How good is Public Transport In the USA?

Washington DC:
how to get around in the city:

Circulator buses: 1 $ (operate on central routes – such as Union Station to Georgetown)

Metro Buses: look up “Next bus” app

ride share apps: Lyft, Uber, Via;

dockless e-scooter apps: Lime, Bird, Skip, Spin (dockless means you can leave them anywhere without locking them to a post)

Electric bike: Jump

bike shares: Capital bikes (they are red and have many stations, easy to use)

Chicago

CTA for within the city limits – http://www.transitchicago.com/ – Trains are pretty decent in the city. They run about every 10 minutes. Most of the lines go into the “loop” (downtown area of Chicago) and back out. City buses are less reliable, often becoming victim to bunching up because of the traffic in Chicago. Just about every major street has a bus line on it though so you can get where you need to if you have time. Fares are pretty reasonable at $2.25 with a transfer (http://www.transitchicago.com/fareinformation.aspx)
Train and Bus trackers are available although the bus tracker is a little more reliable in my experience.
http://www.transitchicago.com/traintracker/
www.ctabustracker.com/bustime/home.jsp

PACE for the outer limits of the city – www.pacebus.com/
Haven’t taken the PACE buses very much but they do accept CTA transit cards for travel so there is some convenience there.

Metra for outside of the city and into the city – metrarail.com/metra/en/home.html
Metra are large trains that typically run from the suburbs to downtown Chicago.

Sorry about the links, apparently I can’t post more than 2 hyperlinks.

I noticed that no answers have yet mentioned Los Angeles or San Diego.

Los Angeles has little to no public transportation. You can’t depend on it to get you places you’re likely to want to visit within a reasonable amount of time.

San Diego, I’m given to understand, has much better public transit than when I lived there two decades ago. However, it still only goes to limited areas.

Your best bet. imo, is to cash in the LA/SD Greyhound ticket, rent a car to use in Los Angeles, and then drive it to/around San Diego. You may have to pay a little more to drop it off in a different city, but it’ll be worth it.

BTW, whatever your expectations of Greyhound are—lower them. It can get pretty nasty.

NYC has the MTA http://www.mta.info/ which is both the subway and the bus. Avoid the bus at all costs (unless you have to). NYC traffic is horrible, so buses are always slow and never match the time at the stop (if the stop even has the timetable).

The subway is awesome – unlike DC, you can get wherever you want for the same fare. It’s not calculated between entrance and exit stops. Most of Manhattan is within easy walking distance of a stop, so you don’t need to use the bus anyway.

Getting from LGA to Manhattan will require some combination of bus or taxi, unfortunately.

Philadelphia’s SEPTA works great +1

Washington, DC http://www.wmata.com/ has a phenomenal metro as well. Clean, safe (around the burbs and the downtown area, avoid the “bad part of town” – East/South), and (usually) on time. Highly recommended and it goes everywhere you want to go.

Unlike NYC, the stations don’t blanket the city, so if you want to go somewhere slightly out of walking distance you’ll have to use the bus line. When I lived there a few years ago, it was relatively safe and efficient.

Again, avoid the bad areas and if you find yourself trying to go “too far” from a subway stop whilst downtown, chances are you’re in the “bad area”.

With the possible exception of Niagara (Niagara Falls is a smaller, more tourist-oriented city, so the public transportation may be somewhat less comprehensive), all of the cities you listed should have extensive public transportation coverage. Most cities offer some form of unlimited travel pass, and in most cases a weekly pass is available.

I think in general, you will find that the schedules of US public transportation will be a bit looser than you are used to in the UK (at least from my limited experience of the London Underground). Pickup times can vary by 15 minutes or more in many cities without being considered unusual, especially for the bus lines.

Generally speaking, you want to be a few minutes early (5 or more), just to be safe.

Philadelphia, as Raj More mentioned, is serviced by SEPTA, and has a good combination of buses, subways and trains. The trains are generally reliable, and provide fast and easy access through the main parts of the city, operating out of 3 main hubs within the city, and provide access to most of the suburban areas. The subways provide good access throughout the city, to the areas not immediately serviced by the trains. The buses provide access to just about everywhere else, although they tend to run less frequently, particularly for the less popular destinations, and their schedules are more… flexible.

Chicago is served by the MetraRail that is similar to Philadelphia’s SEPTA train system, providing access to most suburban areas. There is also an above-ground elevated train that provides good access within the city. I am less familiar with the bus system, since during the time I lived there, I took the elevated train (“the El”) when traveling within the city.

New York’s subway is an excellent means of travel within the city.

Edit: I missed Las Vegas, which deserves some special mention.
Las Vegas may be a bit atypical, as, much like Niagara Falls, it is largely tourist-oriented. However, it diverges considerably from Niagara in attitude towards tourists. The lure of the free or cheap deal is frequently a means of attracting tourists to specific casinos, and this can frequently be exploited for traveling. Many of the hotels and casinos offer free shuttle services, plus there are a number of non-traditional public transportation methods available: link.

Philadelphia: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority serves this city pretty well – especially the city and it’s tourist spots.

You can buy a Weekly Transpass from SEPTA for use on any SEPTA bus or trolley.

If you are going to use the train system, you can get a TrailPass as well.