MARTA Upgrades (Atlanta, Clayton, Tiger: sales, sales tax, price)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by MattCW

These are too small to "flood an area with buses" as you're so fond of saying. I don't think we could find 20 or more circulator routes to run them on, realistically anyways.

Oh, they're not rinky-dink, Matt. These heavy duty, low floor buses are the real deal and can carry 35-40 passengers.

VICINITY BUS by GRANDE WEST TRANSPORTATION | Community Shuttle Bus Manufacturer | Canada USA

Just imagine hundreds of these things out there, picking up and dropping off passengers close to their homes, and taking them to our already existing heavy rail stations.

You're talking about real meaningful transit options for everyday people. Within a year or two, not decades.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Glad to see MARTA is going with the local manufacturer.

They are most likely manufactured mainly in China but have enough U.S. parts and assembly to qualify as "made in America."

Notice the very reasonable prices and think how many of these we could put on the road for even a few hundred million dollars.

https://www.alibaba.com/products/F0/...-CNTRY-CN.html

[MikeHonchoATL]

What are the operating costs on these smaller buses versus larger buses?

Seems they would generate less revenue while having close to the same operating costs.

I'm all for expanding the bus network, especially over wasteful other forms of transit like streetcars, but lets make sure it makes sense. if a route can't support a regular bus, is it worth running?

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Oh, they're not rinky-dink, Matt. These heavy duty, low floor buses are the real deal and can carry 35-40 passengers.

VICINITY BUS by GRANDE WEST TRANSPORTATION | Community Shuttle Bus Manufacturer | Canada USA

Just imagine hundreds of these things out there, picking up and dropping off passengers close to their homes, and taking them to our already existing heavy rail stations.

You're talking about real meaningful transit options for everyday people. Within a year or two, not decades.

Kind of like what MARTA is planning, via the COA, for the 800 routes (Community Circulators?)

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Oh, they're not rinky-dink, Matt. These heavy duty, low floor buses are the real deal and can carry 35-40 passengers.

VICINITY BUS by GRANDE WEST TRANSPORTATION | Community Shuttle Bus Manufacturer | Canada USA

Just imagine hundreds of these things out there, picking up and dropping off passengers close to their homes, and taking them to our already existing heavy rail stations.

You're talking about real meaningful transit options for everyday people. Within a year or two, not decades.

If you read the article(s) I posted, you'd see that MARTA's getting the smaller versions, which only seat 23.

These are explicitly being ordered as smaller buses. They are not to handle full-sized routes like the larger 35ft & 40ft New Flyer buses that MARTA operates.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

If you read the article(s) I posted, you'd see that MARTA's getting the smaller versions, which only seat 23.

Right, but even the 30-footers are designed to carry 16-18 standees.

https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/Grande_West_Vicinity

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Right, but even the 30-footers are designed to carry 16-18 standees.

https://cptdb.ca/wiki/index.php/Grande_West_Vicinity

These are being order to operate on the 800-routes (community circulator service)

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cqholt

These are being order to operate on the 800-routes (community circulator service)

They are perfect for that.

Take the 823 route, for example, which is currently running at 1 hour intervals. So if you catch the 7:24 AM bus at Carter and Fairlee, that'll get you to the Decatur station by 7:45.

However, if you miss that bus, even by 10 seconds, the next one won't get you to the station until 8:45 am. And you may well have a train ride and another bus trip ahead.

In my opinion, that will deter some choice riders and punish some non-choice riders.

Suppose you could make those morning and evening routes run every 20 minutes instead of once an hour? Then you'd be talking real big city transit.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

They are perfect for that.

Take the 823 route, for example, which is currently running at 1 hour intervals. So if you catch the 7:24 AM bus at Carter and Fairlee, that'll get you to the Decatur station by 7:45.

However, if you miss that bus, even by 10 seconds, the next one won't get you to the station until 8:45 am. And you may well have a train ride and another bus trip ahead.

In my opinion, that will deter some choice riders and punish some non-choice riders.

Suppose you could make those morning and evening routes run every 20 minutes instead of once an hour? Then you'd be talking real big city transit.

As ridership increases, MARTA can adjust accordingly. All of this is outlined in the Comprehensive Operations Analysis study. Please read it if you have not as it will answer many of your questions and suggestions.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cqholt

As ridership increases, MARTA can adjust accordingly. All of this is outlined in the Comprehensive Operations Analysis study. Please read it if you have not as it will answer many of your questions and suggestions.

I'm not saying MARTA doesn't have some good ideas, I'm just saying let's get it on. Folks my age don't have forever for endless planning and talking.

According to Alibaba, you've got a slew of Chinese manufacturers ready to crank these things out by the hundreds in the $40-60K price range, with delivery tout de suite.

$100 million -- what we spent to build 2.7 miles of streetcar that serves a relative handful of people -- puts nearly 2,000 of these babies on the street.

Let's get cracking. People are tired of standing by the side of the road in the boiling sun waiting for the bus to come.