Article: Atlantans may be losing their love affair with cars... (Vinings: houses, neighborhood)

[Trianrida]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Interesting article online today. We have enough transplants from other regions who have apparently brought their desire for more mass transit here with them. Some new surveys show people's attitudes are changing.

The article has a video link with it as well in the upper corner: 11Alive.com - Survey Says: More Mass Transit (http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=114913 - broken link)

I'm a transplant. I'm not offended. I do have the desire for mass transit. The MARTA is one of my main reasons for moving here. Mass Transit is very important. After reading this topic the history of this city scares me and I learned a lot I didn't know about Atlanta. Hopefully it is just history and not the present. I have a car, but I hate driving. I hate other drivers. I hate traffic. What other reasons do I need to get on a train and relax?

You have two types of stations.... Park n Rides & Point of Interest. IMO Atlanta needs more of both. I thought 38 stations were a lot until I actually got off of them and walked to around to learn the city. I agree the train should go about 4 stations north of North Springs. That I am sure of.

I think there are still many people who have access to a park n rides, but still don't use it. Those people are the problem. Gas is way too high but you have those people that just don't see the big picture (the folks that say TRASH rides the train). Greg is right. More people are coming to Atlanta. Atlanta has a good reputation in the eyes of people that see it on TV or read about it in magazines. 2 Superbowls, the Olympics...I mean the media makes Atlanta look like the place to be.

Everyone wants to be happy in life, and the people here seem happy. The crime here is nothing compared to LA, Detroit, New Orleans or Miami. I pray it never gets to those levels either. I only been here a month. So far its ok. The Marta is a blessing Atlanta USE IT. Gas ain't coming down. Some metros don't have any kind of rail transit...buses are just like cars they pollute and move slow.

Thats my take on it.

I'm a regular blogger on this site I go by Coolyfett...but my freedom of speech right was blocked due to how I feel about my old city. Oh well.

[netdragon]

Originally Posted by SEAandATL

I think the line to Cumberland should be routed directly from Midtown and parallel I-75.

Along the W&A in Bankhead, not directly along I-75. There just isn't room along the I-75 corridor, it'd be much more expensive and it also wouldn't be well-received in the suburban neighborhoods of West Buckhead. There's talk of a Northside/Cobb Parkway streetcar, and also have Cobb's future BRT enter the commuter lane along 75 ITP. Totally different thing than the proposed commuter rail line, though.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by netdragon

There's talk of a Northside/Cobb Parkway streetcar.

They've actually talked about that for years. They were talking about that back in the late 80s, but every time it comes up it fizzles out.

Actually, what is getting more serious attention are "localized" limited rail systems - similar to the people mover that they have at the airport. These people movers would have closed loop routes that would service a limited area, and be designed to keep cars off the road in smaller, localized areas during the day.

Example: One idea is a people mover based at Cumberland Mall. It would leave every 5 minutes and do a loop that would connect to the Galleria Mall and convention center, as well as several hotels and shopping centers that surround that immediate area, and that's it. The theory is that there are tons of people who visit and work in these areas who get into their cars throughout the day just to drive a few blocks or less to another one of the local destinations, since it's very nonfriendly (and unsafe) for pedestrians around there. A people mover would hit all the major places there, and in theory again, the people would leave their cars wherever they parked them in the morning hours and use the people mover for daily errands and quick trips in the immediate zone. Since there is a major CCT bus hub at Cumberland, most likely it would connect to that as well.

Other areas that might also see the people movers would be Kennesaw and Marietta. If the need rose, a light rail system could at a later date connect the people movers, or even perhaps extend to MARTA rail in Atlanta. Lots of "ifs ands or buts" and theories there, but at least I know they've talked about it. It wouldn't have any immediate effect on getting rush hour traffic off the roads, but at least it would help reduce congestion during mid-day and lunch hours around some of the more dense traffic areas where lots of folks are just running errands and cloggin the local roads during those times of day.

[Trianrida]

hmmm? Guessing? How many miles per circle?

[RoslynHolcomb]

I hate driving. I was really hoping that my husband would find a new job in Chicago, not Atlanta, because I wanted to live in a city with mass transit. We actually got down to one car for a while and I rode our very limited bus system with my son. We loved it! I would love to have such an opportunity again. We could ride all over the city for a $1.

I have a girlfriend who is a writer like me, and she loves her hour-long morning commute because she writes on her laptop while riding the train. A whole uninterrupted hour to write sounds like pure bliss to me.

[MMANN]

Originally Posted by Atlantasfinest

So with the logic that your using then people who live in the Big Money areas such as Inman Park, Candler Park & Decatur station areas shouldn't or aren't riding MARTA thru the KING MEMORIAL STATION or EAST LAKE STATION which both used to be similiar to the Bankhead area with large housing projects and dilapidated housing before gentrification with King Memorial still under development?

With your logic they should've closed the King Memorial (Old 4th Ward) and East Lake stations as well...but guess what? They both are changing before our very eyes and are becoming desireable places to live in Atlanta. With the demand of affordable intown housing increasing it will not be long before Bankhead becomes a viable area (The area around it is called West Midtown and it's already booming). If you take a look at the station that was suppose to go after Bankhead.

These areas are intown neighborhoods... Cumberland is in East Cobb, which is a suburb. There is a different type of people living in these two areas.

Bankhead has a LONG way to go, if it ever even happens. That place is still extremely blighted, and most pioneers would rather live on the east side where there is more investment.

It would be a mistkae to take the marietta line through Bankhead. It should meet marta at the arts center station in midtown.

[netdragon]

Originally Posted by MMANN

Cumberland is in East Cobb, which is a suburb.

Cumberland is South Cobb, NOT East Cobb. Also, it's an "edge city", not a suburb.

Originally Posted by MMANN

There is a different type of people living in these two areas.

Umm, ? Cumberland is mostly single professionals living in high density condos and townhomes. The only difference is that Cumberland doesn't have a lot of mixed retail/housing, but that's coming.

Originally Posted by MMANN

It would be a mistkae to take the marietta line through Bankhead.

You need to look at a map (see attached). The area the rail would be going through would parallel Marietta Street, then would cut into the area known as "West midtown" (W. Marietta Street) and Centennial Olympic Park before it hit Five Points. It wouldn't be going through the Hollywood Rd/Bankhead Highway part of Bankhead you are most likely thinking of (in red, below). Everything East of the W&A line (in purple on the map) has been on the upswing and even some areas are starting to turn West of Marietta Rd near Perry Blvd. The Bolton area is on the upswing as well. I just drove through Bolton today and saw a ton of new houses and a new retail/office area going up. The only part that has a ways to go is Bankhead Highway and the other end of Hollywood Rd, which will take longer because builders are trying to space themselves from the housing projects before they get torn down.

If MARTA ran down Marietta Rd / Marietta Blvd / Marietta Street, that area would be covered in mid-rise studio condos in 5-10 years (they are already going up anyway). From an investment perspective, it makes a lot more sense to go through that area than the area around Howell Mill, which is already on the upswing. In fact, by cutting straight into midtown, you'd be skipping over the most up-and-coming part of Bankhead -- W. Marietta Street!

PLUS, from an infrastructure perspective, Marietta Blvd is a major road, has room to be expanded, and there's a lot more open space through that area to build stations and other infrastructure.

Also, how would it connect to the Arts Center? A spur could go into Atlantic Station and Brookwood, but I don't think they'll be blasting a train through or under GA Tech or 12th street.

[Trianrida]

Originally Posted by RoslynHolcomb

I hate driving. I was really hoping that my husband would find a new job in Chicago, not Atlanta, because I wanted to live in a city with mass transit.

Ahm...Atlanta has mass transit...

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by Trianrida

Ahm...Atlanta has mass transit...

Not like Chicago's, Trianrida.

See ( 1-888-YOURCTA | Chicago Transit Authority - System Maps (http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/systemmaps.html#a - broken link) ) and at the bottom is a link to a PDF sheet showing just the rail lines in the Chicago area.

[Trianrida]

Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127

Not like Chicago's, Trianrida.

See ( 1-888-YOURCTA | Chicago Transit Authority - System Maps (http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/systemmaps.html#a - broken link) ) and at the bottom is a link to a PDF sheet showing just the rail lines in the Chicago area.

Interesting 144 Stations...Atlanta only has 38....N Atlanta doesn't anymore stations???