Great Western Coffee Shop

Ok fellow coffee shop members, I'm pretty useless when it comes to trivia and quizzes within (especially the "bath crescent " one because I didn't understand the rules!) so thought I would have a go at asking a trivia question of my own.

I suspect you lot are so clever you will get this fairly quickly but I will add clues from time to time In case it doesn't get answered!

So here we go.

This mass transit system opened to the public in 1971 and is located in the northern hemisphere.

I'd have guessed BART (San Francisco), but that opened in September 72 (according to Wikipedia).

What about the Munich U-Bahn?

Both are wrong but thanks for guessing

I would have guessed Washington DC metro but I googled that and found out I was 1976.. Close though :-)

I thought Munich was 1971? Just in time for its Olympics.

This would suggest that there may well be two or more. I am going to suggest Beijing as another likely contender.

The Walt Disney World Monorail system in Florida USA. Opened 1st October 1971.

The world's most heavily used monorail system.

stuving and Scott are correct in asserting that the Munich U-Bahn also began operation in 1971.

Well done BNM And apologies to those who guessed Munich- I should have replied "that wasn't the answer I was looking for"

And I never got to use my original clues,which included...

The original track consisets of two main loops which was extended to include a third in the early 1980s

Passengers are encouraged to ride up front with the driver

A television report at the time reopening (Walt Disney World) suggested that planning of city transport systems should be handed over to the Disney organisation as they seem to be the only ones who can make an integrated transport system work

Now where are the holiday brochures....

Bristol City Council, please note.  :P

If Bristol invited Disney to run the public transport it would just be another Micky Mouse operation.

Well, if that's done with, I might take up the thread and leave a poser of my own, if no-one objects. However, I have a friend from Leeds coming to visit tomorrow and I will be in Swansea on Monday (taking advantage of an offer First made me :P), so I may not be able to respond until Tuesday.

What links the previous holder of the title "Smallest City on Earth to have its own Metro system" with the current holder?

The answer "both held the title" and similar responses will be ignored. Answers as vague as "same continent" will also be overlooked.

Time for a Kevin Bacon EE impression...

Lausanne has replaced Rennes as the smallest city in the world to have a full metro system, and both systems utilise rubber tyre technology.

If you were to travel by public transport overland between the two cities, a popular route would be from Lausanne - train to Paris Gare de Lyon, line 14 Metro to Ch^telet, line 4 Metro to Paris Montparnasse, then train to Rennes.

Both metro line 4 and metro line 14 also utilise rubber tyre technology, and thus provide a "link" between Lausanne and Rennes through the French capital that is consistent with both cities own metro systems.

Therefore the answer is rubber. Probably. Or maybe not.

It is also worth noting that the original 1991 Lausanne M1 light rail line terminates at Renens, which is an anagram of Rennes. Employees of Metrotram took this one stage further by creating their own direct link between the two cities in the "Chronology" section of this link... (http://www.metrotram.it/index.php?vmcity=LOSANNA-M1&vmsys=lrt&ind=0&num=2&lang=eng)

Try this one I learnt last night.

In which country is the longest of length of double track metre gauge mainline.

I would never have guessed!