Commuter/Transit systems without forums

[Ron Newman]

A number of commuter and transit agencies do not have forums:

Atlanta - MARTA
Baltimore
Charlotte, NC (just opened)
Cleveland
Connecticut Shore Line East
Los Angeles
Minneapolis (just opened)
Montreal
New Orleans
PATCO (Philadelphia/NJ)
Pittsburgh - PAT
Salt Lake City
San Diego
Vancouver

I think I've left out a few (Denver? Dallas? Houston? St Louis?)

Not all of these are going to generate a great deal of traffic, but some of them such as Montreal and MARTA are pretty large. For others, we should have a "Miscellaneous" or "General Discussion" forum in the Commuter/Transit folder.

[Otto Vondrak]

You are the first person to ask for these forums... which leads me to believe there is not a lot of interest for them.

Atlanta - MARTA - canbe discussed in existing forums

Baltimore - can be discussed in existing forums

Charlotte, NC (just opened) - ok what's it called?

Cleveland - Ohio Railfan

Connecticut Shore Line East - New England Railfan, Metro-North forum

Los Angeles - which? MetroLink? the Subway?

Minneapolis (just opened) - ok, what's it called?

Montreal - STCUM can be discussed in Canadian Railfan

New Orleans - The St. Charles Line? I dont think it warrants an entire forum.

PATCO (Philadelphia/NJ) - can be covered in New Jersey Railfan.

Pittsburgh - PAT - is covered in Pennsylvania Railfan.

Salt Lake City - what's it called?

San Diego -

Vancouver - can be discussed in Canadian Railfan.

You see, these operations are not extensive enough or distinct enough from exiting rail operations in their region, therefore, I do not feel they warrant separate forums. For instance, New Jersey Transit is very complex and different from the rest of the rail operations in New Jersey, and therefore, gets its own forum. Clevland RTA, while operating both light rail and heavy rail transit, is limited in scope, and is only one topic within Ohio railroading.

If the demand increases for these topics, we can certainly create a new forum.

-otto-

[Ron Newman]

I definitely don't think we want a new forum for each agency on my list, but do wonder if a folder for "Other Commuter/Transit Systems" would be in order. I think it would generate some discussion of the systems I listed. If discussions got large they could later be moved into their own forum(s).

Miami Tri-Rail has its own forum, and it is certainly not as large or significant a system as Montreal's, Atlanta's, or LA's.

[Ken V]

In one aspect, Otto is correct in saying that a general interest in a specific operation will generate far more posts than anything else, no matter how large the operation may be. I've seen this, time and again, here and on other forums.

However, as the moderator of the little used GO Transit forum, I've also seen a number of posts that would have never been made to a general forum. Is one or two posts a month, that would otherwise not be made, be worth its own forum? That's a question the forum administrators should answer. It's rare, but sometimes one of these things can take off big-time.

[Komachi]

Hey, you guys know I'm all for the little guy having his "hole in the wall" to discuss things at, and if a General Transit topic is the place, then let me cast another voice for said topic.


And everyone here knows I'm biased towards things Minnesota, so a thread for the Twin Cities light rail line gets my vote!!!!

By-the-by... the rail line there in the Twin Cities is called the "Hiawatha Line" (they plan to expand the system in the future) and was stated above, just opened this past weekend (June 26, 2004) with regular revenue service beginning this past Monday (6/28/04). I was going to go to the opening ceremonies, et all, however I was called in to work at the radio station that day.

Oh well. Those be my votes.

[walt]

PATCO could also be discussed in the SEPTA forum since it connects with the SEPTA system in the subway in Center City Philadelphia ( and, as the Bridge Line, before the Lindenwald extension was actually operated by the SEPTA predecessor, Philadelphia Transportation Co.)

[Otto Vondrak]

I welcome further suggestions... I certainly dont want anyone to feel left out.

-otto-

[bellstbarn]

Many thanks, Otto, for your generosity in running this site. It must take much time and effort. I came upon this thread because I put PATCO into a search engine. You are right: it could be dealt with under "New Jersey Railfan."

[Otto Vondrak]

Probably not right now...

-otto-