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/02/stressful-munic.html)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/munich_metro.jpgby Dave Demerjian - Wired Autopia – Feb. 06, 2009

We should send our urban transportation people over for some good ideas -- Ed.

Munich's transit nsystem is a sprawling network of light rail, subway, tram and bus lines that reach every corner of a city inhabited by 1.3 million people. It's an amazing system, but it can be overwhelming if you're a foreigner exploring the Bavarian capital.

Munich is Germany's third largest city, yet its mass-transit system is small compared to those in London, Moscow and New York. It's half the size of Berlin's mass-transit network. Still, it's among the most efficient in Europe. It includes 245 stops and more than 325 miles of track, and it carries more than 1.6 million passengers a day. It's clean and so incredibly comprehensive that it's said no household in Munich is more than 1,300 feet from a transit stop of some kind.

This vast network rests on two pillars. The U Bahn is a six-line underground subway system the features 98 stops on 62.5 miles of track. It's the workhorse of the Munich metro, carrying almost a million passengers a day. It is joined by the S Bahn, a light-rail system with six lines that run on 275 miles of track and stop at 147 stations. A fleet of buses and trams (.pdf) -- some 410 in all -- fill in the gaps. ...http://blog.wired.com/cars/2009/02/stressful-munic.html

In my nearly 40 years of life, I've talked with many Americans about European transit systems and whether they should be replicated in the U.S. I've only gotten two responses:

(1) Yes, we should absolutely replicate in the U.S.
(2) Our cities are too "low density" & too car dependent.

Which is really two different ways of saying "yes, it's a great idea".

The absolute zenith for public transport systems in our world is Japan. They did it by modeling after and improving upon the British system. The Japanese model is so successful that the majority of young people are no longer interested in owning a car. I am so jealous of these cities and their amazing public transit. For some reason the city officials in Toronto are too STUPID to figure out how to make our system here great as well.

The TTC only recently brought up the idea of having express subways which do not stop at every stop and they said they learned this great idea from the revolutionary subway in New York (sarcasm intended). The last time I was in Japan I travelled through the heart of Tokyo in peak rush hour in less than 30 minutes on one of these express subways. Why can't we admit the Japanese and the Europeans have vastly superior public transport systems than our feeble attempts, and copy them? There's no harm in copying what works and maybe making it a little better. Just look at the auto industry.

We invested too much on highways and bridges. It's to late to turn back now. We need a paradigm shift.