Take a Ride on This History of Public Transit Quiz

The world’s first automated driverless railway was the New Transit Port Liner, which opened in 1981 in Kobe, Japan. Though Japan has a number of other driverless routes, the new technology has been slow to catch on around the world. Metro lines in Paris, Barcelona, and Copenhagen all have automated trains, but many routes continue to have a driver onboard in case of emergency.

In 1959, the first daily operating monorail in the western hemisphere opened in Disneyland, California. The elevated track was built by German firm Alweg Corporation using a straddle-beam track that made the trains almost noiseless. The monorail was part of Disney’s futuristic Tomorrowland exhibit and featured two trains, each with three cabins and a glass viewing bubble at the front.

The New York City subway has the largest number of stations of any public transit system in the world, with 472 stops. This compares to 272 in London, 304 in Paris, and 428 in Beijing. On an average weekday, some 5.5 million people use the New York subway, and it is the only subway system in the world that runs 24 hours a day, seven days of the week.

The first horse-drawn omnibuses appeared in France in 1828. This new method of mass transit revolutionized transportation in cities, allowing between 25 and 50 people to share the same mode of transport. Horse-drawn omnibuses became popular in cities across the world, but soon streets became congested with competing bus companies — not to mention the mess caused by so many horse droppings.

On September 1, 1897, the first subway route in the United States opened in Boston. On the first day, more than 100,000 people rode the three-and-a-half-minute journey from Boylston Street to Haymarket. An elevated rail track was built at the same time, which connected to the subway, making an efficient new way to travel around downtown Boston. New York City soon followed suit, opening its subway in 1904.

London’s Metropolitan Railway opened on January 10, 1863, marking the world’s first underground railway. The line traveled from Paddington (then Bishop’s Road) to Farringdon Street, the first of many routes that would be built over the next century. More than two decades later, in 1890, the London metro set another record, becoming the first underground electric railway in the world.

Debuting in 1964, Japan’s Shinkansen bullet trains are some of the fastest trains in the world. The streamlined electric trains run on dedicated lines and only stop at major stations, ensuring they run an efficient and fast service. Bullet trains can reach speeds around 200 mph. As a result, the carriages are air-sealed to ensure the air pressure remains stable when entering tunnels at high speed.

The invention of the steam engine transformed travel, making longer, faster journeys a possibility. Steam trains were first developed to pull freight, but in 1825, the Stockton and Darlington Railway in England began running the first steam passenger trains. Britain pioneered the development of the railways, and by the year 1900 there were more than 22,000 miles of track laid across Britain.

Andrew Smith Hallidie is credited with inventing the cable car, which he conceived of after witnessing horses being whipped as they struggled to pull horsecars in San Francisco. He believed a wire cable would be a more efficient way of hauling carriages over the city’s hilly terrain. The first cable car was installed in 1873 on Clay Street and was an immediate success. Soon the technology spread to other steep cities, such as Seattle.

Red buses first started appearing on London streets in the early 1900s, when the first motorized buses began plying their trade. One of the dominant bus companies, Vanguard, painted all their buses bright red, and the color became associated with London transit. The now-famous double-decker routemaster bus, introduced in 1957, was so beloved it has become a symbol of London — with red as the iconic color.