Will Gwinnett County join MARTA? Not likely, officials say (Atlanta: university, bus)

[cwkimbro]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

Yup, and Prince William County plus Manassas is almost exactly like Gwinnett county. I have family that lives in Manassas, and when I visit I have to do a double take every day to check and see if I woke up in Duluth.

Please view my post in the city v. city forum and take the time to click all comparative links. I know it is long, but it show cases key differences at a Macro level... not to mention the census quick facts I posted.

There was alot being missed in that thread.

I get the idea that you can get off the freeway and can find areas that are largely similar, but there are lots of things missing from Prince William + Manassas and there are bigger differences in county-wide zoning/development patterns.

It is not exactly like Gwinnett.

The ways it is different, happen to be key to this discussion of Atlanta's development patterns being different from DC's.

[cwkimbro]

Here are the census quick facts (most are including Manassas FYI)

http://www.city-data.com/forum/50033737-post27.html


This post is a bit confusing in that most of it is an arguments to previous posts, but skip the intro and get to the comparative links... there are key differences in terms of business development, what happens further from the freeway, and how many apartments there are in core areas, etc...

This post, if nothing else, has good comparative links at showing different parts of the county.

http://www.city-data.com/forum/50038089-post33.html

[bu2]

What Nashville can learn from Dallas about transit

Nashville writer on lessons from Dallas.

And one of those critical "alternative press" articles mentioned by the Nashville writer-"Build more buses!!!!"

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/e...-big-big-buses

Both articles relevant to Atlanta's issues.

[primaltech]

My trip to Seattle (that I didn't even charge the taxpayers for), showed me how great the bus could be.

Their buses weren't even buses really, they were like street trolleys. I loved the overhead power wires (gave it a sense of permanence), and I absolutely loved the straight line routes. None of the detour BS typical of MARTA routes.

Oh and of course, the high frequency. And the high capacity (articulated bus).

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by primaltech

My trip to Seattle (that I didn't even charge the taxpayers for), showed me how great the bus could be.

Their buses weren't even buses really, they were like street trolleys. I loved the overhead power wires (gave it a sense of permanence), and I absolutely loved the straight line routes. None of the detour BS typical of MARTA routes.

Oh and of course, the high frequency. And the high capacity (articulated bus).

Buses are great, but they're not a replacement for a strong rail system. Seattle knows this, and that's why they're scrambling to build out so much light rail, even removing buses from the downtown tunnel.

As always, we need a full range of tech. There is never a single vehicle type nor mode that will singularly solve our problems.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by primaltech

My trip to Seattle (that I didn't even charge the taxpayers for), showed me how great the bus could be.

Their buses weren't even buses really, they were like street trolleys. I loved the overhead power wires (gave it a sense of permanence), and I absolutely loved the straight line routes. None of the detour BS typical of MARTA routes.

Oh and of course, the high frequency. And the high capacity (articulated bus).

Flood the zone with sleek, modern, efficient high frequency buses.

Skip the decades of mind-numbing, massively expensive feasibility studies that line the pockets of engineering and consulting firms. Buy American and get those babies on the road forthwith.

I believe our current transit planners can figure out a way to do this without "bus bunching," but if they can't, then we need a new crew of transit planners.

Imagine what could be done with even 10% of the billions that are earmarked for rail lines that may well be as underutilized as our current rail lines.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Flood the zone with sleek, modern, efficient high frequency buses.

Skip the decades of mind-numbing, massively expensive feasibility studies that line the pockets of engineering and consulting firms. Buy American and get those babies on the road forthwith.

I believe our current transit planners can figure out a way to do this without "bus bunching," but if they can't, then we need a new crew of transit planners.

Imagine what could be done with even 10% of the billions that are earmarked for rail lines that may well be as underutilized as our current rail lines.

And yet, even Seattle is fighting hard to expand its rail system despite having basically done exactly what you're suggesting to do. As I keep saying, there is no one mode that will be the solution. Buses alone will not cut it. We need more than just a 'flooded' area.

[fieldm]

Traffic update. It is 10:10am and traffic is still backed up from Acworth all the way down to 285 and 85 in Gwinnett is still backed up from 316 to 285.

Hurry up and get heavy rail you idiots

[fieldm]

A few of y'all need to travel to a real city and see what a real transit plan is. Do this one day. Travel to NYC and only use the subway to get around. Take it from LGA (bus) then hop on the train into Manhattan to Coney Island to Jamaica Queens and back uptown. Ride on the express trains. Go to the big subway stations in Midtown and see all the commuter rails dropping people off. See how multiple lines run on the same track. See how you can use different train lines to get from Point A to Point B.

Y'all are making Atlanta seem backwards and country will your silly gimmick transit ideas that don't involve heavy rail

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

And yet, even Seattle is fighting hard to expand its rail system despite having basically done exactly what you're suggesting to do. As I keep saying, there is no one mode that will be the solution. Buses alone will not cut it. We need more than just a 'flooded' area.

I agree that no one mode will satisfy everything, but I also have to admit, when I was forced to use Seattle's bus system - I must say - respectfully that is.. it is thousands and thousands of times more effective and efficient than MARTA as well as has a crap ton more coverage. Their rail system... Their Commuter Rail is pretty decent (I mean the REAL train and not their light rail) ...It's no Chicago but North and South has more coverage than MARTA's north and south line. (It starts in Tacoma WA which is aproximately 40ish miles from Downtown Seattle and another 20 - 30 miles to Everett at its northern terminus.)