Does anywhere else have a better transit system? New York
City, maybe, but who can afford to live there?

=v= NYC's is the best I've ever experienced in the U.S. It
works well enough to be the most carfree city in the nation.

I keep hearing about how great the DC Metro system is
compared to other places.

=v= Metro is the very same "Space Age" system as BART, so
everything's nonstandard and costs piles of cash, but in D.C.
at least, they have to keep up appearances. Wouldn't want
the nation's capital to give any accurate impressions about
the appalling state of mass transit in the U.S.

San Francisco, where they've been doing it right for about
120 years.

=v= Well, they did it right 120 years ago, I'll grant you that.
Part of the reason S.F. produced such a vibrant (and militant)
biking culture is the gross dysfunction of the S.F. Muni transit
system. It's especially appalling when you consider that it's
the densest city on the West Coast.

=v= In the greater metropolitan area, the BART system is a huge
money sink (same nonstandard system, without the need to keep up
appearances), so several balkanized regional transit systems are
underfunded. And of course most of the money goes to highways
and other car amenities.
_Jym_