Another Top Five List

As a corollary to the last top five list, we'll now do top five most distinctive public transportation systems. You can't choose anything from the last list.

1. Budapest
The original Budapest metro was built back in the 19th century. It was the first subway system in the world. You ride around in these little yellow caboose-like trolley cars, going between stations that are a block apart. It took me fifteen minutes to walk half the line on the street. However, the other two lines were built by the Soviets in the 1970's. The stations display industrial-style steel and concrete at their finest while the cars themselves bear manufacturer's plates featuring the hammer and sickle.

2. Istanbul
There's just something incongrous about state-of-the-art light rail train cars snaking their way along the crowded, chaotic, centuries-old streets of Istanbul with nary an electric hum. But it's impressive that one of the, shall we say, less advanced countries of Greater Europe has made the investment in an ultra-modern system. They also have a fledgling underground line, which is well-designed and included futuristic rolling stock, even if it didn't go anywhere particularly useful.

3. Washington, D.C.
The ribbed concrete tubes that make up this system are incredible works of civil engineering, even if they use the exact same design for every station. Like the bureaucracy that supports the city, the DC Metro is incredibly bland and homogenous. But unlike the bureaucracy, the Metro is efficient and highly functional. Also, DC had zone-based fare structures with automated ticket machines back in the 1980's. It was cutting-edge back then, and while technology has caught up, the forward-looking conceptualization of the DC Metro is still apparent.

4. Pyongyang
I've never been, but the North Korean metro stations are sunk deep into the earth with chandeliers and gigantic portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il watching over you. Now, if only they could figure out how to feed their own people.

5. Buenos Aires
First of all the price -- 70 centavos, which is about US$0.20 -- can't be beat. It is the oldest Metro in South America, boasting original wooden train cars from 1930 on Linea A. With five lines (and that many more on the way), El Subte is comparable in scope to all but the largest cities in the United States. For South America, I found it pretty impressive.