I wish there were a starter packet for using the metro. I hate it when people say, "where do you want to go? Oh, that's simple, you just take the Orange line to Such-and-such station. Why couldn't you figure that out? It's so simple." No, that is not simple. That's an insider's language designed to call out the outsiders. I get there and there isn't just an orange line. The orange and green lines overlap. Don't get on the wrong train at the right terminal! Or maybe it's like the purple line, where you have to take the orange line to get to it, and everyone else already knows this, but they don't tell you that, they just say "take the purple line" and I'm left standing there freaking out that I can't see a purple dot on a sign in a poorly-lit cavern.
If I drive somewhere, all I need to know is where it is and where I am and I can eventually get there within 50% of the normal time to get there. Let's take this road that points towards where I want to go. That didn't work? Okay, let's take the next road that points to where I want to go. Unless you're driving around the Pentagon, which I'm fairly certain has had its road systems designed into the shape of a PENTAGRAM, then that will get you to where you want to go in the majority of the US.
And grand total is still faster than walking to the metro, waiting in line for the train to show up, and waiting for it to stop at every spot in between.
Google maps / transit routing smartphone apps do a pretty good job of this. I've not had trouble coming into a new city, asking Google maps to give me mass transit directions and just following them.
Most cities have real time bus/train trackers now that help you plan when to leave so you don't have to wait long.
When you go to sign up for your driving permit, they hand you an entire book on road signs, markings, and traffic signals. They don't just explain what is around your neighborhood and on your daily commute, they explain how the entire system works and how to read it fluently.
Later, they test you on it. Obviously, testing people on riding the metro would be ridiculous. But there is a huge difference in having a map and signing system in place versus knowing how to read them.
Yes, I took a semester-long class for (among other things) understanding road signs in highschool, and my parents took several hours of their own time to coach me as well. Learning to drive and understand the road system is not a trivial task.
Yet for the metro, if you don't know what you're doing and you don't know anyone who knows what they are doing, you're essentially dumped in the deep end during all-swim. The maps and the keys for understanding the maps are all printed in high-traffic areas (of course, where they will be seen by the most people), and the other passengers are often quite annoyed by "noobs" who stand in those high traffic areas and gawk at the maps.
If I drive somewhere, all I need to know is where it is and where I am and I can eventually get there within 50% of the normal time to get there. Let's take this road that points towards where I want to go. That didn't work? Okay, let's take the next road that points to where I want to go. Unless you're driving around the Pentagon, which I'm fairly certain has had its road systems designed into the shape of a PENTAGRAM, then that will get you to where you want to go in the majority of the US.
And grand total is still faster than walking to the metro, waiting in line for the train to show up, and waiting for it to stop at every spot in between.