[Transit Pass Gallery] 🚂

[Nightdrift]

Got inspired by Melon's payphone spotting post. One of my favorite activities when visiting any new city or region is...trying out whatever transit systems they've got, and collecting transit passes/tickets. I started collecting around maybe 3-4 years ago after experiencing the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and being very amazed by what was my first experience with an American transit system that actually worked (the idea that you could take the subway from the airport to downtown for $5 or less vs taking a $50 uber ride was INSANE to me at the time. I have been so used to nothing but endless disappointments and failures of public transit LOL)... My collection is quite humble and obviously the pandemic has made traveling unfeasible for the time being, but I would love to share it with any other transit enthusiasts or anyone curious.

Left to right, top to bottom, card and location card was acquired:

1.) Metra Ticket, Chicago 
2.) CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) Ventra Card (old style), Chicago 
3.) CTA Ventra Card (current style), Chicago 
4.) TAP (Transit Access Pass) Card, Los Angeles 
5.) Metro SmarTrip Card, Washington DC 
6.) Oyster Card, London 
7.) ORCA (One Regional Card for All), Seattle 
8.) MTA MetroCard [Pride] - New York City
9.) MTA MetroCard [Hawaiian Islands] - New York City
10.) MTA MetroCard [Single Ride] - New York City

I am really looking forward to when I can travel again and hopefully pick up even more tickets and passes. I'm especially hoping to travel to Asia and hop on some of their trains there.

If you've got any transit passes saved, please feel welcome to post them here. Duplicates/repeats are also more than welcome, and/or if you don't have any cards, feel free to share any transit tales or HOT TAKES, such as "who has the most aesthetically pleasing transit system", etc etc.

[xandra]

i love this idea! i love taking public transit. thank you for sharing!

come to sf, BART and MUNI need to be on this spread!

[Nightdrift]

i love this idea! i love taking public transit. thank you for sharing!

come to sf, BART and MUNI need to be on this spread!

Glad to be among good company! I am honestly surprised I haven't tried the BART yet, but it's definitely on my radar now. Incidentally, I've heard a lot of interesting tales of the BART, mostly from friends when they were going to school in the Bay Area, so the experience might be specific/colored there (although I think this might be how locals tend to feel towards their respective public transit...affectionate annoyance LOL, it seems to be this way in most places), but I very much would like to try it out as a generic, easily amazed tourist without a strong timetable XP

[Melooon]

Ok this took some digging, but here's what I found! (One was hiding in a U2 cassette case)



Top to bottom, left to right:

• Amtrak - 3 Month US Rail Pass (It cost $900, EXPENSIVE TICKET)
• Washington DC Metro
• Suica - Japan wide public transport
• Pasmo - Tokyo Metro and Claw machines for some reason
• Leap - Ireland public transport
• Paris Metro ticket
• New York Metro card
• Bonus: The last kids ticket I ever got on the local train where we lived
• Bonus: My Beano Club Membership card!

[Nightdrift]

Yes! This is the business, thank you for taking the time to dig up and share your collection.

I really want one of those classic yellow & blue MetroCards. I guess they were having a lot of events going on when I visited New York. It is another destination I'm hoping to visit again when things are less crazy in the world, so maybe it won't be too much of a stretch to snag one soon.

I have never actually seen one of those Amtrak mega tickets before (probably for good reason considering how expensive they are o_o), or knew of their existence. It's also..really big, did you really have to carry that around to show the ticket inspectors, or was there a smaller/mobile version you could use? I've always wanted to take the Amtrak's Southwest Chief route; buying the regular ticket fare would probably be plenty enough, but taking a month or three to explore the US via train with one of these mega tickets would be an incredible experience.

^{Personal Verdict: Suica is probably my favorite of this lot, beating out Leap by just a hair because it has a goofy cartoon penguin on it. Good call, Suica, we need more animals on transit card designs.}

[Melooon]

I have never actually seen one of those Amtrak mega tickets before (probably for good reason considering how expensive they are o_o), or knew of their existence. It's also..really big, did you really have to carry that around to show the ticket inspectors, or was there a smaller/mobile version you could use? I've always wanted to take the Amtrak's Southwest Chief route; buying the regular ticket fare would probably be plenty enough, but taking a month or three to explore the US via train with one of these mega tickets would be an incredible experience.

That's your ticket, you carry it around and you don't lose it! Living on Amtrak is a different version of life, tickets are bigger and life slows down. The world becomes a passing photograph of deserts and fields and roads; sometimes the train just stops for 6 hours because theirs a line outage and its fine, time doesn't matter any more. You're caught in a 70s movie, with some old hippie or a whole carriage of traveling Amish. Amtrak is a faded glimmer of civilization, where the dream that America promised the world it was, is still almost real. It wont last, I HIGHLY encourage you to take that trip.

A picture I took out the window towards the end of my time there:

[SilkSkull]

Ok this took some digging, but here's what I found! (One was hiding in a U2 cassette case)



Top to bottom, left to right:

• Amtrak - 3 Month US Rail Pass (It cost $900, EXPENSIVE TICKET)
• Washington DC Metro
• Suica - Japan wide public transport
• Pasmo - Tokyo Metro and Claw machines for some reason
• Leap - Ireland public transport
• Paris Metro ticket
• New York Metro card
• Bonus: The last kids ticket I ever got on the local train where we lived
• Bonus: My Beano Club Membership card!

What is beano club? that sounds cool as hell

[Melooon]

What is beano club? that sounds cool as hell

It was like this lil club you could join by sending about 12 euro to the Beano publishing house and they would send you a membership card and like some mech and they'd write to you on your birthday and stuff. When I was older they also sent me a platinum lifetime membership card! The club shutdown in 2010, but I still consider myself a lifetime member

[SilkSkull]

What is beano club? that sounds cool as hell

It was like this lil club you could join by sending about 12 euro to the Beano publishing house and they would send you a membership card and like some mech and they'd write to you on your birthday and stuff. When I was older they also sent me a platinum lifetime membership card! The club shutdown in 2010, but I still consider myself a lifetime member

That's so cool! was it just a European thing? also do you know where to find more media about it? I vaguely remember seeing something related to this in my childhood