transiting 1

Leslie is in her 2nd week of the Winter School at the Academy of Art and Architecture (AHK), an intense 'prequel' to the regular semester that starts February 1st. She has had class every night from 6:30pm to 11:30pm so it has been quite hectic and somewhat of a transportation challenge. Plus it is dark, windy, and probably raining.

However, Amsterdam has a pretty amazing transportation system consisting of 4 Metro lines, 20 some light-rail lines, and a bunch of bus routes. They all are well coordinated, timely, and intersect at points throughout central Amsterdam.

For example, we set out from our apartment at 6pm on the nightly run to the AHK. Walk 2 blocks down Buiten Oranjestraat and catch one of 3 buses to Central Station, which is the transportation hub of Amsterdam. At Central Station we scurry off the bus, avoid other buses, fellow travelers going in all directions, light-rail trams, cars, bikes, and descend into the Metro. Time: 6:15pm.

There are 3 Metro lines that run south-east out of Central Station [RED line on map]. You are very likely to get on one within 2-3 minutes. After another few minutes waiting for everybody to get on board, we are off. 4 minutes later we are at Waterlooplein station near the AHK studios. Time: 6:25pm. A 3 minute walk and we are at the AHK. 

Transit and repeat!