I've been in Budapest, Hungary, for the last few days. My wife and I and
her local cousin, have been using our 72 hour travel passes to experience
the multiple forms of transit.
We have travelled on totally rebuilt, Czech originated trams, on Siemens,
Alstoms, on many locally built or adapted, others, and seen the latest CAF
in operation. We have used buses, small and large, trolley buses, metros,
old and new, and the outer suburban, "light rail" - using East German built
trains. EVERY mode operates with incredible frequency and speed. Extremely
efficient with enormous patronage with very many change points from line to
line and mode to mode. At each change point, there is almost always, the
next mode arriving immediately. The contrast to Sydney is stark. It does
help that the largely 19thC, new, city was laid out with broad streets. The
tram lines are separated from the roadways by lines of semi spherical
cobbles to keep the cars out. The speed of operation, in both real reserved
track - a very large part - and on the streets, would have Australian
safety operators cringing in horror. There are currently several metros,
which are built as separate lines, with crossover centres at key stations.
Their operation is virtually separate from each other, making the point of
interoperability largely irrelevant. It is a massive success story from
both an operational and public - usefulness, point of view. And,
announcements and signage are in Hungarian and English. It well worth
visiting.