Now Will GDOT Seriously Consider Commuter Rail? (Atlanta, Marietta: how much, buying)

[oobanks]

Originally Posted by cqholt

GRTA and SRTA are the same now.

Board of Directors – State Road and Tollway Authority
The difference between MARTA and SRTA/GRTA is the latter is appointed by the Governor, who is republican and has suburban/rural interest in mind. MARTA is appointed by leaders of it's sales tax jurisdictions, who are democrats and have urban/inner ring suburb interest in mind.

Totally Correct,, I know SRTA real real well!

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by cqholt

GRTA and SRTA are the same now.

Board of Directors – State Road and Tollway Authority
The difference between MARTA and SRTA/GRTA is the latter is appointed by the Governor, who is republican and has suburban/rural interest in mind. MARTA is appointed by leaders of it's sales tax jurisdictions, who are democrats and have urban/inner ring suburb interest in mind.

GRTA and SRTA can be separated. They are still two separate agencies on paper, after all.

[primaltech]

I'm a fan of that map, too, fourthwarden. I like that it doesn't have heavy rail lines to Cobb and Gwinnett that will never happen.

Cobb and Gwinnett should pour all their MARTA tax monies into frequent, excellent commuter rail, and excellent bus services.

Only exception maybe would be... extend the Blue line to Six Flags, and the Gold line to Norcross/ Peachtree Corners. But that's it. Commuter rail is a far more appropriate solution in a lot of ways for those 2 counties, and a much better value, anyway.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I'm a fan of that map, too, fourthwarden. I like that it doesn't have heavy rail lines to Cobb and Gwinnett that will never happen.

Cobb and Gwinnett should pour all their MARTA tax monies into frequent, excellent commuter rail, and excellent bus services.

Only exception maybe would be... extend the Blue line to Six Flags, and the Gold line to Norcross/ Peachtree Corners. But that's it. Commuter rail is a far more appropriate solution in a lot of ways for those 2 counties, and a much better value, anyway.

Well, the reason it doesn't have those lines is becuase it's concentrating on currently planned projects, of which there are none in the 'HRT to Cobb and Gwinnett' categories.

As I've said before, a layered appraoch is needed for both counties, with HRT backbones, frequent CRT, and BRT, as well as the other tiers of buses all working together to feed one another through network affects.

[tikigod311]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Why are we going to create ANOTHER state-level agency? eg: GRTA
MARTA already has state oversight, while SRTA is just governor appointments SRTA Leadership & Board of Directors – State Road and Tollway Authority, which works well when republicans are in control, but when the state flips how are they going to control it?

I don't think it's worth fighting for honestly. Many other cities have different agencies running different modes of transit. It's a good idea too as RRs are not going to want to partner with multiple agencies sharing their ROW. For more comprehensive service, a state agency could run lines extending much further out than the 5 counties.

[primaltech]

I just disagree with much OTP heavy rail. It's expensive and uncomfortable ride, and the construction is a huge long mess.

Clayton/Cobb/Gwinnett/S Fulton/ NE DeKalb need THIS:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poTjpTdUFKM

Where it's, like, commuter rail meets light rail. FRA-compliant light rail, basically. (And in our metro, they'd be sharing tracks with active freight corridor, so there might need to be 3+ tracks.)

The key aspects being the 15-minute frequency, and the rapid stops with the level boarding. Again sort of combining aspects of LRT with CRT.

If Cumberland Blvd @ Cumberland Pkwy had one of these bad boys, that ran between Acworth and Atlanta, then HRT between Cumberland and Arts Center would become unnecessary and redundant.

I'd rather have gold-standard, amazing commuter rail, than just pretty good commuter rail and a "HRT backbone" that would probably only reach out to Windy Hill.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by primaltech

No MARTA in Cobb is a non-solution, no matter what. Cobb County is an ITP county. I live in ITP unincorporated Atlanta, in Cobb.

The Atlanta Braves play in Cobb. Cumberland is a major high rise business district area. MARTA not operating in Cobb is a joke, no matter what changes occur.

Then you need to demand that your County Commissioners and State Legislators allow a vote to join the system.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I just disagree with much OTP heavy rail. It's expensive and uncomfortable ride, and the construction is a huge long mess.

Clayton/Cobb/Gwinnett/S Fulton/ NE DeKalb need THIS:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poTjpTdUFKM

Where it's, like, commuter rail meets light rail. FRA-compliant light rail, basically. (And in our metro, they'd be sharing tracks with active freight corridor, so there might need to be 3+ tracks.)

The key aspects being the 15-minute frequency, and the rapid stops with the level boarding. Again sort of combining aspects of LRT with CRT.

If Cumberland Blvd @ Cumberland Pkwy had one of these bad boys, that ran between Acworth and Atlanta, then HRT between Cumberland and Arts Center would become unnecessary and redundant.

I'd rather have gold-standard, amazing commuter rail, than just pretty good commuter rail and a "HRT backbone" that would probably only reach out to Windy Hill.

No, it's not, it's simply plain old commuter rail. There's nothing "hybrid" or "light" about any of that.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by MattCW

No, it's not, it's simply plain old commuter rail. There's nothing "hybrid" or "light" about any of that.

Yep, SEPTA has been running something similar for decades.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I just disagree with much OTP heavy rail. It's expensive and uncomfortable ride, and the construction is a huge long mess.

Commuter rail isn't the cure-all that you're playing it to be.

Cobb's I-75 / Cobb Parkway corridor needs something more than BRT. LRT is too slow for the distance. Commuter rail isn't any better cost wise outside open land or shared right of way.

Heavy rail makes sense for the corridor, or as much of it as possible. Put TODs on top of new stations to help off-set long-term costs.

Commuter rail is cosidered to cost ~$25 Mil. a mile. Denver built the A-Line for just about $47 Mil. a mile. At the first cost, we could lay heavy rail up to Marietta from Arts Center, and still have commuter rail going to Powder Springs, Noonday, and Acworth. At the second cost, we could still build Heavy Rail up past Cumberland with all three commuter rail lines.

That's without touching funds for buses, or BRT: