Why there is no Marta in Cobb or Gwinnett (Atlanta: crime rates, vacation home)

[Prickly Pear]

If Cobb had the Marta I’m gonna make the assumption that it’s an extension of the green line id like to see stations at the following locations

“Hills Park” near Marietta Blvd and Chattahoochee Ave
Near Atlanta Rd and Log Cabin Road, don’t know what neighborhood that is
Near Cumberland Pkwy and I-285
Vinings Station near Paces Ferry
Cumberland Mall Station
Truist Park Station
Cobb Pkwy and Windy Hill
Kennesaw State University
Marietta Station
Near Tower Road NE
Near Bells Ferry and 41
41 and Ernest Barrett Pkwy
Kennesaw Station
Jiles and Baker Rd
New McEver and Hickory Grove RD
Acworth Station
“Oak Street Number One” (wtf) and I-75 commuter station with dedicated freeway exit

[SEAandATL]

Originally Posted by Prickly Pear

If Cobb had the Marta I’m gonna make the assumption that it’s an extension of the green line id like to see stations at the following locations

“Hills Park” near Marietta Blvd and Chattahoochee Ave
Near Atlanta Rd and Log Cabin Road, don’t know what neighborhood that is
Near Cumberland Pkwy and I-285
Vinings Station near Paces Ferry
Cumberland Mall Station
Truist Park Station
Cobb Pkwy and Windy Hill
Kennesaw State University
Marietta Station
Near Tower Road NE
Near Bells Ferry and 41
41 and Ernest Barrett Pkwy
Kennesaw Station
Jiles and Baker Rd
New McEver and Hickory Grove RD
Acworth Station
“Oak Street Number One” (wtf) and I-75 commuter station with dedicated freeway exit

I would have preferred it to run from Arts Center or Midtown as opposed to extending the Green Line.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by SEAandATL

I would have preferred it to run from Arts Center or Midtown as opposed to extending the Green Line.

Unfortunately, having a NW Line feed into the Arts Center stub (forget Midtown) would cause service to degrade on the other two lines (MARTA can run trains every 90 seconds, but on branch lines that would be restricted to every 4-5 minutes at max headways).

[JoeJunior]

The real reason that Cobb County and Gwinnett County never received MARTA is because the voters there don't want it. They don't want to ride buses and heavy rail to work.

Both counties are very spread out and automobiles are the mode of transportation. Housing is extremely low density.

Another issue is that all the jobs in the city are spread out--and not in small areas. There's not enough money to put heavy rail everywhere.

I'm not going to mention that they don't want the crime that comes with MARTA. Look what's happened to the two fabulous luxury malls in Buckhead that have MARTA.

[SEAandATL]

Originally Posted by ampalive

The real reason is the average person there and the average person on the city council there never lived in a real city with real public transportation (DC, NYC, Chicago) and used it daily there so they do not know any better.

When I used to ride MARTA, pre-pandemic as I have no idea how it is now, there were all types of people who took the trains. Not just "those people" that the ones that never use it imagine that are the only ones that use them. Too bad Atlanta will never be like Tokyo, so I guess the more achievable goal is to be the exact opposite of it. If it was like one of Isaac Newton's laws, opposites can be equals.

Originally Posted by JoeJunior

The real reason that Cobb County and Gwinnett County never received MARTA is because the voters there don't want it. They don't want to ride buses and heavy rail to work.

Both counties are very spread out and automobiles are the mode of transportation. Housing is extremely low density.

Another issue is that all the jobs in the city are spread out--and not in small areas. There's not enough money to put heavy rail everywhere.

I'm not going to mention that they don't want the crime that comes with MARTA. Look what's happened to the two fabulous luxury malls in Buckhead that have MARTA.

Dunwoody/Perimeter seems to be an exception.

[MichiganderTexan]

Originally Posted by JoeJunior

I'm not going to mention that they don't want the crime that comes with MARTA. Look what's happened to the two fabulous luxury malls in Buckhead that have MARTA.

You really think the crime is happening at the malls because of MARTA lmao.

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by MichiganderTexan

You really think the crime is happening at the malls because of MARTA lmao.

Let me just rob this TV and carry it all on the subway completely exposed. If anything car infrastructure encourages crime. Easier to carry guns, drugs, other people’s stuff in a car than the regulated and supervised public transit system which can track people based on transit fares just what criminals love and full of witnesses. Most transit modes have cameras at stations and inside vehicles.

Pickpocketing and harassment are the biggest issue with transit. Harassment is best taken care of by public action. Pickpocketing can be done with using lockable backpacks or other bags that can be kept in eyesight (like wearing backpacks backwards). But like for me as a woman, if I’m being harassed then me standing up for myself likely means nothing since the person harassing me doesn’t respect me as a human being. That’s when I need a man (someone the misogynist does respect) to step up and say something on my behalf. Women have other get around, purposely choosing to sit or stand next to other women, using their bags to take up the seats next to them, but those can only go so far.

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by Gulch

Unfortunately, having a NW Line feed into the Arts Center stub (forget Midtown) would cause service to degrade on the other two lines (MARTA can run trains every 90 seconds, but on branch lines that would be restricted to every 4-5 minutes at max headways).

Also if something gets royally screwed up on the Midtown trunk, it shuts down the whole system. We need to encourage transit by promoting access throughout the metro, and redundancy (parallel routes) is crucial.

[primaltech]

Not that any Cobb rail seems ever likely to ever happen, but I always liked the idea of a light rail along I-75, with a park & ride end of the line station, maybe around Windy Hill or somewhere around there, and then a nice station integrated into the Battery/Truist stadium area, a station at Howell Mill, a nicely integrated station in that sub-surface parking deck area at Atlantic Station, and then it tunnels under the Connector, and the final station at Arts Center being a light rail underground platform at that existing station, perpendicular to the Red/Gold heavy rail lines, enabling transfers in either direction, without having to leave the Arts Center underground station area. And Arts Center would have TOD towers built on top of it.

Then that doesn't interfere with the operation of the existing Red/Gold line, and you have one simple transfer, in either a north or a south direction. People riding in from Cobb and heading to the airport or Downtown or Buckhead, would have one, simple, easy transfer, from rail line to rail line. And no transfer if they're heading to Midtown. And then same thing for the people who live in the city and are trying to get out to a Braves game.

Gwinnett and North Fulton are a bit different because of the Gold and Red lines, already at their doorstep and pointing their way. Extending the heavy rail along their respective freeway corridors, and minimizing mode transfers, makes the most sense there.

And of course none of these 3 things seem likely to ever happen, and no regional/commuter rail either, because Georgia is a stupid place.

[cparker73]

Originally Posted by JoeJunior

The real reason that Cobb County and Gwinnett County never received MARTA is because the voters there don't want it. They don't want to ride buses and heavy rail to work.

Both counties are very spread out and automobiles are the mode of transportation. Housing is extremely low density.

Another issue is that all the jobs in the city are spread out--and not in small areas. There's not enough money to put heavy rail everywhere.

I'm not going to mention that they don't want the crime that comes with MARTA. Look what's happened to the two fabulous luxury malls in Buckhead that have MARTA.

Both counties have at least a couple of nodes of suitable for transit-oriented development (Cumberland/The Battery/Marietta Square and Gwinnett Place/Gas South-Sugarloaf) that would benefit from having rail. No one expects it to hit up every cul-de-sac neighborhood, but a not insignificant of the people who live in those neighborhoods hit all 10 clogged lanes of 85 South every morning and would likely park at a station for the commute into Buckhead, Midtown or Downtown.

As for the crime comment, I think you know how ridiculous that sounds. What has happened since they've seemed to have gotten some the crime under control? The ultra-luxury Nobu hotel has opened up without incident, and both malls have nearly doubled the number of luxury stores that don't exist within 800 miles of Atlanta. Phipps and Lenox seem to be defying the national trend of mall closures, and MARTA is an amenity and not a liability.