quote:Originally posted by iowamomofsix: Speaking for families, we want to know how to get to the nearest hotel at midnight after we just got off the train. We want to know if the city we will be dropped off is a walking city, like Chicago, or watch- your-back-city like KC. We want to know if we need to pack a snack on the way because, like Omaha, there are only expensive yuppy restaurants nearby, or if we can rely on McDonald's when we get there. Is there a museum at the station like KC and Omaha? Is the station big, seating comfortable, or is the station open for just minutes a day with car being left to the mercy of whoever walks by while you are gone. If so, is their a parking structure within walking distance?
This was a recent post by Ms. Debbie that sparked my interest. Debbie later suggested that it could be a community website run by Amtrak fans. And why not? It's a terrific idea. What's stopping us from providing such a resource to the traveling public? We can unite information about nearby hotels, rental car agencies, restaurants, walking conditions and safety under a single station page so that people who are 'on the edge' about riding Amtrak can maybe be pushed over the edge.
It's a massive effort, which I acknowledge, but the way I see it we can build it up slowly over time - and between all of us at the board, we certainly have enough Amtrak experience to build pages for most of the major stations and many others besides.
For the most part, I'm just looking for a community response at the moment. I can promise you that it's more than just words on my part - I've already started on a working prototype website which I will unveil to you in a few days. I just want to get a general reaction. Do you think this is a good idea? A bad idea? Something that's way out of our league? Also, would you be willing to dig into your old travelogues and contribute information about stations that you've visited previously and might know something about?
Please reply and let me know what your thoughts are. Prototype for public viewing coming soon!
notelvis Member # 3071
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Great idea. Perhaps you would use a standard template that we could contribute 'what we know' to......like local transit, parking, etc.
TwinStarRocket Member # 2142
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Count me in! I live near the Minneapolis-St.Paul station and have used many many stations in the midwest and west. Computer savvy may be a problem, so I second Mr. NotElvis' suggestion tath a template be provided for contributors.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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This is a terrific idea. I could certainly provide the information on the Salinas station, and bus connections to Monterey, as well as links to county rail programs.
There would need to be some central coordination, and a procedure for providing updates. This could overwhelm one person. perhaps there might be a way to assign certain pages to certain persons, and give them access rights to edit those pages. Then the central coordinator wouldn't have to enter new data all the time.
RRRICH Member # 1418
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I too think that is a great idea!! I could certainly contribute some things, but I know ZERO about putting together Web pages!!! I would need a "fill-in-the-blanks" kind of template probably!! Good idea!!
--Rich K
TheBriz09 Member # 3166
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I'm struggling with the idea of a template - it would be a great thing, but I don't really know how to implement it. I mean, I have an HTML template that I drop content into, and those of you who do have a rudimentary knowledge of building simple web pages could use it to drop your info into, as well. But, for those of you who don't know anything about it, that would be a pretty difficult approach, I think.
I could possibly make an MS Word doc with a 'fill-in-the-blanks' sort of thing like RRRICH suggests, but then it's still a matter of copying it over into the HTML format. Ideas, anyone?
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