MARTA transit plan includes 21 miles of light rail (Atlanta, Cleveland: high income, air quality)

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by architect77

Long straighter runs will benefit, but the downtown streetcar's route makes so many turns that it's not ever going to speed up enough to be much faster than walking.

If it can do the full 35mph between those turns, it most definitely will be faster than walking.

[JPD]

People made the same "walking is just as fast" argument about the streetcar, and it's pure nonsense. I'm a fast walker, and the streetcar used to blow past me and leave me in the dust when I used to live in Cabbagetown and walk Auburn and Edgewood to/from work in Downtown.

[MattCW]

Well, when you factor in waiting time, it's barely faster than walking, and slower due to traffic at times. Dedicated lanes would help a lot and reduce the overall time.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by architect77

Long straighter runs will benefit, but the downtown streetcar's route makes so many turns that it's not ever going to speed up enough to be much faster than walking.

Curves and top speed are not the problem. Traffic and average speed are the issue.

Source: Actually on the streetcar as I am posting this. Cars are in the way right now.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Well, when you factor in waiting time, it's barely faster than walking, and slower due to traffic at times. Dedicated lanes would help a lot and reduce the overall time.

Wait times can be reduced to give the streetcar the end-to-end advantage by increasing frequency with running just one more car.

Also, the issue is exaggerated by the currently short length. As extensions come online, this will fade. Heck, it's already only an extra four minutes if you just missed the train to get from King Historic District Streetcar Stop to Centennial Park Streetcar Stop. As the extensions spread out from either end, and additional locations get brought into the fold, this worry will more or less disappear.

It's like complaining that a bus route is ineffective because you only want to travel between two close-together stops and just missed the bus, even if there are many other locations along the route where it isn't faster to walk to, and makes more sense to just wait. And sometimes, like hot or rainy days, it doesn't make any sense to walk, even if it is a shorter time.

[arjay57]

I keep reading that Trump is going to cut billions in transit funding. Will that hurt this 21 mile light rail thing?

[bu2]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I keep reading that Trump is going to cut billions in transit funding. Will that hurt this 21 mile light rail thing?

The last plan I saw cut transit funding from the gas tax. But it was not opposed to Congress separately allocating transit funding. Impossible to tell what will come out of Congress.

[arjay57]

Here's one article on it.

ATL Urbanist — Trump eyes billions in cuts as ridership sags on public transit. Here's what's at risk in Atlanta. - Atlanta Business Chronicle

[LynnHarris1]

Torpy at Large: Why MARTA remains on track to run into more drama

https://www.ajc.com/news/local/torpy...vvVKQLBf9XHuM/

[SAAN]

If MARTA approved 2.7B for this current list of projects within the city, for the other projects that have always been talked about like a Redline extension to Winward Pkwy and Blue line extension to Stonecrest, are those now eliminated or is there going to be some other vote for those projects by the counties themselves?