Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The story of his death seems to have quietly faded from the news. No additional details about the incident or a memorial service. I can understand why considering how he died. I do wonder though what precipitated the suicide. His family’s statement afterwards seem to indicate that they were aware of his mental health issues. Very sad.
With ridership falling, MARTA tries on-demand shuttles
MARTA is testing whether on-demand shuttles can fill the last-mile gap and increase ridership across the system.
MARTA is piloting the shuttle program in three areas: West Atlanta, Belvedere and Gillem Logistics Center. The shuttles will start March 1. The MARTA Reach program is a partnership with Georgia Tech for parts of Atlanta that do not have easy access to MARTA stations or bus routes, Chief Customer Experience Officer Rhonda Allen said..."
Hire some local graffiti artists. Or do something to get rid of the gray concrete everywhere.
For no maintenance longevity the stations have been successful.
But just out of curiousity, what materials do you think could be installed that would be more attractive on all of the walls and surfaces?
It would have to be moderately priced, need little maintenace, and weather the elements and crowds for at least one to two decades.
I just wish they would power-wash every surface inside and out of every station. The glass in skylights looks as though it's never been cleaned in decades.
I found an image for a MARTA future transit map created by the Citizens for Progressive Transit, which I linked here. They are a grassroots group in Atlanta. The map seems pretty thorough, at least to me. What do you think?
As a non-local, the red streetcar line to Buckhead seems like a huge oversight as I feel like it should already exist. Buckhead seems worthy enough of a light rail line rather than a streetcar which shares ROW with cars. However loops are generally considered bad in transit, so I’d probably end it at Lenox instead of it going back down to Midtown. I’d also add a station near the Arts Center / Botanical Gardens to remedy that, and extend the NW light rail for a connection.
The SE streetcar seems silly at three stations. Maybe an extension of it through Downtown to West Midtown would be good? West Midtown seems like a dense area that should have more than two stations (Atlantic station which is out of the way somewhat assuming it follows the ROW on the back side of Atlantic Station) and Georgia Tech, which is south of the area. It could also get the Coca Cola HQ, Aquarium in the process. It could also detour slightly and hit the Zoo in the process.
I’d also extend the North Ave streetcar to the Bankhead or Simpson MARTA station.
I found an image for a MARTA future transit map created by the Citizens for Progressive Transit, which I linked here. They are a grassroots group in Atlanta. The map seems pretty thorough, at least to me. What do you think?
As a non-local, the red streetcar line to Buckhead seems like a huge oversight as I feel like it should already exist. Buckhead seems worthy enough of a light rail line rather than a streetcar which shares ROW with cars. However loops are generally considered bad in transit, so I’d probably end it at Lenox instead of it going back down to Midtown. I’d also add a station near the Arts Center / Botanical Gardens to remedy that, and extend the NW light rail for a connection.
The SE streetcar seems silly at three stations. Maybe an extension of it through Downtown to West Midtown would be good? West Midtown seems like a dense area that should have more than two stations (Atlantic station which is out of the way somewhat assuming it follows the ROW on the back side of Atlantic Station) and Georgia Tech, which is south of the area. It could also get the Coca Cola HQ, Aquarium in the process. It could also detour slightly and hit the Zoo in the process.
I’d also extend the North Ave streetcar to the Bankhead or Simpson MARTA station.
There definitely would be a case to be made to extend a proposed North Avenue streetcar line west to at least the Bankhead MARTA Station with last year’s monster announcement by Microsoft that it intended to locate its new massive East Coast Headquarters complex at the Quarry Yards property just immediately west of what currently is named the Bankhead MARTA Station, but is likely to be changed when the Microsoft East Coast Headquarters campus comes online.
That Atlanta metro transit expansion concept map is a little dated as multiple major changes have happened since it was initially posted.
First, as noted above, the Bankhead MARTA Station was announced as the site of a massive game-changing East Coast headquarters campus for international technology behemoth Microsoft.
Second, the name of the proposed Simpson MARTA Station likely would have to be changed because the street that the proposed station was named after (Simpson Street) has been changed to Joseph E. Boone Boulevard in memorance of a prominent area reverend and civil rights activist who worked and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights Movement.
Third, Turner Field is now a college football stadium for the Georgia State University Panthers football program (Center Parc Credit Union Stadium), and the area that the stadium sits in, Atlanta’s Summerhill neighborhood, is red-hot and growing like crazy in the absence of the Atlanta Braves... So the name of the proposed Turner Field streetcar station could be changed to Summerhill/GSU/Center Parc Stadium.
Fourth, the proposed Windy Ridge Light Rail Transit Station in the northwest portion of the map is now the site of the Atlanta Braves’ recently built baseball stadium, Truist Park, and its large adjoining mixed-use development/entertainment district, The Battery, so the name of that proposed LRT station likely would need to be something like “Truist Park/The Battery.”
That's one of the aesthetically nicer looking ones. There's been a lot of Metro Atlanta fantasy maps over the years/decades, featuring all kinds of ideas and modes of transit, from heavy rail to light rail to commuter rail to streetcars to buses. And, there's never any funding, or anything ever built it seems, except useless total jokes. Really the last significant thing that actually happened was the Red Line to North Springs, over 20 years ago. I barely count the downtown streetcar loop (in traffic), as that is more of a slow tourist ride than anything useful for most locals.
A new county even joined MARTA, at a full penny sales tax, and all they will be getting out of it is a meandering loopy bus route for non-choice, desperate riders. So yeah, it's been a disappointing couple of decades for all this, to say the least. I moved away a couple years ago, luckily, but I still am watching from afar and hoping for positive changes and progress.
As far as things I'd like to see for Atlanta's system that actually might have some possible potential slight hope of happening (maybe), here's just some of what immediately comes to mind:
1) Extend the Green Line, to the northwest. Even if just modestly at first, a couple more stations within the city, with TOD planned along with them. From there, then there can be a discussion about whether it could go into Cobb, but there's plenty of room within the city of Atlanta (which pays 1.5 pennies for MARTA) to extend it within its limits. Bankhead has always been the only station on the Green Line (the rest are shared with the Blue Line), and that's always felt incomplete. And of course, ideally, the MARTA heavy rail system would be twice as extensive or even 3x as extensive to really cover the sprawling metro area as it should, but, just adding a few new stations (finally, after all these years), would go a long way for perception, and would help with growing ridership.
2) Any other heavy rail expansion projects for the system that would be politically feasible (like, not involving Cobb or Gwinnett or the rail-averse North Fulton). Like such as, potentially extending the Blue Line at least one station west (to 285), a potential Mechanicsville infill station halfway between West End and Garnett, and, maybe even one more station on the NE Gold Line in DeKalb, near the county line, that could maybe be off of I-85 and be a better bus transfer for Gwinnett.
3) BRT-type freeway-bus access improvements, particularly for Cobb and Gwinnett. If they're not going to have rail, then at least they should have an improved express bus system.
4) Some kind of rail connection between Emory and Lindbergh (and/or between Emory and the Blue/Green line).
5) Light rail at least along the east Beltline. Ideally between Lindbergh and a Krog St infill station.
6) Everything should be re-branded as one ATL (Atlanta-region Transit Link) system, especially if Cobb/Gwinnett are not going to join MARTA and insist on funding their own bus systems. It should at least look and feel to the end user, and the map and fare card and system and everything, as if it was one singularly-branded entity covering the whole metro area, with one route numbering system and etc. Behind the scenes, administratively MARTA would still exist the same as it does, but it could be a refreshing thing to have MARTA and CCT and GCT and Xpress all branded as one transit system. Then it would finally feel like the region is more unified, and should also improve transit planning and coordination and all that.
Combine all those together, especially combined with #6 in my opinion, and Atlanta would have a better metro transit system in the making. But, I doubt anytime in our lifetimes it will even approach any of the fantasy maps (sadly). If ever. Commuter rail would be a huge one, but I see zero positive movement still on that. Even one step backwards, the one planned line (Clayton) getting cancelled, and watered down to bus routes as usual.
That's one of the aesthetically nicer looking ones. There's been a lot of Metro Atlanta fantasy maps over the years/decades, featuring all kinds of ideas and modes of transit, from heavy rail to light rail to commuter rail to streetcars to buses. And, there's never any funding, or anything ever built it seems, except useless total jokes. Really the last significant thing that actually happened was the Red Line to North Springs, over 20 years ago. I barely count the downtown streetcar loop (in traffic), as that is more of a slow tourist ride than anything useful for most locals.
A new county even joined MARTA, at a full penny sales tax, and all they will be getting out of it is a meandering loopy bus route for non-choice, desperate riders. So yeah, it's been a disappointing couple of decades for all this, to say the least. I moved away a couple years ago, luckily, but I still am watching from afar and hoping for positive changes and progress.
As far as things I'd like to see for Atlanta's system that actually might have some possible potential slight hope of happening (maybe), here's just some of what immediately comes to mind:
1) Extend the Green Line, to the northwest. Even if just modestly at first, a couple more stations within the city, with TOD planned along with them. From there, then there can be a discussion about whether it could go into Cobb, but there's plenty of room within the city of Atlanta (which pays 1.5 pennies for MARTA) to extend it within its limits. Bankhead has always been the only station on the Green Line (the rest are shared with the Blue Line), and that's always felt incomplete. And of course, ideally, the MARTA heavy rail system would be twice as extensive or even 3x as extensive to really cover the sprawling metro area as it should, but, just adding a few new stations (finally, after all these years), would go a long way for perception, and would help with growing ridership.
2) Any other heavy rail expansion projects for the system that would be politically feasible (like, not involving Cobb or Gwinnett or the rail-averse North Fulton). Like such as, potentially extending the Blue Line at least one station west (to 285), a potential Mechanicsville infill station halfway between West End and Garnett, and, maybe even one more station on the NE Gold Line in DeKalb, near the county line, that could maybe be off of I-85 and be a better bus transfer for Gwinnett.
3) BRT-type freeway-bus access improvements, particularly for Cobb and Gwinnett. If they're not going to have rail, then at least they should have an improved express bus system.
4) Some kind of rail connection between Emory and Lindbergh (and/or between Emory and the Blue/Green line).
5) Light rail at least along the east Beltline. Ideally between Lindbergh and a Krog St infill station.
6) Everything should be re-branded as one ATL (Atlanta-region Transit Link) system, especially if Cobb/Gwinnett are not going to join MARTA and insist on funding their own bus systems. It should at least look and feel to the end user, and the map and fare card and system and everything, as if it was one singularly-branded entity covering the whole metro area, with one route numbering system and etc. Behind the scenes, administratively MARTA would still exist the same as it does, but it could be a refreshing thing to have MARTA and CCT and GCT and Xpress all branded as one transit system. Then it would finally feel like the region is more unified, and should also improve transit planning and coordination and all that.
Combine all those together, especially combined with #6 in my opinion, and Atlanta would have a better metro transit system in the making. But, I doubt anytime in our lifetimes it will even approach any of the fantasy maps (sadly). If ever. Commuter rail would be a huge one, but I see zero positive movement still on that. Even one step backwards, the one planned line (Clayton) getting cancelled, and watered down to bus routes as usual.
No matter where I live I'd always be upset at the lack of progress in Atlanta's transit, even when I was living in the city with the greatest transit system in the world. The cancelation of the Clayton County commuter rail was a huge blow and will kill the future of any commuter rail lines for the metro. There aren't any others in the planning or even proposal phases. Also with what happened in Clayton I will actually vote No on any tax increase to fund transit. For Cobb, the Rapid 10 route is the closest thing to an express/BRT route. I was going to ride it one day from Kennesaw to Midtown but it was in March 2020, so I ended up never doing it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
MARTA Fantasy Transit Map
