For me personally, trams are right up there. Aside from the main issue of sharing the roads instead of having a dedicated line, they really make it easy to get from one part of a city to another, especially for wheelchair users. They’re usually as frequent as buses, but much faster. The stations are much more attractive compared to bus stops (on newer systems), and can really make an area feel much nicer IMO.
For those that have a bike, suburban and inter city rail is a strong second. The speed and ease of last mile mobility is what appeals to me the most. Recently took my bike across the country to my home city and it ended up being much faster than driving (by almost an hour) - the multimodal commute was pretty hefty, but lots of fun nonetheless.
I’ve been enjoying cycling as transportation lately, so right now my top choice is a bike. It’s just so much fun! The ability to dismount and instantly be a pedestrian, and to bring it inside trains makes bicycles very versatile.
Bike is #1, all day every day. I don’t move to a place unless I have a grocery store and other services within bikeable distance.
Then it’s busses and trains.
Anything on rails is super cool, subway, funicular, trains, trams.
Feet. I like having everything be as walkable as possible. If not feet then train/metro
Bikes. I enjoy being outside instead of being in a box. I can also usually take more scenic and pleasant routes than I could with public transport or a car.
Second place would be high-speed rail. It’s quite comfortable and you can read a book or just watch the landscapes go by at rapid speeds.
Trains when possible.
I’ve been riding motorcycles on and off for years. For the last 8ish months I’ve been riding one of those like city share electric moped/scooter things. It’s a cheap Chinese NIU brand. For the size and state of infrastructure in my current city (Tbilisi) it’s honestly the best way to get around.
I lived in Tokyo for years though. I would take a train network like that any day of the week.
Nothing beats walking to me. I wish I could walk everywhere but stupid lack of endless time. In general I enjoy travel more that is slow but consistently moving. So train over bus and I just hate planes because sure the plane is fast but most of your journey your just sitting there or in lines. but yeah it would be walk then bike then metro train then other train. Plane and bus are pretty unappealing to me so not sure where to put either. At that point I might actually prefer a car, which I know is verbotem. Actually busses are not to bad if the jaunt is short enough but really then I might as well bike anyway.
Bike and it’s not close. I’ve loved being on my bike my whole life, ever since it was the easiest way to get to the public library as a youth. My hometown had a beloved, beautiful, and very extensive bike trail system, and in addition to my use of it for transit, my family would ride it together for fun every Sunday. At peak usage as an adult rider, my daily commute was ~27 miles. Currently it’s 9, but I do a lot of errands and shopping and recreational riding as well.
Second place is walking.
i loooooove sitting on a long direct train connection and just watching the world and small villages fly by.
I love trams, but in my city they’re often slower than busses. And we still have a ton of old rolling stock with no wheelchair access.
I always prefer trains, but I no longer live near trams or trains. Instead I’ve got four bus routes, two of which go on the freeway just after the stop near my place. I’ve made it to my destination in under 10 minutes on that bus, it would normally be 20-30 minutes on a good day though.
My e scooter is new but I love something about it.
I could get a new one every three months and it’s cheaper than owning a paid off car.
It was raining and I didn’t have to sit on a wet seat like I would a bike.
I’m very unlikely to kill anyone or anyone’s pets with it.
It’s not perfect for everyone, but it’s so nice for my life style.
I have a family car, road bike, ebike and escooter. I really like my escooter the most for traveling around by myself, especially so I can jump on a train or bus, or even get a taxi if needed BUT they are still illegal here so I got pulled over by the police (I wasn’t riding like an idiot so they let me off with a warning) and all the trains and buses have banned them so it’s now useless. They never made them legal so we only have dangerous cheap ones. We could have legalised them like we did with ebikes and would have tackled this problem but only young or poor people use them so no chance. I love my ebike too but prefer the e scooter unless I’m going shopping or much longer trips without getting public transport. My road bike is for cycling trips in nice weather.
High speed rail. It’s phenomenal. Want to go somewhere far away? Without HSR you’re doing an exhausting drive, a day-long ride in slow trains, going through horrible airports and paying for taxis on both ends. With HSR you go directly between city centres stress free and arrive with plenty of spoons to walk around. It’s a game changer.
Zeppelin!
Ferries, trains, and trams
Whatever is most pleasant/convenient for the trip I’m trying to make, as long as it is not a car, because cars are disproportionately noisy, polluting and a danger to my neighbors, and I don’t want to contribute to that.
If all the options were equally available and convenient, then for me walking > cycling > streetcar > train > bus.
That order is almost the same for me but move bike way down. Having to own and maintain a piece of equipment to get around introduces a lot of the same problems as cars, just on a smaller scale. IMO getting around should be something the built environment facilitates without the individual needing to BYO vehicle
Riding a bike doesn’t necessarily mean owning a bike.
Places like Toronto or London have bicycle sharing programs where for a small monthly fee you can go to one of many stations around the city, pick a bike and leave it at any of the stations near to your destination. The maintenance staff ensures that all stations have some bikes available and that the bikes remain in working condition.
