Georgia senator: Atlanta suburbs need to get on board with mass transit (Gainesville: power lines, buses)

[primaltech]

And as far as HRT, I'll meet y'all halfway on that one. First you do your part- you build that line in the city of Atlanta, with stops at Brookwood, Howell Mill, West Paces Ferry, etc. Bring it to Cumberland's doorstep, then at that point I'll definitely agree with you that it should be extended across the river to Cumberland.

But for now, it's a massive, massive, time-consuming undertaking that would take literally decades. It's not like the situation over in Norcross where the line is right there at the doorstep ready to go.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by primaltech

And as far as HRT, I'll meet y'all halfway on that one. First you do your part- you build that line in the city of Atlanta, with stops at Brookwood, Howell Mill, West Paces Ferry, etc. Bring it to Cumberland's doorstep, then at that point I'll definitely agree with you that it should be extended across the river to Cumberland.

But for now, it's a massive, massive, time-consuming undertaking that would take literally decades. It's not like the situation over in Norcross where the line is right there at the doorstep ready to go.

Atlanta is going to focus it's transit funding on serving the core, BeltLine, and major corridors. The NW line would use up all the potential funding.

[chiatldal]

Originally Posted by fieldm

Not sure if you are a male or a female. If you are a male, a single male, would you ask a woman for her phone number for decades if she always kept saying no?

Originally Posted by fieldm

Before I was a crusty broke high school student. She was the hot girl. I asked for her number but she thought she was too good for me. Now I got a great career, good credit, I look good and now that I'm hot she wants me to ask for her number but she still thinks she is too good for me. She would rather do it on her own but the region knows she would do better if she came to me. At this point her ass needs to court me. Bring me some sweet potato pie and wooo me. Fk it. Im doing good in my own. She needs me more than I need her. She needs to get her sh}t together because she has missed out on several good men and now she is about to miss out on the biggest prize in decades. If she thinks she can do it on her own then so be it

This analogy doesn't work

Cobb and gwinnett county are intwind with Atlanta, Atlanta can't divorce, or move pass Cobb and gwinnett

Atlanta, Cobb and gwinnett, are like different part of the same body, same team or different part of the same engine. You would want all parts or position at their best.

For instance Cobb and Gwinnett population past 700k in less than 440 sq mi. Most suburban counties that have large population like this usually have twice the area around 800 sq mi. This means they are more populated and dense than most suburban counties and they actually rival core counties of different metros like Nashville.

Taking them away is a decrease 1.6 millions. Metro Atlanta is now the size of Phoenix, Due the employment across the core counties with out Cobb and Gwinnett..... Seattle probably would have a larger GDP. Cobb and Gwinnett are important part of the region that are under performing with transit.

A better analogy would be sports.... Fulton, Gwinnett, Cobb, Dekalb and Clayton are the starters in metro Atlanta basketball teams. missing a star player would effect the team performance.... Metro Atlanta is trying to compete against skilled teams DFW, Houston, Seattle, Denver, Boston who ever and win..... attract companies, professional, events, tourism, grow GPA and etc.

I Think part of the problem itself is people in metro Atlanta still have the perspective like Gwinnett, Cobb, are these sleepy low populated suburban counties... like there still just 119,000 people then trasit is less critical, So they don't act and take on the responsibility of their size, like they're not 700k-900k people in these small county areas.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by cqholt

When you do stuff like this that comes across as being selfish, because you are suggesting we ignore the finalized list of projects that serve areas all over the city to serve the NW (and of course where you live.)

Fair enough. I worded that thread poorly, maybe it was the mood I was in that day. I meant to suggest it as an addendum to other vital transit projects in the city.

Plus, it would only serve me because I only live just slightly outside the city. That line wouldn't be about Cobb. Residents inside the city limits in NW Atlanta/Buckhead should be served by high capacity transit, that their tax dollars pay for. The east side of the city shouldn't get to hog all the love for itself. Just because the west side is "lower density"... yeah, they're lower density because there's no TOD on the NW side. Rail transit would increase the density.

High quality, dedicated lane, signal priority, off board fare collection, level boarding, station-like, Cobb Pkwy BRT is great for that corridor. The ROW exists to accomplish it and Tim Lee tried to get it funded. Focus the high quality transit and density along Cobb Pkwy/I-75.
Cobb can plan for MARTA-like tiered bus service coverage.
ART-level service on Atlanta Rd, S Cobb, Windy Hill/Macland, Austell Rd, Powder Springs Rd, Roswell Rd, Terrell Mill. With P&R transit centers in West and North Cobb that riders can park and catch the buses if they don't want to drive to the transit stations.

Exactly. Just having all that in place would make us all very happy and would help Cobb so much. So that's why I don't feel like the situation is anything at all like "if we don't have heavy rail, we'll die". Not at all.

[ATLTJL]

Is it possible to make MARTA commit to rail when voting it in?

I mean, could Gwinnett and Cobb vote in a penny sales tax and end up getting nothing but buses?

[bu2]

Originally Posted by cqholt

As always an excellent read from Maria Saporta

https://saportareport.com/marta-jewe...ampaign=buffer

Douglas and Rockdale?????

Their needs would not be well served as a full member of MARTA. They are too different and will remain so for quite a while. Perhaps indefinitely.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Is it possible to make MARTA commit to rail when voting it in?

I mean, could Gwinnett and Cobb vote in a penny sales tax and end up getting nothing but buses?

Clayton split their 1% into 0.5% for local bus and 0.5% for future high capacity transit.

[ATLTJL]

So does that mean Gwinnett could vote in a half penny tax and just get rail? Because it already has its own bus system, that I imagine it would want to keep.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

So does that mean Gwinnett could vote in a half penny tax and just get rail? Because it already has its own bus system, that I imagine it would want to keep.

Probably not.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

So does that mean Gwinnett could vote in a half penny tax and just get rail? Because it already has its own bus system, that I imagine it would want to keep.

That's not a bus system