Unlike other European public transit systems, it stays open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

BBC: Subway systems by the numbers

On the ground, public transit systems were shut down Tuesday across much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern seaboard.

WSJ: Travelers Face a Nightmare

Another story focuses on how a Luxembourg-based PAE is suing cash-strapped public transit systems over their use of vehicle-tracking systems.

FORBES: A Judicial Solution To Non-Practicing Patent Holders' Suits Vs. End Users?

Scientists say the findings -- to be published in Nature on Thursday -- can help improve public transit systems and even fight contagious diseases.

ENGADGET: Study secretly tracked 100,000 cellphone users' locations

The New York City subway, opened in 1904, is one of the few public transit systems worldwide that runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

BBC: Subway systems by the numbers

Smarter traffic systems can help traffic and public transit systems flow more smoothly, anticipate congestion and improve it in advance, reduce emissions and increase the capacity of infrastructure.

ENGADGET: IBM shows off Smarter Traveler traffic prediction tool

In addition, Grassley, the Senate's top Republican tax writer, says the bill would "prop up" a complex tax shelter related to banks' leasing facilities to transit systems and public utilities.

FORBES: Auto Bailout

Before you go getting any bad ideas, know that Benninger and Sobell haven't released the app for public use, and warned both transit systems in late 2011 (though neither region has fixed the exploit, the duo claim).

ENGADGET: Security researchers identify transit system exploit in San Fran and New Jersey, create app to prove it