Fayetteville Mayor: Keep Fayette out of regional mass transit agency (Atlanta: hotels, to live)

[toll_booth]

Well, there you go.

[arjay57]

I'd be in favor of letting Fayette County opt out.

One of the problems with HB277 is the way the transportation districts were set up. It would have been smarter to begin with Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett, Clayton, DeKalb as mandatory members. Then give the next group the opportunity to opt in within, say, 5 years. You can't let them push back the opt-in deadline forever because that takes away too much of the incentive.

However, counties like Fayette really aren't in the same situation as the core group right now and I can understand their reluctance to be put into the same boat. The project list it's heavily skewed toward MARTA improvements and maintenance and projects in areas that aren't terribly relevant to Fayette.

[DeadInSuburbia]

I had a friend from Cali visit P City and without a car, she was unable to visit any of the rest of metro Atlanta. She considers it the worst 2 weeks she has ever spent.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by DeadInSuburbia

I had a friend from Cali visit P City and without a car, she was unable to visit any of the rest of metro Atlanta. She considers it the worst 2 weeks she has ever spent.

That is unfortunate but, in all fairness, it's hard to argue that your friend's experience justifies putting an extra 1% tax on everybody in Fayette County for the next 10 years. If you decide to stay 35 miles out of town and plan to do much sightseeing, you typically need to make arrangements for a car.

[PKCorey]

Anyone know if GDOT will be able to use the funds to expand the camera network across the metro?

I20 on both sides at keypoints lack cameras. Same for 75 and 85.

[tonygeorgia]

Originally Posted by DeadInSuburbia

I had a friend from Cali visit P City and without a car, she was unable to visit any of the rest of metro Atlanta. She considers it the worst 2 weeks she has ever spent.

I would feel the same way if I went to Death Valley, Ca expecting they should have a train to take me to LA

[Lagwagon113]

I'm all for transit but someone from California is the last person that should be complaining. I woulda had a difficult time getting around had I not had a car when I visited.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by LynnHarris

After reading about how Fayette county government is against any form of public transit, a co-worker and I went out this afternoon to review the car tags at the MARTA College Park and East Point train stations just for fun.

We found a combined total of 48 Fayette county tags, along with over thirty car tags from Henry county-- and this was not covering all the cars in the parking lot.

This might if anything be more of a knock toward MARTA security, as I would have hoped that they would have investigated people casing out the cars in the parking lot. Apparently not. Not a knock on your experiment - but it would be nice to know you were at least approached by security to ask what you were doing. Oh well.

Originally Posted by LynnHarris

So, while I respect the fact that Fayette county does not want any transit options, I do not like the fact that their residents use the MARTA system, but no one wants to pay for it. In my opinion, these Fayette and Henry county cars were taking space away from residents of South Fulton county.

This adds to the argument I've had in the past that if MARTA were to utilize a zone fare system like some other systems do, where people pay a fare based on distance rather than a flat rate - then those who use the outermost stations would pay a higher (but still fair) fare, helping to supplement the lack of the 1% tax from their home counties.



Side note: Cobb/Gwinnett/Fulton are having a meeting on their own regarding transit issues which does show some promise as well. Article: Northern arc counties host transit summit *| ajc.com

[NuclearDensity]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

This adds to the argument I've had in the past that if MARTA were to utilize a zone fare system like some other systems do, where people pay a fare based on distance rather than a flat rate - then those who use the outermost stations would pay a higher (but still fair) fare, helping to supplement the lack of the 1% tax from their home counties.

With respect, I must disagree with atlantagreg.

Because Metro Atlanta has a "car rider" mentality, doing anything that penalizes outlying potential passengers is just another reason for them not to ride MARTA. The train does the same route regardless of whether it is full or empty so the cost to MARTA is the same.

We need to make it as logical and easy for car riders to ride MARTA as possible.

1. Cost - Fares should beat gas prices several times over. If parking lots are full, then MARTA should build more parking decks to attract even more riders. MARTA stations should only charge for long term airport parking not daily parking. Advertise the comparison on Freeway billboards showing how MARTA is cheaper than driving a car.

2. Speed - MARTA needs to beat rush hour traffic and be within 15 minutes of comparable car times during non peak hours. Run the rail down the middle of the freeway so that car riders see the train pass them several times each morning and evening to/from work. Advertise top speed and trip times.

3. Convenience - Many car riders never leave the freeway (that's why the freeways are such a mess) - so some MARTA stations and parking decks should be placed at strategic locations to attract the freeway people (easy in / easy out). Indian Creek and North Springs are good examples. We need another freeway friendly station near Six Flags and Fulton Industrial Blvd.

4. Destinations - MARTA should target high volume destinations. It is outrageous that there is no MARTA station near Cumberland. Cumberland is one of the largest office areas in Metro Atlanta, Cumberland has a major mall, home to Cobb Galleria Convention Center, and Cobb Energy Center (Atlanta Ballet, Atlanta Symphony) ... but Cumberland has no MARTA station because it falls a few thousand feet outside of a MARTA tax county. There is nothing legally preventing MARTA from acquiring land and building here except for politics. I know people that commute from Union City and Covington to work in Cumberland and they would love to ride the MARTA train - but the train can't get there. I've had out of town visitors board MARTA from the airport - get to Five Points and then realize that they cannot get to Cobb Galleria Convention Center - resulting in pain, expletives, and bad press for "Atlanta". MARTA needs to connect high volume locations.

MARTA needs to remove every excuse that riders might use and encourage ridership not create new ways for people to avoid it and continue to crowd the freeways. If you penalize the outlying locations, the car riders will just stay in their cars and drive through downtown creating even more traffic jams. If the car riders have a good transit experience, then the word will spread and more will ride MARTA.

[arjay57]

Another great post, NuclearDensity. Thank you!