MARTA not kid-friendly (insurance, income, live)

[glovenyc]

Maaaaan O Maaaaan...it doesn't take much to start a fight on here.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by glovenyc

Maaaaan O Maaaaan...it doesn't take much to start a fight on here.

Them's fightn' words 'round 'ere!

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Zanarkand A East

Like anything else: practice. Being able to walk in public and not being a car-dependent clod also help, both with riding MARTA and in life

Wow, that's harsh.

I can totally see AtlJan's situation. You've got a first time rider who just had a car breakdown and who wasn't expecting to take the train, plus luggage and a child.

I don't find the Breeze card machines all that intuitive and I've seen plenty of other people who were confused by them.

The other thing is the speed of kids themselves. I took one of my grandchildren for a ride and he zipped under the turnstile in a flash.

[toll_booth]

Several stations have helpful MARTA attendants right before the fare gates.

I cannot stress this enough: When traveling with kids, you need to allow a few extra minutes to use MARTA. That's pretty much a rule anywhere in the world.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by cqholt

There is plenty of information provided by the website, posters, and on the vending machines. People have to take initiative and try to find the information. Would you say GDOT does a bad job at informing people of the Brookwood Split, by installing large green signs for 1 mile before the split?

You made the observation that you see a lot of confused people. Clearly, what they are doing isn't working well. MARTA is supposed to serve its customers, not be served by them.

[Pemgin]

Originally Posted by bu2

You made the observation that you see a lot of confused people. Clearly, what they are doing isn't working well. MARTA is supposed to serve its customers, not be served by them.

You could design the easiest system humanly possible and some people would still fail at using it. Nothing is foolproof. I've used many transit systems and I don't find any of them to be more or less easy to use than MARTA.

Also, people don't read signs, even when they're right in front of their faces telling them what to do. MARTA, nor any other organization, can do anything about that.

[onemanarmy]

Originally Posted by bu2

You made the observation that you see a lot of confused people. Clearly, what they are doing isn't working well. MARTA is supposed to serve its customers, not be served by them.

I ride MARTA everyday to North Springs, the confusion comes from riders trying to figure things out on the fly. Imagine doing that with a bike, or worst a car. If you have never used anything before, it's better to try the instructions. Every station clearly states that everyone needs their own ticket, further more children are typically free, any kid over the height limit usually has the ability to tap their own card. There is an attendant on duty at almost all of the major stops, especially from North Springs to Midtown.

Changing the breeze card to allow multiple users makes it ripe for scamming, because how can you tell if a patron scanned once, twice, or four times? You will probably have to remove scanning out function, what about when exiting, transferring to bus? Who wants to wait while some argues with a bus driver about they scanned 4 transfers, but their breeze card only recognized 2. This issue is darn right silly. Let's improve the bus routes, the marta app (ok but really dated), and WIFI.

[alco89]

Originally Posted by onemanarmy

I ride MARTA everyday to North Springs, the confusion comes from riders trying to figure things out on the fly. Imagine doing that with a bike, or worst a car. If you have never used anything before, it's better to try the instructions. Every station clearly states that everyone needs their own ticket, further more children are typically free, any kid over the height limit usually has the ability to tap their own card. There is an attendant on duty at almost all of the major stops, especially from North Springs to Midtown.

Changing the breeze card to allow multiple users makes it ripe for scamming, because how can you tell if a patron scanned once, twice, or four times? You will probably have to remove scanning out function, what about when exiting, transferring to bus? Who wants to wait while some argues with a bus driver about they scanned 4 transfers, but their breeze card only recognized 2. This issue is darn right silly. Let's improve the bus routes, the marta app (ok but really dated), and WIFI.

A1 post!

[skbl17]

Originally Posted by Pemgin

You could design the easiest system humanly possible and some people would still fail at using it. Nothing is foolproof. I've used many transit systems and I don't find any of them to be more or less easy to use than MARTA.

Also, people don't read signs, even when they're right in front of their faces telling them what to do. MARTA, nor any other organization, can do anything about that.

Yes! The same issues talked about on page one also happened to my family in NYC just last year, and that's for a system that crushes MARTA in ridership and reach. The only issue I've ever had with MARTA was a problem at the Breeze Card machines earlier this year, but that was because of my debit card, not the Breeze Card vending machine itself.

MARTA still needs to update their signage and in-train announcements, so the user experience isn't perfect. I heard that they are updating some signage, but they really should move faster on that.

- skbl17

[ThreeSides]

Originally Posted by Pemgin

You could design the easiest system humanly possible and some people would still fail at using it. Nothing is foolproof. I've used many transit systems and I don't find any of them to be more or less easy to use than MARTA.

Also, people don't read signs, even when they're right in front of their faces telling them what to do. MARTA, nor any other organization, can do anything about that.

Yep!