In a quest to take more car-free weekend getaways, I want to compile a list of U.S. cities that are easy to navigate by public transit, beginning at the airport.

Which cities qualify and why?

Portland, OR

Well, Portland should be high on your list. MAX train from the airport, streetcar through downtown connecting it to popular areas (Pearl District, NW Portland, Riverplace, new South Waterfront district with Aerial Tram), and good bus service, including "fareless square" buses downtown. See www.Trimet.org .

I have to say New York City. I think a car here is a hassle.

Seattle, San Francisco, and New York City. I always tell people that if they get a DUI, they should move to Key West, because you can walk (or ride a bicycle) everywhere.

All that has been said, adding Chicago and Wash, DC. I think Boston and Philadelphia also, though I haven't been to either.

washington, dc is great, especially if you fly into DCA (Reagan National Airport). It is served by public transport. The DC metro and bus systems are good--dependable, relatively clean, and not too expensive.

I've been to all of the following metroplexes (and lived in two of them) and consider all of them with sufficiently good mass transit that you could do quite well without a car:

New York
Washington
Chicago
Boston
Philadelphia
Bay Area

All of them have fairly reliable mass transit from their main airport to the city center.

About the SF Bay Area, it's very good in SF and Oakland. Getting better but not as good in the south bay, north bay and parts of inland east bay (Livermore, Pleasanton, Danville, etc.).

I live very comfortably in Philadelphia without a car and I get around quite a lot. You can get a train right in from the airport and the Septa system of buses, el, subway, regional rail, and even trolleys works quite well. (Actually, much better than it used to, I think.)

Plus Philadelphia is a wonderful walking city!

St. Louis and Atlanta are easy to get from the airport to the main part of town. A little less convenient once you get there, but . . .

You can also get around Baltimore fairly easily.

New York. Between subway, local bus, express bus, commuter trains and ferries you can get all over the city and far into most of the suburbs. And most of it runs 24/7.

I always get around by foot/public transit for my chosen destinations. In the USA, I've lived in Baltimore w/o a car... not the best public transit in the country by far, but with a bit of patience doable; light rail does serve the airport from downtown and a combo of buses, water taxis, walking shoes and occasionally light rail or metro get you most anywhere you want to go.

New Orleans and Pittsburgh are the only cities not mentioned yet in the US that I had a lovely visit without a car... I arrived by train in one and bus in the other, so can't comment on airport-> downtown transit.

Portland, OR.

Seattle has good public transportation IF you live on Capitol Hill and your main destination is downtown. Otherwise, no.

Chicago. In terms of being able to see nearly every neighborhood in the city while easily using mass transit, it has to be Chicago.

I have to take issue with Portland. Yes, it is easy to get from the airport to downtown and around Portland proper, but if you really want to explore, you would need a car.

NYC and Chicago, on the other hand, really allow you to easily see the 50-mile radius using nothing but public transit.

Seattle.

You can take Metro bus all over the place (not just Capitol Hill and downtown, I disagree with the statement above). Yes, even in from the airport. It's right outside baggage claim, an express route to downtown.

We're bus-only still unfortunately - yet to see successful light rail, monorail, trains, etc. in place.

Plus we have a ferry system! Do we get bonus points for that?

A car ("Cah") is a total liability in Boston - absolutely useless. I grew up in inner city Boston and my family didn't even have a car until I was high school - few of my friends did. The subway/trolley/computer rail/bus/commuter boat system is second to none in the U.S. (it's the oldest subway system in the U.S., BTW). I can't think of any major city with an airport closer to downtown than in Boston - a very short hop by water taxi or subway from the core of downtown.

Now if they can just stop Cartoon Network from "advertising" around the city...

If you want to toss in a Canadian city, Toronto has great mass transit with a nice combination of buses, subways, and streetcars. The connection from the airport is the toughest, but even it is fairly convenient (bus to subway).

<<A car ("Cah") is a total liability in Boston - absolutely useless.>>

But apparently a "Polah Bayah" can be quite useful...According to a recent 'Non-Sequitur' storyline.

(To tie-in w/ the mention of "Cartoon Network")

A car is absolutely useless in Boston but be forewarned that public transportation shuts down early. Of course you could walk or take a cab. The fact that everything turns into pumpkins at midnight keeps Boston from having a great public system IMO.