Quote:
Originally Posted by SIGSEGV
South Bend has commuter rail to Chicago. Trenton has commuter rail to both Philly and NYC.
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Exactly. Just because cities are linked by "commuter rail" doesn't mean they should be lumped together. In the northeast corridor, AMTRAK largely functions as a commuter rail. The greater L.A. area has a commuter rail system (Metrolink) that extends way out to the Mojave (Lancaster & Palmdale) and way east to Riverside, and way northwest to Ventura and way south to San Clemente and then links to San Diego by the connecting Coaster commuter rail that meets Metrolink in San Clemente. The "commuter rails" are just interurban rail lines connecting different population centers. Some of the people that live in the distant centers hold jobs in the core city of the megalopolis. The outer cities started as discreet towns, but gradually were absorbed into "megalopolis". Deciding where one city (or metro area) ends and another begins is a near hopeless task, although where people work and shop and recreate and are governed from gives clues.