MetroRiderLA

I’m feeling good about the MetroRiderLA Forum.  It’s not sitting dormant as I had feared, in fact it’s pretty darn active for a transit forum in the capital of car culture!  There’s a lot of cool conversations going on right now, let’s check ‘em out:

• My personal favorite is the discussion about Metro accessible food joints. Rogedog92 started this topic and it’s already 19 comments deep, and I’ve already discovered a new tasty restaurant thanks to it.
• A couple from Washington D.C. has joined the forum and asked for asked for the best places to live without a car in Los Angeles, since they will be moving here soon.
• Where would you take a visitor or tourist on Metro to show of your city, public transit style?
• We’re coming up with a list of L.A. transit appearances in television and film.
• Here’s a hot thread, 36 comments deep, about Metrolink’s plan to take away the free EZ Pass transfer.

So there’s a whole lot going on, if you haven’t done it yet, head over to the MetroRiderLA forum and take part in the conversation!

Well, the new forum has been kickin’ it for a few days now. So far 18 readers have signed up to take part in the discussions, and over 260 unique visitors have checked it out. We want more of both, especially active users! There’s some interesting conversations going on:

• We’re compiling a list of LA’s transit system in film and television
• A discussion about how you are treated by your non-transit friendly peers
• At least 17 comments about how Metrolink is considering doing away with the EZ-Pass transfer
• A thread all about biking in Los Angeles
• And a new post about love on the subway

So as you can see, things are pretty laid back, the conversations are varied, and everyone is welcome to participate. If you haven’t done so already, I recommend you check it out and if you like what you see, register to become a member and join the discussions! The more people who are talking, the more interesting it will get.

In an attempt to further the discussions started on the blog, and enable MetroRider’s to share their thoughts in a public forum, MetroRiderLA is proud to introduce the MetroRiderLA Forum for Transit Oriented Discussions!

While blog posts often spur heated discussions, the topics are limited by the choices of the blog author and the time constraints he may face. The forum offers every reader the opportunity to spark discussion on whatever topic may be on his or her mind, whether it has been written about on the blog or not.

Read a news article that you think people should be talking about? Post it here and get the ball rolling. Had an experience on a bus that just blew your mind? Tell your story here, and find out if others have shared a similar experience. Got an idea you think could revolutionize transportation in LA but don’t know who to tell? Tell us!

For example, as I’m sure you’ve noticed we haven’t had a blog post on a pretty major topic in LA transit that came about recently… Metro’s 2008 Long Range Plan. To be honest, it’s a pretty huge topic and I just haven’t had the time to put together what I would consider a legitimate blog posting for it. But people want to talk about it, as seen in the comments of the March 10th Morning Commute post. With the forum, discussions that you may want to have that aren’t represented by a full fledged blog post can now happen in someplace other than an unrelated blog comment thread. Right here, for example.

Six categories have been created in order to help narrow the discussions:

• Transit Talk: general discussions about mass transit in Los Angeles and elsewhere.
• Other Modes: the Transit Oriented Lifestyle is about a lot more than just mass transit. Bicycling, walking, and other modes should all be discussed here.
• Uncar Los Angeles: LA without a car is pretty of unheard, but it’s totally doable. This is the place to talk about all aspects of a car-free LA.
• Tips, Tricks, Cheats and Resources: long time transit riders have all kinds of tricks up their sleeves or special resources they use to help make the ride easier… share those things in this category.
• MetroRiderLA: for discussions relating to the blog and this forum. Suggestions, compliments, and even criticisms are welcome.
• Whatever: This is the place to talk about anything and everything that’s not necessarily transit related.

So that’s it. I encourage everyone to take advantage of this little forum experiment. If it’s successful I think it will be a great addition to the LA transit community, and a nice extension of the discussions on the MetroRiderLA blog. But the thing with these forums is, they only work if people actively participate in them, so don’t be shy.  Apply for a membership account and start posting today!

Inspired by a comment by Dan W. on the One Year Without A Car post, I present MetroRider readers with this question:

Poll closes March 5, 2008 at 12:00PM.

What is the main reason you have chosen what is clearly an alternative lifestyle in Los Angeles? Sure, there are many reasons that go into the equation, but for me, the main reason I decided to go car-free was the fact that driving (and car ownership) in Los Angeles just sucks! Everything about it was dehumanizing to me: it was stressful, boring, scary, and annoying. Environment and economics are pluses, but they weren’t really a consideration to me when I decided to get rid of my car. What’s your story?

The transit communications blog, Permanent Campaigns, recently posted an article targeted at transit agencies about a topic very close to home here at MetroRiderLA, unofficial transit blogs. Entitled “Beware of the Blogger: A Guide to Dealing with Unofficial Transit Blogs“, the article lists some guidelines transit agencies can take to develop a positive relationship with bloggers. It has a list of different transit blogger archetypes to look out for:

• The Fanboy/Fangirl: the purest geeks of the geeky world of transit advocacy, these guys have nothing but love and passion. I don’t know if L.A. has one of these, the closest I’ve found is the Go Metro MySpace page.
• The New Urbanist Wannabe: ultra critical intellectual bloggers with a background in urban design for whom nothing is ever good enough. I might put the L.A. Metro Mole in this category.
• The Journalist: news hounds with only one beat: transit. This is the realm of Streetsblog LA and in a less traditional way, The Bus Bench.
• The Crank: nutty types who rant endlessly about nothing much in particular. Although it’s not updated any more, I’d put the What’s Wrong With L.A. Public Transportation blog in this category.
• The Hater: these people just be hatin’. Hmmm… are there any pure haters out there?

I think MetroRiderLA is a little bit of all of these. I’m probably a reluctant fanboy at heart, why else would this site exist? While I don’t have anything near formal training in urban design, I sure like to pretend I do. Every once in a while I’ll try to be a journalist, but my lack of formal training in those arts is obvious. And often, I can be a cranky hater. Luckily, I’m not the only one who writes for MetroRiderLA, and the other contributors help create a somewhat balanced blog that Permanent Campaigns kindly listed as an example of a good unofficial transit blog, and even quoted The Big Lebowski by calling the blog “very thorough”.

All of this inspired me to revamp MetroRiderLA’s links to external sites. I’ve created a new page, the Links Index, which has a fairly extensive list of some great blogs, websites, and resources relating to the transit oriented lifestyle. It’s nice to note that Los Angeles has at least 15 transit oriented blogs that are currently active, let’s hope Metro is listening to Permanent Campaigns and establishing positive relationships with all of them.

In a sign of the times, MetroRiderLA introduces its first appearance on the social networking powerhouse Facebook. MetroRiderLA has had a presence on MySpace for quite some time now, but since MySpace is old hat and Facebook is the new hotness, we’re joining the new school. The MySpace profile is somewhat clunky anways, and it looks like the Facebook group will enable further discussion and community involvement in addition to the blog itself. We’ll see. If you’re a Facebook member, join the group today, and spread the word to all your Facebook friends. Let’s let social networking help strengthen the Los Angeles Transit Oriented Lifestyle!

Links:

• MetroRiderLA on Facebook
• MetroRiderLA on MySpace
• MetroRiderLA on Flickr