is this par for the course on MARTA? (from a visitor) (Atlanta: train, budget)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by MDAllstar

Atlanta better get on board with the taxes or it's going to be left behind by places like Dallas and Denver which are providing the money needed to expand their systems. If you keep making excuses for your region not wanting to be progressive, you're going to be looking up at everyone.[/font][/color]

You are equating "progressive" to building mass transit.

That's not necessarily how we see things down here. Even if you dumped a billion dollars into the Emory line and another billion into a line from Cobb to Midtown, the vast majority of people would still not be served by transit.

And of course that begs the question of whether they want it in the first place. They very well may not.

[Salmonista]

Originally Posted by Psykomonkee

You should just chalk your experience up to "that was MY Atlanta story for that day..." Not "This just is Atlanta" cause that's just dumb to say.
If I said "DC Metro is just dangerous" because of my experience from that one specific day I rode, you would think I was crazy for saying it, right?

Yeah, I don't want to extrapolate too far from one observation. In fact, if it was just one thing that happened, I don't think I would've given it too much thought. It was just that these 3 separate things happened within about a 2-hour span that made me wonder.

Glad to hear from most posters that yesterday was an aberration! I'll give ATL another chance, but I think I'll bring my husband next time...

[magnetar]

For what it's worth, I visited Atlanta and rode MARTA for the first time over the weekend. I rode from Doraville down to the Airport, then over to Decatur, up to Buckhead, and finally back to Doraville. Aside from the 20-minute headways, which I was expecting in advance, I found the system to be incredibly clean and pleasant, much more so than I expected from reading posts about MARTA on this forum. An older lady, a young guy, and myself struck up a conversation on the train that I was actually sad to leave when I reached my station. I certainly understand the locals' frustration as it's clear that it wasn't very well managed in the past, but from reading about their new budget and plan to restore the previous service cutbacks, plus the experience I had over the weekend, I'm optimistic about MARTA.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by MDAllstar

Sorry, but you are also wrong. D.C. used federal highway money to build metro. Atlanta used federal highway money to build highways.
Washington's unbuilt highways - Greater Greater Washington


You sir are very misinformed.

My point is the playing fields are quite different...always have been. So bully MARTA all you want. It doesn't change the fact that this city of Federal Entitlement Acolytes have had an enormous financial advantage over other major American cities from the get-go, and not just in the arena of mass-transportation. BTW, I'm a ma'am, not a sir, Missy.

[MDAllstar]

Originally Posted by LovinDecatur

My point is the playing fields are quite different...always have been. So bully MARTA all you want. It doesn't change the fact that this city of Federal Entitlement Acolytes have had an enormous financial advantage over other major American cities from the get-go, and not just in the arena of mass-transportation. BTW, I'm a ma'am, not a sir, Missy.

My apologies for calling you sir. Who is bashing MARTA? MARTA is not the problem. The Atlanta region is and the state of Georgia is. People in the city proper who make up such a small part of the region are trying but Atlanta as a whole just doesn't understand the whole urban lifestyle concept. MARTA is doing the best they can. It's that backwards region and state that are voting down urban infrastructure.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by MDAllstar

My apologies for calling you sir. Who is bashing MARTA? MARTA is not the problem. The Atlanta region is and the state of Georgia is. People in the city proper who make up such a small part of the region are trying but Atlanta as a whole just doesn't understand the whole urban lifestyle concept. MARTA is doing the best they can. It's that backwards region and state that are voting down urban infrastructure.

KPMG highlighted that MARTA has not been doing a good job and has failed to capitalize on cost savings measures that any undergrad business major could easily identify.

[kayrob]

Originally Posted by arjay57

You are equating "progressive" to building mass transit.



And of course that begs the question of whether they want it in the first place. They very well may not.

And that right there is the biggest issue. The city too busy to hate doesn't want to take a chance of "interlopers" being able to get where they aren't wanted.

[DiderotsGhost]

Originally Posted by Ant131531

LOL, D.C.'s system is 10x better than Atlanta's. D.C.'s transit is near-world class and Atlanta's barely passes as a city metro system.

I'd have to strongly disagree with this assessment of WMATA. The Washington Metro is very underfunded, one of the more accident-prone systems in the nation, expensive, and severely overcrowded. The train cars are often in poor condition, with no air conditioning or heat, and an array of odd odors.

WMATA has better coverage than MARTA, but that's about the only thing it has going for it. It's debatable as to which system is safer crime-wise. WMATA may seem safer to DC visitors, because they mostly stay in the upscale areas (e.g. Arlington, downtown DC, Fairfax, Bethesda).

I'd say DC is several notches below having a world class transit system. Frankly, if MARTA had better coverage, it would be the better system by far. MARTA's biggest strike is that it doesn't go anywhere outside of Midtown, Downtown, and the airport.


As for the OP's original question, I would say I've seen all of those activities on MARTA, but not in a single day. It also depends on what areas you are traveling in. Five Points can be chaotic at times, but never seen all that much in the way of odd happenings in Brookhaven or Sandy Springs.

[magnetar]

Originally Posted by DiderotsGhost

WMATA has better coverage than MARTA, but that's about the only thing it has going for it. It's debatable as to which system is safer crime-wise. WMATA may seem safer to DC visitors, because they mostly stay in the upscale areas (e.g. Arlington, downtown DC, Fairfax, Bethesda).

This, exactly. I lived in Maryland for a year and rode Metro regularly; I was shocked at how much MARTA reminded me of Metro actually. Metro does have both better coverage and more frequent service for sure. But after riding the red and green lines in DC frequently, I definitely felt no less safe on MARTA. And MARTA's trains are better maintained, though the stations aren't quite as well-kept.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by MDAllstar

My apologies for calling you sir. Who is bashing MARTA? MARTA is not the problem. The Atlanta region is and the state of Georgia is.

...Actually, MARTA is a very big part of the problem as it was the rampant mismanagement of both MARTA and the Georgia Department of Transportation that (along with many other factors) contributed heavily to the public voting down the regional T-SPLOST referendum.

Originally Posted by MDAllstar

People in the city proper who make up such a small part of the region are trying but Atlanta as a whole just doesn't understand the whole urban lifestyle concept. MARTA is doing the best they can. It's that backwards region and state that are voting down urban infrastructure.

I agree with you that people in the city proper are trying as the City of Atlanta was one of only 2 jurisdictions in the 10-county Atlanta region where the regional T-SPLOST referendum received support from a majority of residents by a margin of 58%-42% (the small urban village City of Decatur was the other jurisdiction in the 10-county Atlanta region where the T-SPLOST was supported by a majority of residents).

But with many outlying suburban cities developing and redeveloping their historic downtowns into urban village-like areas and with those towns pursuing rail transit connections to Downtown Atlanta and the Atlanta Airport to make those suburban redevelopment projects increasing viable over the long-term, the Atlanta region as a whole does indeed understand the whole urban lifestyle concept.

...It's just that the surrounding region understandably did not want the greater traffic congestion and mobility issues of the region continue to go unaddressed and unfunded for the next 10 years while paying for the City of Atlanta's urban redevelopment projects.

In addition to the region wanting to see its severe traffic congestion issues addressed first and foremost, another major reason that the Atlanta regional T-SPLOST was overwhelming voted down by voters was because there was a growing perception amongst voters within the region as a whole that the Atlanta regional T-SPLOST was really a sneaky way for politicians to help their crony developer buddies pay for more traffic congestion-inducing overdevelopment and sprawl with the construction of new sprawl-inducing developmental highways in the suburbs.

If the T-SPLOST would have been a referendum only for the City of Atlanta to pay for its own critically-important urban economic development and redevelopment projects it would have passed overwhelmingly and projects like the Beltline and Intown streetcars would be well on their way on an accelerated time frame with its own funding mechanism.