Get in the queue

The metro system of any large city should conveniently go to the airport. I decree it. Such is the case in a lot of cities, just none of the ones that I´ve lived in. The Boston subway claims to go to the aiport, but you have to take a shuttle bus from the subway station and the buses don´t run often enough and it´s a big pain in the ass. To get to Laguardia airport in New York via public transportation, you crawl across 125th Street on the always crazy-crowded M60 bus which stops about every two blocks; to get to JFK you can take the A train, but then you have to take this other train that costs $5, which not only rips you off but also fucks you up by leaving an uneven dollar amount on your metro card. (Round trip, whatever. Shut up.) Even poor people in New York take cabs to the airport. Here in Barcelona the metro used to go to the airport, but now because of some kind of construction you have to take a bus that´s just as painful as the M60. Worse even, because the Barcelona airport bus also goes to the bus station, so you have two distinct groups of confused people with too much luggage. The subway goes to the bus station. The airport bus really doesn´t have to.

One of the great things about subways is they separate the process of paying and getting into the system from the process of getting onto the vehicle of transport. Another is that many people can get on a subway car at the same time. Basically, you can be slow on the subway without slowing everyone else down. On a bus, anyone who´s got more luggage than they can handle or has questions or doesn´t speak the right language or otherwise doesn´t know what they´re doing slows everything down. And on an airport bus, that´s pretty much everyone. There´s never enough room for the luggage; getting on takes forever; getting off takes forever. It´s a total friggin´ disaster. Add to that the fact that in Barcelona the airport bus costs 3.65 euros, meaning that everyone has to wait for the bus driver to make change, because who has 3.65 euros exactly? Everyone would benefit if they just rounded the cost up to 4 euros. And fixed the metro.

Sorry. I´ve had that rant building up for a while. I´m better now.