train

Copenhagen

One of the European cities participating in the Icelandair fare sale was Copenhagen, Denmark. The good part about this is that Copenhagen was definitely on our “must visit” list, because we have relatives there who just had a baby and we wanted to visit them. The not-as-good part is that the Baltic Sea separates Copenhagen from continental Europe. That means we either had to fly or take a ferry across the Baltic. It’s not a huge problem, it’s just another expense that needed to be included in our budget. And it needed to be accounted for on a round trip basis; since we flew into Copenhagen, we would need to get back there to fly home.

Copenhagen waterfront

Here are my first impressions of Copenhagen:

It appeared to be clean, everywhere we looked. There was no trash or other debris on the streets. The one odd exception is that we found several bicycles tossed into the canals.

A bicycle underwater in a canal

We took the train several times, and it always arrived and departed right on schedule. We are from the San Francisco Bay Area, where we have the BART subway system. The BART trains have conductors piloting the trains. Before leaving a station, the BART conductor will visually look down the platform to make sure no one is still stepping onto the train before closing the doors and departing. In Denmark, the trains are automated with no conductor, so passengers are on their own to avoid the closing doors.

Train crossing in front of a hotel

Strangers on the street were not particularly friendly, at least not very outgoing. However, we stayed at three different AirBnB’s, and all of the hosts were extremely accommodating. All the hosts were warm, inviting and welcoming, with one family inviting us to join them for dinner. We definitely enjoyed our AirBnB experiences in Copenhagen.

This will likely not be a surprise to anyone, but the reports are true, there are bicycles everywhere! I haven’t seen this many bicycles in use since visiting the Santa Barbara and Davis university campuses in California. The good thing is, the cyclists behave in very orderly fashion. At one point we observed a long queue of cyclists lined up waiting for a drawbridge to close – everyone waited patiently, within the lines on their side of the bike lane.

Bicyclists lined up at drawbridge

The cost of living seemed high, even for basic necessities such as food. Our first meal was lunch at a food truck style food court. We ordered a simple, carryout lunch of Mongolian barbecue ribs, curry cauliflower, and one piece of flat bread; the cost, including taxes but not drinks, came to the equivalent of about $36 US. Unlike the US, no tipping is required here. For comparison, we recently had a similar meal in the US; we paid $22, including tax, and added a $4 tip, so $36 vs. $26. I added a small hot chocolate to my Copenhagen meal, and it cost over $7, which is also significantly more than what a similar drink would cost in the US. Likewise, the tax on the purchase of new automobiles is high. It has fluctuated in recent years, but it has been as high as 180%, making a $25,000 vehicle cost $70,000.

We had good food, we enjoyed places such as Tivoli Gardens, and we had a great time visiting relatives. We would love to return to Copenhagen again one day.

NYC Subway vs. San Francisco BART

We arrived in New York City a couple of days ago. As we got close to the city, traffic was so bad that it took about an hour and a half to drive the last eight miles. This reinforced our decision to not drive in NYC again until we were leaving. So we parked the van and the next day we purchased a weekly pass for the subway system; that’s all we’ve been using to explore the city.

Our experience with New York City transit was very good. We visited in early spring, in late March, and it snowed a couple of times during the week we were there. Our AirBnB was within walking distance from at least two subway stations (there may have been another station on another line, but we never had a need to look for it). After a short walk to one of the stations, which was easy enough even when it was snowing, trains showed up quickly and brought us anywhere in the city. It took us about 45 minutes to get from our AirBnB to anywhere in Manhattan.

Walking through snow toward the subway

Having lived in the Bay Area and ridden BART – the Bay Area Rapid Transit system – for many years, it’s interesting to see the differences between the two subway systems. For the most part, I would rate the New York system as superior. Not just for the obvious reason that the NYC metro system is much more extensive than BART, but the daily user experience is a bit better in various ways too.

For example, look at the photo below. In many of the NYC train cars, there is a map of the line you’re on, and it has little lights to show what stops remain in the direction you’re headed. One by one they go out as you leave for the next station. Plus, announcements are made over the PA system in the trains and passengers can actually hear and understand what is being said; this is often not the case on BART.

Subway directions sign

A one-way ride to anywhere in NY costs $2.75. On BART a one-way ticket from Pleasanton to San Francisco costs about $6.50, and that’s not the most expensive ride. Alternatively, in NY you can purchase an unlimited weekly pass for $32.00, which allows as many on and off trips as you want. There’s no such thing as an unlimited pass on BART.

Most importantly, trains run very frequently. Some lines run every 2-5 minutes! On BART, the train to Pleasanton runs every 15-20 minutes, depending on whether it’s peak travel time or not.

Other small things:

  • In NY, you need to swipe your card to enter the station but not to exit. This speeds up the exit process over BART.
  • Noise – have you noticed that the noise on some BART cars is deafening? The NY train cars are much quieter; not so quiet you forget you’re on a train, but at least they won’t make you go deaf.
  • Why does BART insist on having padded seats? Padded seats are harder to keep clean and easier to vandalize. NY has traditional, hard plastic seats, which are fine for commuting and easier to maintain.

The main area where BART surpasses the NY subway is that the ClipperCard ticket system is nicer to use than paper tickets, which NY still relies on. And finally, as dirty as BART is, it seems to be slightly cleaner overall than the NY system.

We’re having a great time exploring New York by train!

Inside the subway system