Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Artwork in the Stockholm Subway

San Francisco and Stockholm both hold a special place in my heart. It's fairly easy to see each city without the need for a car because of a plethora of public transit options. But if I had to choose which city offered better public transit options, Stockholm would win hands down.

I don't own a car and I don't like buses. This past weekend I tried to explain to my Swedish relatives living in San Francisco why I don't like riding buses. It comes down to the way buses jerk us around (not a smooth ride) and the fact that the buses rarely keep to a timetable. I do like commuter/subway trains. In San Francisco and Stockholm, the trains usually stick to a schedule (although SF's Muni Metro always seems to be delayed).

The subway system in Stockholm can also get you from Point A to Point B much easier than the system in place in San Francisco. Stockholm's subway simply goes more places, covers more territory.

Then there's the matter of artwork. Several stations inside the Stockholm subway, called the T-bana, look like mini art galleries. San Francisco's underground train stations look so bare-bones in comparison.

On my trips to Stockholm I love riding the T-bana. I feel like I could go anywhere in the city and see some unique art while in transit. Doing some research for a daily segment I do for my micro-blog on Twitter, a Sweden *photo of the day,* I came across numerous cool pics of the artwork in the Stockholm subway....
(courtesy of Stuart Pinfold's photostream on Flickr)

(courtesy of Dan.Pan.*'s photostream on Flickr)

(courtesy of mdid's photostream on Flickr)

(courtesy of arkh4m's photostream on Flickr)
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2 comments:

Rasmus said...

Yeah, the T-bana is really cool in that sense. My fave is the M (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsms/3052998600/) at Stadion and of course the amazing neon lightning at Hötorget (http://www.flickr.com/photos/rsms/303387573/ sorry about the crappy picture)

said...

Hi Rasmus...on my last trip to Stockholm I went through the Stadion T-bana station a lot...I liked the vintage poster there of the 1912 Stockholm Olympic games. Every time I went through that station I was in a hurry (busy trip :) ) and didn't have the chance to snap a photo of it.