Metro

One of the cleanest subway systems in the world, probably due to strict bans on food and drink. Relatively expensive, but worth it to avoid driving in the area. Doesn't go as far out into NoVA as one would like (Dulles International Airport and Tysons Corner would be appreciated), but expansion is on the docket as soon as a spare billion can be found.

Fares are charged on a paper-based magnetic stripe card by number of miles you travel and time of day (it's more expensive at rush hour). This is different from most other subway systems I've seen, where a single fare will get you anywhere on the system, but it seems to work, partially due to heavy discounts for commuters.

First launched in March 1999 in London, Metro is available at tube and train stations free of charge on weekday mornings.

The paper was originally launched as a spoiler to prevent another company getting a stranglehold on the lucrative commuter market, and to protect the Evening Standard's circulation.

By owning both publications, Associated Newspapers is able to remove copies of the Metro at 9/30 a.m., before the first copies of the Evening Standard hit the streets.

Metro is the first quality freesheet to be published in the U.K. and is funded entirely by advertising. Having no political bias (though the Conservative nature of the publisher does tend to place it slightly right of centre), Metro is designed to give people a 20-30 minute read while commuting to work, informing them of the major stories of the day in short factual bursts of editorial content.

The phenomenal success of Metro in London led to sister titles being published in Manchester, Newcastle, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds and Sheffield and the title sits somewhere between the broadsheets and the mid-markets.

Metro won joint Brand of The Year at The Media Week Awards 1999, with Sky TV, and Media Coup of the Year, and currently has a circulation of nearly 800,000.

Evidence of plans to build the métropolitain existed as early as 1845, though the first line was not completed until July 19, 1900. (Line 1, as it is still called, runs from Porte de Vincennes to Porte Maillot.) Following the construction of the Eiffel Tower by eleven years, this elegant transportation system stole the show, and remains to this day a model of efficient public transportation.

While the engineer Fulgence Bienvenüe was in charge of construction, architect Hector Guimard is credited for the charming Art Nouveau entrances. The system has 199 km (124 miles) of track and 15 lines, shuttling 3500 cars on a precise schedule between 368 stations (not including RER stations), 87 of these offering connections between lines. It is said that every building in Paris is within 500 meters of a métro station. Roughly 6 million people per day patronize the métro, which employs 15000.

Some of the métro stations are worth a visit in their own right. For example, the stop for the Louvre (line 1) gives one the impression that the train has pulled into the Museum itself: the immaculate marble walls are lined with exhibits and replicas of art works, with glass cases containing various sculptures. On line 13, Varenne offers exhibits from the nearby Rodin Museum, while Ličge is paneled with beautiful tiles. Abbesses (line 12) features murals alongside its spiral staircase leading to one of the more elaborate of Art Nouveau entrances.

The nations only elected regional government which covers the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon was established in 1979. The three counties that Metro encompasses are Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington. This area includes 1.3 million residents, 24 individual cities, and ~460 square miles of urban land. The main function of Metro is urban planning for the entire Portland area generally through land-use regulation and transportation planning. One of Metro's first duties was to setup an urban growth boundry that would prevent the Portland area from growing too large, thus becoming unlivable. This really doesn't help much because they just keep extending the urban growth boundries once we reach them.

Other functions of Metro include managing regional parks and greenspaces and the Oregon Zoo. Metro also oversees the operation of the Oregon Convention Center, the Portland Center for Performing Arts, and the Portland Expo Center.

A common term for urban rail systems. Many of these systems are partially regional rail/commuter rail, though in center city become subterranean. Common synonyms are 'subway' (US primarily) and 'underground' (UK primarily).

Also, there are regional names for these systems BART, in and around San Francisco; and the less euphonious MBTA (usually called the 'T'), in and around Boston.

In the multiple award-winning board game Metro, two to six players jointly expand the Parisian subway system. It's a reasonably straightforward game of tactics, construction, and a little luck.

Board layout
The game board consists of eight by eight squares, all showing arrows. Four metro stations form the centre of the game, with 32 numbered stations on the boundaries, each of them containing 'arrival' and 'departure'. Around the board lies a clever score track.

Carriages and tracks
The game pieces are made of wood and represent little metro carriages. According to various clear rules (dependent on the number of participants) the players divide their carriages over the 32 stations. The 60 railway cards show one of the four different track types, straight or curved. The arrows on the cards in combination with the arrows on the game squares make that the tracks can only be laid in one way on the board.

Connect your stations
The goal is to supply a long track for your carriages between departure and arrival on two different stations. The longer the route, the more points are scored. Each player has two railway cards in his hand, placing one on the board each turn (and picking a new one from the stack after that). Every newly placed track should be either on the edge of the board, or connecting to another piece of track.

Points for your lines
As noted above, players score points by connecting metro stations. If a line ends on one of the central stations, the points are doubled. Since you can expand on every track on the board, the choice each time is to invest in your own connections, or to obstruct the opponents' valuable tracks.

Prizes for ingenuity
The luminous thing about this game - apart from the playing pleasure - is that the track cards are designed in such a mysterious way that each departure station of a player is guaranteed to connect to an arrival point at the end of the game. Metro is a game of tactics and will last for about three-quarters of an hour. Publisher Queen Games issued the construction game in 2000, resulting in German and American marks of honour (Spiel des Jahres nomination, Mensa's Top Five Best Games).

Presently, they use a hub system based on downtown. This limits the ability to get from one suburb to another. However, they are moving to more of a grid layout over the next decade.