Kansas City metro only has one really good accessible mass transit for tourists: the KC Street Car, a free light rail that circles 2.2 miles downtown, featuring Crown Center and the City Market. Yes, Kansas City does have a bus system, but living in Johnson County, on the Kansas side, I recently realized how cut off we can be without a car. Our daughter’s brother-in-law was traveling through the USA and wanted to use mass transit whenever possible. My husband took him to work one day and dropped him off at the Street Car. That gave him an entire day of adventure.
However, it was the start of the Labor Day Weekend. On Sunday he wanted to take the bus downtown to experience the Irish Festival. We told him it was impossible. He said,
“No there is a bus a mile away. I can walk there and take it. We laughed. My husband showed him on the website that yes there was a bus to downtown, but it would not be running again until Tuesday. No way to get to the Irish Festival. (Don’t worry, we arranged for friends to take him.)
Ferry from NJ to NYC.
It started me thinking about my experience with mass transit. To begin with, I grew up in New Jersey, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. I spent many hours on busses, trains, subways and taxis. It was a part of life if you wanted to go anywhere. Many people who live in New York City do not even own a car. Of course my mass transit of choice going from New Jersey to NYC is always the ferry!
Mass Transit tickets
Since moving to the Midwest, I have experienced exciting weekends in Chicago, Illinois, using the mass transit system. Chicago, like NYC, is another mass transit haven. Using the Chicago subways is a no brainer. Going from the airport into the city is so much faster, cheaper and easier than taking a taxi. And getting around to the different areas makes sense on the subways.
In major cities, I try to use the subways to avoid traffic. In Philadelphia we used the Philadelphia Transit Vehicles (PTV), and in Washington DC, using the METRO Transit System is a must to beat the traffic. I will always remember the very long escalators down into the system when we traveled from a relative’s home in Maryland to downtown DC. Boston also has a mass transit system, the MBTA, that helps college students and travelers get around
I realized that my husband and I use Mass Transit whenever we can. In Atlanta, the MARTA took us to and from the airport to the downtown hotels. In California: we adore the Cable Cars in San Francisco. While staying in San Jose, we used the light rail to go the Winchester Mystery House in San and the Tech Museum from our hotel.
We used the light rail in Denver, Colorado, to explore the historic area and travel to and from our hotel. In one of my favorite cities, New Orleans, I used the street car with my children to get from our hotel to the French Quarter!
I have even used the mass transit in St. Louis! Although I drive there all the time to see family, when I went to a graduation at Washington University, I was told parking was not available. I drove to the nearest MetroLink Station and traveled to the ceremony. What a delight to avoid all the traffic.
One of my favorite ‘mass transit’ rides was on the People Mover ride in Tomorrow Land at Disney World, and of course we love the mass transit success of the Monorail in Disney World. Does that count? I think so. I thought of it recently when we were in Seattle. I had the opportunity to use the one-mile monorail down to the Sky Needle and the Seattle Center, an area developed for the 1962 World’s Fair.
But it wasn’t only the monorail that had our patronage in Seattle, we also used the light rail system of SoundTransit. The underground area was so clean! Currently buses run through these tunnels in downtown Seattle, but I was told that would end in January 2019, as the city prepares for the expansion of its light rail.
I have also used mass transit in other countries. Vienna, Hungary, we took our children on the subway. I will admit there was one very loud and screechy turn. We all held our ears. In Israel, I have changed my allegiance from the busses to the trains. They are great and have free wi-fi.
The most interesting subway of all was in Athens, Greece. When they dug down to build the subway, the workers kept finding antique treasures. Now in the stations are displays of these lovely objects. You get a history lesson, while waiting for the subway.
Funicular in Quebec City.
Another favorite is using a funicular to get up and down a hill. That was great fun in Quebec City, Canada. I have used them in other places as well, like the Carmelit underground Funicular in Haifa, Israel, and the one at Marvel Cave in Branson, Missouri (this was my first funicular.) But the one in Quebec City stands out in my mind. I have seen them in Valparaiso, Chile, but did not actually need to use one.
All my experiences with mass transit makes me wish that my home town would invest a bit more in helping people move around. I will admit that recently citizens voted to expand the light rail a bit further south to the shopping areas of Westport and the Plaza, as well as the University of Missouri Kansas City campus. But it still doesn’t help those who live in my area. But my dream lives on that eventually the entire city will have an operating, useful light rail system.
zicharonot 
As someone who hates driving, I sure wish we also had more mass transit in the region where we live.
I understand!