What Is The MARTA Mass Transit Like? (Atlanta, Sandy Springs: credit, live)

[saadrajabali]

Is it really small and sparse like the DART system in dallas or is it medium sized like LA or Chicago or is it really huge with stops like 2 ft. apart from each other like NY?

[wxjay]

Definitely nowhere near as extensive as Chicago, NYC, or Boston. The system as a whole is quite infant relative to the size of the Atlanta city and metro area. That is, it is not very extensive in terms of rail services. There are a lot of bus routes, but their frequency varies greatly and most of the time, you save time driving over waiting and taking the bus.

If you plan on using the system, then I highly recommend you live close to a MARTA rail station where you can walk or have accessibility to drive to a close-by station, park, and then take the train.

Check out their website for info on schedules, lines, etc.: MARTA

[Galounger]

No where near as large as NewYork or Chicago. Similiar in size to Dallas' DART but much better. Has 38 stations 48 miles of track compared to DARTs 35 stations 44 miles of track. Dallas is light rail traveling mostly at street level with 106 street crossings. This makes for slower travel and some accidents. MARTA on the otherhand is all underground or above street level and therefore travels much faster and is frequently voted the safest rail by national transit authorities. DART rail daily ridership 58,000. MARTA rail daily ridership 451,000.

[atlantagreg30127]

You do have to give DART credit though - they're in the middle of a massive expansion which will nearly double their system size in only a few years, and they've had a ton of support from residents as well as large Federal grants recently. MARTA right now due to funding/vision/planning/politics is pretty much dead in the water regarding any immediate expansion plans.

MARTA is fine if you live near a rail station and work near a rail station and don't have to go to the grocery store too much (as there are few close to a station). The bus system has a lot of problems regarding off-time buses, rude drivers, etc.

[wxjay]

I just checked out the DART website and I am VERY impressed. Well done, Dallas and its citizens for having great vision and working to expand their rail system.

Meanwhile, I'll still be here and suffer through the short-sightedness of many in our state legislature.

[crystalblue]

im sure its in one of these threads somewhere, but have the plans for expanding marta died off?

how can the local "leaders" do that? aren't the citizens screaming for relief?

[Galounger]

Originally Posted by crystalblue

im sure its in one of these threads somewhere, but have the plans for expanding marta died off?

how can the local "leaders" do that? aren't the citizens screaming for relief?

Acording to worldsubway plans to expand MARTA east to Lithonia were killed in the 80's by citizens arguing it would cut their community in half. Plans to expand to Tucker dead for same reason. Cobb stopped expansion to there. Gwinnet stoped expansion to Lawenceville. A go ahead to build light rail from Arts Center to Atlantic Station never yielded anything for some reason.

The political gridlock is absolutely mind blowing and depressing. MARTA could easily have been twice it's size long ago if not for politics. The funding is there just not the political support.

[saadrajabali]

the problem with dart is that some suburbs are still not getting into it yet

[gt6974a]

as a foot note. There really wasn't a need for Mass Transit in most parts of Metro Atlanta 10 years ago. So just take that as a side note. These other places have been more populated for alot longer.

People new to the area seem to forget that.

[rackensack]

Closer to medium and sparse; there are fairly frequent stops (within walking distance of each other) from the Five Points station downtown going north to Arts Center on the North/Northeast line, but otherwise on the North-South and East-West lines the stations are relatively far apart (except for Perimeter Center, Sandy Springs, and North Springs on the North line, which are also fairly close together).