Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 15 Nov 2015 16:12:06 +0000, Clive Page
wrote:

A long but interesting article on the problems of updating the
antiquated systems on the New York subway (warning, lots of ads
especially if you have flash player enabled):

http://www.theatlantic.com/technolog...ns-are/415152/

Very interesting in terms of the monumental mess the MTA have got
themselves into. Reminded me of some of the worst conflicts in LU but
I think TfL have smoothed a lot of things out although obviously the
SSR debacle is a case where they didn't. I think the funding
environment in New York is vastly worse than London experiences and
there are regular political turf wars causing ever changing political
priorities for the MTA. Causes all sorts of ridiculous problems - it's
a miracle the trains run.

Much as I am happy to gripe about much in Britain, transport in London
really is exceptionally good. The fact that whether or not the brand new
buses are a bit toasty on the rare hot day is considered a major issue
pretty well underscores that.

This is not an observation born of living in Bucharest either (our public
transport is pretty decent, even if the idea of an air conditioned bus
draws a hollow laugh in a country where it's routinely 40C in the summer) -
I vowed never again to complain about London transport when I moved to
Yorkshire and found out what the state of transport there was like.

(One amusing aside on Buc though - we have an equivalent of Oyster, the
Activ Card. Except the underground stopped accepting it because the bus &
tram operator (RATB) can't pay its debts to the tube operator (Metrorex).
Whether it's Ken or Boris or whoever else that's in charge, they and the
administration around them actually do a bloody good job in that London.)