The Largest Metro System of the Americas | Mexico City Metro Explained

The Mexico City metro is massive and surprisingly modern, and the city has far more transit to explore, from suburban rail to gondolas! Check out the latest explainer to learn more!

Special shoutout to Guido Enriquez for providing help & the footage used in this video!

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Ever wondered why your city's transit just doesn't seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!

Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.

[albertomartinez-garcia]

Mexico City's metro is a great case study in overcoming terrain-based challenges with modern technology and creativity. What's that? You can't build tunnels because there's an underground lake? Build the metro on elevated tracks instead! Oh, you can't run a metro to the northern hills because the hills are too tall? Build a gondola system! Wait, it turns out Mexico City got a magnitude 8 earthquake in 1985? Use giant concrete pylons and flexible track to make the whole metro earthquake-proof! You found yet another pyramid where a station was supposed to be? Just build around it put it on display!

[CharlieND]

It's a shame how much Mexico City's metro is overlooked; in contrast to the New York City subway which is constantly featured in popular culture. I definitely wouldn't know as much about it if it weren't for you. The system is seriously impressive and serves the continent's largest city very well. Great video as always, Reece!

[anschelsc]

It's worth noting that the 5-peso metro fare isn't just low compared to other countries--it's low for Mexico. I live in Morelia, Michoacán, where the cost of living is noticeably lower than CDMX, but our buses cost 10 pesos.

[Construyendoaishtar]

As a resident of CDMX, I still learned a lot from this video! I'm very excited about the future possibilities of rail connections. I also think you managed to speak on some delicate issues (like the airport and line 12) with delicacy but still giving an honest opinion. Even with our great system, mexicans spend the largest % of their salary getting to work, compared to other countries, so there's always room for improvement.

[danielbarreiro]

I used to go to Mexico City about once a month in the nineties and I remember the metro system as a wonderful, efficient system to go around and I am happy to learn it has improved so much in size and variety. Now, for a silly anecdote your video brought to my mind: the tall building shown in your first panoramas of the city, the Torre Latinoamericana had a mural in its main entrance claiming it was the tallest building in the continent, and to prove it it showed it towered well above the Empire State Building. The trick was that the height of the two buildings were considered from sea level, not from the ground level of each building. Since Mexico City is already more than two thousand meters in elevation, even the base of the building was well above the top of the Empire State. BTW, a tip to improve your Spanish pronunciation, which is already pretty good. I mention it because you consistently missed on this one. The syllable with the tilde is the one you have to stress, thus Lázaro is LAzaro, not LazAro. Just like in México, which you pronounce MExico, not MexIco. You did OK with all the names without tilde. Another tip is: you never pronounce the U after a Q, simply ignore that U. Cheers!

[japanesetrainandtravel]

Having also taught students from Mexico - we discussed how wonderful and extensive the Mexico City metro is. Amid the challenges that Mexico faces, my students take pride in their metro. One interesting thing is its ability to withstand earthquakes (the underground portions at least) unlike many buildings on the surface as seen in a recent quake. A few things I love about the metro are the mix of rubber-tired trains and traditional ones and the extensiveness of the network. The orange livery is quite nice too. I wonder if running some lines in the medium of smaller streets serves as a form of advertisement to encourage people to use the metro.

[fernbedek]

Mexico does not get enough credit for their urbanism.

[mdhazeldine]

I love how the whole system looks like a 1970s sci-fi movie. Very cool in a retro kind of way.

[GeorgeTankerYT]

Yeah, that's one of the positive things about Mexico City's mass transit network. They all can be accessed with a single card called "Movilidad Integrada." And what I love about the card's design is how well they fit all systems in it. In the card we have a light green for the RTP Network, a darker shade of green for Eco-Bici, light blue is the Cablebus, dark blue is Electric transportation (light rail and trolleybuses), orange stands for subways while red for metrobuses, pink signals the CETRAMS I (some sort of hubs for regional and suburban buses, and other kinds of transportation [i think privately owned]) and purple for other bus lines that the city's government operates.

[wxmixhw]

LA with its multiple city centers can really learn from CDMX.

Thanks for the amazing introduction as usual, Reece!

[Anthony-czlr]

I LOVE the Mexico City metro. It’s AMAZING! The trains are so frequent too - it doesn’t even matter if you miss the train, because the next one will be there in 1-2 minutes. It’s truly the best way to get around the city.

[kantuscancradmirun]

I just wanna say: Pantitlan at 7 AM it's hell

[RipCityBassWorks]

This system seems better designed than most American metros that are overly focused on serving the city center.

[fridaperez-fsve]

Hey I'm from Mexico City, thanks for covering our metro/subway, I've always thought was underrated, is very cheap, it connects the whole city, and is extremely convinenant and easy to use, we have directions and maps and is pretty easy to move around. And I liked that you mention the problem and the accident with the 12 line, because it was awful, unfortunately the subway is old and needs desperately some renovation and maintenance, imagine this was the most modern one and it failed, definitely some miscalculations. Also compared to other subways around the world is very cheap. I always joke saying i can go anywhere with only 5 pesos (0.27 dolars or 0.24 euros)

[Maikcoleon]

You failed to mention, that cdmx's metro is an economic hub of sorts. You can buy snacks, headphones, books, children's toys, and even get some entertainment while riding the trains. I love my city's metro.

[thenotoriusroger]

A nice easter egg is that Chabacano (line 2) and Insurgentes (line 1) were used in the terminator movie because of their futuristic looking back in the 80s

[brunorodriguez]

I am from Mexico and have used the metro countless times, i have been waiting for YouTubers to do videos about the amazing transit system Mexico City, but you forgot to mention about the cultural Sections of the metro, most stations have some sort of cultural exhibit with art pieces and more, it has some really cool spaces sometimes. Hope more people will see Mexico transit systems as the incredible syste it is, compared to most of the other transit systems in the continent.

[betiox]

I'm from Mexico and I understand English and I think this channel deserves a like because I don't criticize us

[GojiMet]

Went there in October, was blown away with how comprehensive the subway and the buses are. I'd say the American transitfan is severly skewed toward American and Canadian cities.

I happened to stay next to the Reforma, and it was really convenient to hop on MetroBus line 7 (the double-decker line) and reach many tourists destinations.

I also spotted some of the older trolleybuses from the 1990s, and one of the oldest ones, 4305, from 1984!

[jornar]

Thank you RMTransit! Mexico City has such an interesting, extensive and dense transit network. Great video as always. The only thing I would have added is the fact that Line 1, as the oldest one in the network, is being rebuilt in it’s entirety. They are essentially building a brand new line, with the exception of the tunnel, with new rail, communications networks, energy supply lines, 30 new trains- everything is being scrapped from the tunnels and rebuilt with latest technology. This will help increase the line’s capacity by 30% as the trains are bigger and will increase their frequency at the stations from the current 2 minute interval to every 90 seconds.