Investing in transit helps make good cities great

Having become much better acquainted with Athens since 2012, one thing I've come to appreciate most is its transit system - particularly its metro. Clean (almost gleaming in some stations) and generally efficient, with generous hours and clear verbal and written announcements in Greek and English, it gets me where I need to go with relative ease. Sure, there are the inconvenient occasional work stoppages. The good thing is they are usually well-publicized beforehand such that there's enough time to determine a workaround.

Another highlight of the system is its clean, convenient and accessible tram that connects the suburbs to Syntagma.

Amid the economic crisis, I find it remarkable that more than half a dozen new stations were opened across all three metro lines in 2013 - a growing system that continued to expand. Given what Greece was going through then, it wouldn't...