This burgeoning system, like the Chinese economy, has grown exponentially in the last two decades to become one of the world’s largest.

The “T” is emblematic of the city of Boston:  irregular in plan, eccentric, and exuding lots of local character.

The best system you’ve probably never heard of, where each station with its amazing art installations, like a Belgian chocolate, contains a delightful surprise.

Continental Europe’s first system is a varied goulash combining Gilded Age, Soviet utilitarian, and contemporary architectural design.

Latin America’s first subway, the Subte—with its historic tile murals—is very proud and highly styled, like the city’s residents.

Best defined by the elevated Loop, the “L” (as Chicagoans call it) is a muscular and efficient system befitting the “City of Broad Shoulders”.

One of the world’s oldest, shortest, and certainly most diminutive subways, the “Clockwork Orange” is also its most idiosyncratic, perfectly expressing the Glaswegian persona.

Beautiful wall tile decorations of this rapidly expanding system reflect the city’s exotic Levantine character, where Europe and Asia meet.

The Underground—its roundel logo, iconic map, bespoke lettering, memorable posters, and tubular shape—are a quintessential part of London’s brand identity.

Not nearly as well-known as its counterparts in London and Paris, Madrid’s equally impressive metro and its distinctive rhomboid-shaped logo are cultural icons of the capital city, and a source of great pride to Madrileños.

No other system better reflects its city’s heritage and history than the Mexico City metro, showcased through the nearly 200 stations’ names, pictogram graphics, and unusual color palette.

Jaunty, elegant, and brimming with Gallic self-confidence, it is hard to believe this beautiful system is over half-a-century old.

The splendor of its ornate older stations truly represents “palaces for the people,” and influenced metro architecture in two dozen other post-war systems in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and Asia.

Possibly the world’s “smartest-looking” subway, due to its sophisticated and playful combination of art and architecture in its stations’ designs—including one at the Oktoberfest fairgrounds that looks like the inside of a beer keg!

Its “Art Stations” containing immersive avant-garde installations are unrivalled, making this smaller system a major tourist attraction in its own right. 

The subway epitomizes the city:  large, complicated, and brusquely efficient, as a system, like the city itself, “that never sleeps at night” (one of the world’s few that operates 24/7).

Like haute couture fashion, the métro displays a unique sense of style—a combination of graceful Belle Époque vaulted tile ceilings and edgy contemporary design—with curves in all the right places.

Faithful to the modesty of its Quaker founders, this smaller system has an understated style that gradually is being revitalized with sensible station makeovers.

Marvelous installations of museum-caliber contemporary art enliven the sculptural concrete walls of stations that are expressive of this dynamic city’s renowned Modernist architecture.

The first of the 175 post-war metros, Stockholm’s incredible “cave stations” are fully-immersive art experiences that revolutionized transit design worldwide by demonstrating that public transportation could be artistic as well as efficient.

The world’s busiest subway is clean, punctual, efficient, and surprisingly easy to navigate—with public restrooms to die for!

The Washington metro is a convenient and comprehensive system serving R’s and D’s alike, with a signature federal “look” consistent with DC’s stately governmental architecture.