Join the public transit discussion on the Transit Coalition's boards

Have questions about public transit? Check out The Transit Coalition's bulletin boards for answers. The Transit Coalition's a nonprofit that advocates for better public transportation in the greater L.A. area, and the coalition's bulletin boards are used to promote a free exchange of ideas about transit.

Especially compared with the disorganized comment streams of most transit blogs, the Transit Coalition's boards are fairly well organized by topic and transit line, allowing you to quickly follow a discussion about the issues that affect you. More importantly, these boards attract some serious transit wonks -- which means that if you ask a specific question about the Gold Line, you'll likely receive a detailed, informed answer. In fact, your burning questions may already have been answered on the board; just read through the discussion to find out everything you wanted to know about transit in L.A.

According to Bart Reed, executive director of the Transit Coalition, open access to and free exchange of transit information is imperative to creating a viable public transit system. "How do you grow if you don't provide information?" he asks rhetorically. Thus the boards allows a diverse group of people to weigh in -- though the discussion here is of a much higher level than on most blogs, with fewer inane questions of the "why don't they build a monorail from my doorstep to the elevator at my job?" variety.

About 200 people are active participants on the boards; thousands from all over the country are active readers. The Transit Coalition also informs people of transit happenings via its weekly e-newsletter and monthly print newsletter. Reed points to a growing interest in transit issues among Angelenos, and is optimistic about the future of public transit in L.A. "All of these things haven't been in alignment for so very long are finally lining up," Reed says. "This is the year where the citizens of L.A. are frustrated enough that they may actually say yes to something."

Want to get more involved with the Transit Coalition? Everyone's invited to the coalition's monthly meetings; the next one happens June 24, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Philippe The Original, 1001 N. Alameda St., Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, I've never been able to attend these meetings -- because I can't find a viable public transportation method to get me to and from there that late in the evening. Maybe after the subway to the sea gets built ...