Buffalo

Buffalo was at one point a colossal American city, making the top ten by population in the country for two decades a century ago. But since then it has declined: both in a relative sense to to 45th place, and in an absolute sense losing over half its city population since 1950 and falling as a metro region since too since 1970. The rapid transit system also disintegrated, with rail routes disappearing from the '30s to 1950, though a single light rail system made its debut in the '80s.

This transit map focuses many of the routes along the river/lake to connect with the light rail line downtown at Exchange St. I've also added a new light rail station at Parkside to intersect the new Green Line. The system provides connections to Amtrak at three stations, and gets close enough for a workable transfer to both of the region's airports.

Columbus

This system of half a dozen lines contributes to the dreamed-of mobility of Ohio's capital and largest city. The convergence of lines downtown misses the core central business district by a few blocks, but does hit several redeveloping locations along the riverfront. There aren't many long-distance connections here, since the lines don't get close enough to the main commercial airport and there's no regional rail system in the city (apparently, Columbus is the 3rd largest U.S. city without Amtrak).