Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Which US or Canadian city you think has the best and most extensive commuter rail service?
Which do you think should begin development of a commuter rail network?
My picks for the best:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: GO transit
New York Long Island RR
New Jersey Transit
SEPTA in Philadelphia
Chicago Metra
Boston MBTA
Los Angeles Metrolink
San Francisco Caltrain
Seattle Sounder
Cities I think need it:
Houston: wow, even the people in LA think you drive too much lol
Denver: I believe one is in the works as I speak
Atlanta: see houston.
New York has by far the most extensive commuter rail network and your list is missing Metra North for NYC (both that and LIRR are run by MTA). There are some unfortunate things about NYC commuter rail like having LIRR and Metra North using different systems so it'd be incredibly difficult to run one into the other and the other issue being not very good use of through routing into New Jersey. If NYC can get these things going then there would be so much bunching at the major terminals in Manhattan and frequency can go up easily with the possibility of running commuter rail as more or less a super express service within the city.
Philly takes this one easily, its the only through-running system, with a commuter connection tunnel, fully electrified all that. Its modeled after European s-bahn systems, like the Paris rer, was the model used for Bart and DC metro. Even NYC is trying to streamline their system the same way.
For all intents and purposes BART in the Bay area and DC's metro serve as commuter rail systems.
I see what you mean. In some cities their light rail systems are in a way serving as their commuter rail systems as well, even though those trains may not actually be commuter rail.
For all intents and purposes BART in the Bay area and DC's metro serve as commuter rail systems.
This is true. It's nice to have Marc and VRE commuter rail along with DC's Metro System. It makes their style far superior to older systems providing premium transit in the inner city and the suburbs. The suburbs in DC would be very different without the Metro. I wonder what the DC suburbs would look like if they only had commuter rail in the suburbs? The suburbs would definitely not be as urban as they are and car usage would be far higher. There would't be an option to live an urban lifestyle outside DC proper in the suburbs if they only had commuter rail.
NYC is pretty tops with over 950,000 riders per day. Chicago would be in the next tier with over 300,000, and then Boston and Philly with around 130,000 each. The rest are all below 50,000.
This is true. It's nice to have Marc and VRE commuter rail along with DC's Metro System. It makes their style far superior to older systems providing premium transit in the inner city and the suburbs. The suburbs in DC would be very different without the Metro. I wonder what the DC suburbs would look like if they only had commuter rail in the suburbs? The suburbs would definitely not be as urban as they are and car usage would be far higher. There would't be an option to live an urban lifestyle outside DC proper in the suburbs if they only had commuter rail.
How does dc's transit have one of the lower walkabilty scores?
How does dc's transit have one of the lower walkabilty scores?
For just that reason, much of the Metro goes through suburban areas and functions like a commuter rail as well as an urban subway system. Many of those suburban stations are very suburban in nature and are more park and ride areas than dense urban areas.
DC itself is pretty small. Within 2-5 miles of downtown for the most part you exit the city limits and are in the burbs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
