Commute to downtown from north suburbs (Atlanta, Alpharetta: home, new construction, best school)

[New2CaryRE]

Hi,
I need opinions on which of these commutes is better. I am only looking into these areas for good schools and relatively new construction(less than 5 years old). I do not like to drive much so MARTA/express routes are what I would like to use.
1. Cumming/Alpharetta(exit 12 area on 400) to Five Points - use the Park and Ride on exit 11 and MARTA
2. Cumming to Five Points - Xpress bus from Exit 14
2. Suwanee to Five Points - Gwinnett transit from Sugarloaf Pkwy
3. Johns Creek to Five Points - Xpress to Doraville and drive or use the Park and Ride on exit 11 and MARTA
Typical travel time is between 7:30 - 8:00 AM and 3:15 - 4:00 PM.

If anyone is travelling on these routes please post the commute time too. Is commuting daily for so long horrible? I have never travelled more than 20 mins one way to work.

Appreciate all your help.

[jsvh]

I think a commute is a big factor in quality of life. That is less time you are spending with family, friends, rest, or relaxation every day. Not driving will make it less stressful. But have you considers locating to a newer home closer in? Decatur is the best school system in the metro and sits right on top of a MARTA station. If not, those are not terrible options, but parking at North Springs MARTA will probably be quicker than the Xpress bus for the options up 400.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by New2CaryRE

Hi,
I need opinions on which of these commutes is better. I am only looking into these areas for good schools and relatively new construction(less than 5 years old). I do not like to drive much so MARTA/express routes are what I would like to use.
1. Cumming/Alpharetta(exit 12 area on 400) to Five Points - use the Park and Ride on exit 11 and MARTA
2. Cumming to Five Points - Xpress bus from Exit 14
2. Suwanee to Five Points - Gwinnett transit from Sugarloaf Pkwy
3. Johns Creek to Five Points - Xpress to Doraville and drive or use the Park and Ride on exit 11 and MARTA
Typical travel time is between 7:30 - 8:00 AM and 3:15 - 4:00 PM.

If anyone is travelling on these routes please post the commute time too. Is commuting daily for so long horrible? I have never travelled more than 20 mins one way to work.

Appreciate all your help.

Each of the commutes you cited (Cumming/Alpharetta-Five Points, Cumming-Five Points, Suwanee-Five Points, Johns Creek-Five Points) can be pretty rough during the time of day that you mentioned (7:30-8:00 AM) during morning rush hour.

Seeing as though the worst of the afternoon rush hour often does not kick-in until after 4pm on most weekdays, the afternoon commutes to those areas from Five Points tend to be slightly better if completed before 4pm....But it must be noted that the afternoon commutes to those outlying areas are still prone to lengthy delays, even if conducted before 4pm.

Planning to use commuter buses and MARTA heavy rail to commute between those outlying areas and Five Points during the morning and evening rush hours is an excellent idea, particularly given the worsening state of Metro Atlanta's rush-hour and peak-hour commutes....Rush hour and peak-hour commutes which feature an increasingly severely-constricted Metro Atlanta road network handling about more than 2-3 times the amount of peak-hour traffic that it was designed to handle.

The commuter buses that operate between Downtown Atlanta (Five Points) and Suwanee (GRTA Xpress/Gwinnett County Transit) have a slight advantage over the commuter buses that operate between Downtown Atlanta and Cumming/Alpharetta/Johns Creek in that the Atlanta-Suwanee commuter buses can operate in an express lane of sorts in the form of the I-85 HOT (High Occupancy Toll) lane for about 16 miles or so between Old Peachtree and Chamblee Tucker roads during peak hours....Whereas the commuter buses that operate between Downtown Atlanta and Cumming/Alpharetta/Johns Creek do not necessarily have that advantage along major commuter routes like Georgia 400 and Georgia 141 where express lanes do not currently exist.

Commuter buses are prone to get stuck in the extremely (and often exceptionally) heavy traffic that often plagues the extremely road space-limited GA 400 and GA 141 corridors during peak hours while commuter buses often experience fewer major delays while operating in the toll lanes along I-85 between Doraville/Chamblee and Suwanee.

Though, it should be noted that (as was mentioned earlier) one can utilize MARTA heavy rail on part of the trips along the GA 400 and GA 141 corridors between Downtown Atlanta and North Springs (if utilizing transit from and to Cumming/Alpharetta) and between Downtown Atlanta and Doraville (if utilizing transit from and to Johns Creek).

If one is looking for newer home construction in areas of excellent schools, one cannot go wrong with areas like Cumming/Alpharetta, Johns Creek and Suwanee. Though, the rush hour commutes between those areas and Downtown Atlanta are prone to frequently slowdowns and major delays (and occasionally MASSIVE delays) on many days.

[New2CaryRE]

Thank you for your detailed response. Any estimates on the travel time in the HOT lanes from Sugarloaf Parkway to Downtown during those times?

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by New2CaryRE

Thank you for your detailed response. Any estimates on the travel time in the HOT lanes from Sugarloaf Parkway to Downtown during those times?

During the morning rush hour (the 7:30-8am time frame that you noted), the travel times in the I-85 HOT lanes would probably be about somewhere between 50 minutes to an hour or so depending on how severe the traffic conditions are (if there is some kind of freak accident that backs up traffic for dozens of miles or inclement weather during rush hour, etc, the travel times are likely to be longer, though not nearly as severe as they will be in the untolled general purpose travel lanes on I-85).

During the 3-4pm hour afternoon time frame that you noted, the travel times would probably range somewhere between 45 minutes (if traffic conditions are excellent) to 55 minutes and more (if things happen to be really bad on a given day).

One must also take into account that the I-85 express lanes are only tolled for 16 miles between Chamblee Tucker Road in DeKalb County and Old Peachtree Road in Gwinnett County.

The rest of the way between Downtown and Chamblee/Doraville the lanes are untolled and permit 2-person carpools which means that more traffic is permitted to use the lanes along the untolled stretches.

[ATLTJL]

I have never travelled more than 20 mins one way to work.

Forget that. Your times will be triple that most days.

Any estimates on the travel time in the HOT lanes from Sugarloaf Parkway to Downtown during those times?

7:30a-8:00am is a time where the HOT just rarely saves you significant time. It's almost always just as bad as regular lanes. If you can possibly delay it an hour, you're much better off. From 8:45am on, the HOT lane moves a lot faster than the regular lanes.

I really don't think you can make it downtown in under 50 minutes, but most days, you're probably looking at an hour.

Sorry, that's just the way it is.

[Tarzanman]

Originally Posted by New2CaryRE

Hi,
I need opinions on which of these commutes is better. I am only looking into these areas for good schools and relatively new construction(less than 5 years old). I do not like to drive much so MARTA/express routes are what I would like to use.
1. Cumming/Alpharetta(exit 12 area on 400) to Five Points - use the Park and Ride on exit 11 and MARTA
2. Cumming to Five Points - Xpress bus from Exit 14
2. Suwanee to Five Points - Gwinnett transit from Sugarloaf Pkwy
3. Johns Creek to Five Points - Xpress to Doraville and drive or use the Park and Ride on exit 11 and MARTA
Typical travel time is between 7:30 - 8:00 AM and 3:15 - 4:00 PM.

If anyone is travelling on these routes please post the commute time too. Is commuting daily for so long horrible? I have never travelled more than 20 mins one way to work.

Appreciate all your help.

All are punished.

All of these commutes are horrible; you're looking at at least an hour for each one.

[bu2]

Cummings may be a bad idea if you don't have schedule flexibility. I do business with someone in Cummings who says it takes 2 hours to get to Decatur at 9 am. At 7 am, its not nearly as bad.

[DaBurgh]

Look to the Southern burbs for a more tolerable commute

[New2CaryRE]

Appreciate all your responses. How is the 400 commute from exit 12b to north springs or exit 11 park and ride to north springs marta?