MARTA expanding concessions program (Atlanta, White: how much, taxi, taxes)

[cqholt]

Should they expand it to Five Points too? It's rough around those parts and what with the all the sketchy folk and homeless at Five Points Station, it could do more harm than good in terms of theft and homeless people begging.

Five Points is not rough. There are no homeless in the station that did not pay the fare. That station is crawling with MARTA police and MARTA officials. My wife rides the train by herself, transferring at Five Points, and she never gets scared.

As noted above, MARTA stations aren't cleanest.

Have you been to other cities transit systems?

[readyset]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Five Points is not rough. There are no homeless in the station that did not pay the fare. That station is crawling with MARTA police and MARTA officials. My wife rides the train by herself, transferring at Five Points, and she never gets scared.

Have you been to other cities transit systems?

I often wonder with the posts in the Atlanta forum if some of these people have ever been outside the state of Georgia. "Marta mismanages funds" etc etc where does this come from? These people obviously haven't been to or read up on whats going on at the transit agencies in other cities. $2.50 for where ever you want to go? I could only wish D.C. metro was that cheap! Or the hunting and targeting practice that San Fransico's BART police do on innocent patrons, killed for no reason.


Raw video footage police brutality of Oscar Grant - YouTube


POLICE SHOOTING AT BART STATION - OSCAR GRANT - YouTube

[tonygeorgia]

Originally Posted by readyset

I often wonder with the posts in the Atlanta forum if some of these people have ever been outside the state of Georgia. "Marta mismanages funds" etc etc where does this come from? These people obviously haven't been to or read up on whats going on at the transit agencies in other cities. $2.50 for where ever you want to go? I could only wish D.C. metro was that cheap! Or the hunting and targeting practice that San Fransico's BART police do on innocent patrons, killed for no reason.


Raw video footage police brutality of Oscar Grant - YouTube


POLICE SHOOTING AT BART STATION - OSCAR GRANT - YouTube

I wonder the same. People are scared to walk through 5 points because homeless people will ask for money lol Smh

[Mishap]

Originally Posted by Staysean23

you are looking to hard into this. There are even worse sketchy people in the NY subway stations with the God awful smell during the summers but it doesn't stop anyone from buying things from the concession stands there. Oh I forgot its NY so they are excused. This is just going to ad a service for those who want a quick snack paper magazine or Gum.. As far as where the money is going to go then maybe you should email some of the Marta Officials to get those answers. Because the article isnt very detailed.

I ride Marta daily these days and haven't encountered so much as a panhandler in the last few months. There's always a cop or attendant wandering the stations. There's the occasional hobo looking dude but that's about it. I only make it up to NYC maybe 2-3X/yr now but nary a trip goes by where there isn't a barefoot hobo asking for change on the trains. The Atlanta hobos are generally outside the stations...guess those breeze cards create a barrier to entry.

I've been on the 4 near St. Marks one night heading out bowling when this old dude started screaming vile racist stuff about Asians. I'm Chinese and was w/ 4 other Asians (they're all from the city). As we were getting off at our stop, an old Jamaican lady retorts back at him that he's wrong so we're thinking she's a voice of reason. Then she continues on that it's actually the Jews that are causing all the problems. Some would say that gives the city character...have that happen down here and its on the AJC as an international incident for a month and a half.

As to the concessions...the hot and stifling air doesn't really whet my appetite but I could see some businesses making it work. They've already got vending machines at some stations and I've never had an issue bringing my coffee cup w/ me. Do a combo t-shirt/tourist crap/magazine stand and you'll get all the travelers looking for last minute gifts before heading back to the airport.

[RoslynHolcomb]

I've been on the 4 near St. Marks one night heading out bowling when this old dude started screaming vile racist stuff about Asians. I'm Chinese and was w/ 4 other Asians (they're all from the city). As we were getting off at our stop, an old Jamaican lady retorts back at him that he's wrong so we're thinking she's a voice of reason. Then she continues on that it's actually the Jews that are causing all the problems. Some would say that gives the city character...have that happen down here and its on the AJC as an international incident for a month and a half.

Sounds like a scene from Do the Right Thing. I probably would have laughed my outhern butt off.

[ATLTJL]

I don't see how selling food and having newsstands at MARTA stations could be a bad thing.

But the biggest thing MARTA could do to make riding it more convenient is climate control the stations.

I'm not a fool, I know this would be expensive and I know impractical to do to ALL the stations. But the major placed like 5 points, Lindbergh, airport, etc. should at least have some areas that are climate controlled. Even if the actual platforms themselves aren't, there should be some kind of area you can sit in that you can easily see the train from and make your way to the platform when you see the train coming.

[cqholt]

I'm not a fool, I know this would be expensive and I know impractical to do to ALL the stations. But the major placed like 5 points, Lindbergh, airport, etc. should at least have some areas that are climate controlled. Even if the actual platforms themselves aren't, there should be some kind of area you can sit in that you can easily see the train from and make your way to the platform when you see the train coming.

They do have industrial sized fans on every platform. Its just too expensive to run the climate control at the stations when the entrances and tunnels are open.

[tonygeorgia]

They should put some peep show booths at the marta stations so when I'm waiting 20 mins for the train on the weekends

[tikigod311]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

They should put some peep show booths at the marta stations so when I'm waiting 20 mins for the train on the weekends

Hell yeah! Let me check out some of those fine MARTA ladies

It would create jobs. No more unemployed janitors...

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

Hell yeah! Let me check out some of those fine MARTA ladies

It would create jobs. No more unemployed janitors...

And in other news, the number of people who miss their train has skyrocketed.