Who thinks the MARTA should be expanded to include Cobb,Gwinnett, and the other metro Atlanta counties? (Powder Springs: apartments)

[gt6974a]

Like I've been saying I'd be first to vote for rail, but there isn't a realistic demand for it outside of ****ty commutes..... meaning.... Atlanta isn't dense enough and rail won't benefit enough people to justify the cost to build or operational cost.

New rail seems to be convenient for most people on here, but it's only convenient for 98% of the population.

Peoples solution on here is just to tax everyone who wouldn't use and be done with it. I don't like that approach.

That's why I'm for expanding the busses, then the light bus-rail HOV system, then move to rail.

[xxman777]

Originally Posted by momanatl

Expanding Marta is too expensive for the budgets available. Envision 6 and Mobility 2030 are transportation plans put together by ARC and GRTA(I think they are the authors). I do not think the city/state can even afford those plans and they do not expand Marta in the way you are thinking.

I'm 99% sure those two documents were created entirely by ARC, GRTA didn't have anything to do with them.

You are absolutely right that cities/state/counties can't even pay for Mobility 2030 and certainly wouldn't be able to afford an expanded transit system (although mobility 2030 does have some none car based transportation improvements included) but that is the point of this discussion. Should cities/counties/state find a way to pay for expanded transit services (Heavy Rail/Commuter Rail/BRT/LRT) in the Atlanta metro area? If there is a will, there is a way.

[PeteyNice]

Originally Posted by gt6974a

Like I've been saying I'd be first to vote for rail, but there isn't a realistic demand for it outside of ****ty commutes..... meaning.... Atlanta isn't dense enough and rail won't benefit enough people to justify the cost to build or operational cost.

New rail seems to be convenient for most people on here, but it's only convenient for 98% of the population.

Peoples solution on here is just to tax everyone who wouldn't use and be done with it. I don't like that approach.

That's why I'm for expanding the busses, then the light bus-rail HOV system, then move to rail.

It's called being forward thinking and proactive. I know those are words are lacking from government vocabularies but still...

Atlanta keeps growing by leaps and bounds. The longer you wait to build a massive project like this the more it will cost.

"Taxing everyone..." is the way it is done everywhere else. It works. Increased transit even helps people who don't use it by taking cars off the road. Not to mention that it creates good jobs (someone has to drive and maintain the trains) and is good for the environment.

[JPD]

Originally Posted by gt6974a

Atlanta isn't dense enough and rail won't benefit enough people to justify the cost to build or operational cost.

New rail seems to be convenient for most people on here, but it's only convenient for 98% of the population.

Infill development is taking place everywhere you look. In a few years, Atlanta will be dense.

I have no idea what the second bit means. It seems to contradict your main point.

[gt6974a]

It means this board is not representative of the entire population of Atlanta, i.e. seems people in here would fall into the 2% above.

[wxjay]

Yeah, the statement was a typo I believe (how can it be convenient for 98% of the population and also be convenient for those on this board and yet not be worth it..)

Back to the discussion of expansion, I just really don't buy the whole "it'll take until 2030 to get these things done" mentality. Why is it that a metro area like Denver has a plan to have commuter rails, BRT, and LRT within 50 miles of the city, in all directions, by 2020, and this with some of the infrastructure NOT EVEN THERE!!! Yet the city of Atlanta, with EXISTING rail lines and plenty of areas to have BRT claims (1) it will take 20 years and (2) costs astronomical amounts of money that make people say "We can't afford that!"

Seriously, people down here are living in a different world. GRTA, MARTA, and whoever else helps to make these decisions need to pick up the phone and have a conference call with other metro areas.

[JPD]

Is Denver getting state funding for this project? We don't have that here. That's why nothing ever improves.

[momanatl]

Isn't the real problem here that the city does not get enough money from the state and the state does not get enough money from the Fed.

Georgia is a contributing state, meaning we give more to the Fed for transportation than we get back. While Alaska gets 6x more back than they give(there senetor is head of the committee by the way).

Our state legislators have historically had a hard time approving any legislation that gives money to Atlanta for transportation. The state as a whole seams to forget or not care that Atlanta's economy and growth brings economic benifits to the whole state.

[gt6974a]

Originally Posted by momanatl

Georgia is a contributing state, meaning we give more to the Fed for transportation than we get back. While Alaska gets 6x more back than they give(there senetor is head of the committee by the way).

.

What, you don't approve of the 'Bridge to Nowhere'?

[xxman777]

Originally Posted by gt6974a

Like I've been saying I'd be first to vote for rail, but there isn't a realistic demand for it outside of ****ty commutes..... meaning.... Atlanta isn't dense enough and rail won't benefit enough people to justify the cost to build or operational cost.

You are absolutely correct that the Atlanta metro area isn't dense enough to benefit a large portion of population. However, a big part of the reason Atlanta isn't dense enough is because there is no transit. It is much harder to build density without transit; the best way to do it is to expand transit and then build transit oriented development to compliment the transit. If we keep with the mindset that the region isn't dense enough so we should just give up, Atlanta will just keep spreading out and traffic and air pollution will just get worse.

Originally Posted by JPD

Is Denver getting state funding for this project? We don't have that here. That's why nothing ever improves.

Denver is using a combination of local, state and federal funding. They are building 119 miles of commuter and light rail, 18 miles of BRT and 21,000 parking spaces; all scheduled to be completed by the end of 2016 (planning started at the beginning of 2005). I think the fact that transit in Atlanta doesn't get any state funding shows how anti-transit the state of Georgia really is.