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Simply because those routes have been planned for years does not mean that they are "shovel ready". I doubt any of the required studies or engineering have been done on any proposed Marta rail expansion.
For the record, the state's stimulus request did include some Marta projects and they are getting $65 million for capital projects which cannot be used for operations. Similarly, the recent threat of service cuts were related to the state law requiring Marta to split its tax revenue between operations and capital expenditures 50/50. In other words, they could postpone spending money on new equipment and other projects related to future expansion and use that money to run the system during the recession if it weren't illegal. They would of course love to get some state funding but this WAS NOT about them asking the state for money. They were simply asking the state to remove that law.
Were it not for the Atlanta Regional commission, they would have had to find someway to balance the budget including the possibility of shutting down service for one day a week.
MARTA does have competent leadership at the moment. Dr. Beverly Scott has done an exceptional job in running MARTA; and she is responsible for vastly improving the relationship between MARTA and other regional transportation planning entities such as GDOT, GRTA, and ARC.
She really did shoot herself in the foot however, during her battle with the State when she did threaten to shut "all service" down on Fridays.
Personally, I think if they had to, they could have CUT service on certain routes, extended the amount of time between trains during certain hours, etc. There would not have been a need to completely shut down all bus and rail service one whole day a week. In absolute dire circumstances if they had to go that far, the common sense approach would have been to shut it down on Sundays, as that's the lowest ridership day of the week. But to threaten to shut it down on the busiest work day of the week really was an arrogant attempt at posturing, and she did not earn any points at all with many in the public eye or leadership roles when she did that. Even people I know who are staunch MARTA supporters raised an eyebrow when she did that and went, "Dumb dumb dumb move".
Aside from her, on the topic of Westward expansion: Ever since I moved to Atlanta long ago, the West line was seen as the "projects line", and tourists were even told to just stay off of the West line. Even today the West Line is still seen as the line to avoid (think "Soulja girl" as a regular rider of the W/E line in the minds of many). So to extend that route toward Douglasville probably wouldn't get the ridership-per-cost they want. Everyone I know who lives out that way drives into town and when I've asked them why they don't ride MARTA in they just go, "The WEST line??? Um... no". Likewise, if they got near Paulding, most likely they'd be met with people with shotguns at the construction site - their local chat board went NUTS even when they found out one single GRTA "Xpress" bus was coming into their county. So local politics/mindsets are still at play, too. A Western expansion to Fulton Industrial would be seen as something to serve "the projects", even today, and a certain number of the public and probably even some at MARTA wouldn't justify the cost of rail expansion just to service "the projects", regardless of how true that is today or not.
She really did shoot herself in the foot however, during her battle with the State when she did threaten to shut "all service" down on Fridays.
That wasn't a threat at all. I can tell you firsthand that MARTA's operating budget is really that dire as I have several friends that are transportation planners with MARTA. It shouldn't be a surprise either considering that MARTA doesn't have access to half of its revenue in regards to supporting operations. To even further highlight Dr. Scott's sincerity, she literally broke out in tears of joy when the ARC board approved the loan to MARTA.
People need to come to grips with the fact that MARTA definitely has a funding crisis as a result of poor design rather than poor leadership and leaders like Jill Chambers do everything they can to ensure that the agency fails.
Location: Mableton, GA USA (NW Atlanta suburb, 4 miles OTP)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by waronxmas
I should elaborate my position better and say that I do not believe that MARTA hasn't been without fault. They've done some pretty dumb things over the years. But for some of the really major problems that have held MARTA back, that can be laid squarely at the State government of Georgia and the members of the MARTA board (Gwinnett, Cobb and Clayton) who shoot MARTA in the proverbial foot every chance they get.
There is no representative from Cobb County on the MARTA board:
MARTA - About MARTA - Meet the Board (http://www.itsmarta.com/board/meet.htm - broken link)
You guys may be right> i'm just venting. Just as I do on many mornings as I try to make my way down I-20. I do feel that the lack of a top notch mass transit system is one of the elements that holds Atlanta back from being a true world-class city.
That wasn't a threat at all. I can tell you firsthand that MARTA's operating budget is really that dire as I have several friends that are transportation planners with MARTA. It shouldn't be a surprise either considering that MARTA doesn't have access to half of its revenue in regards to supporting operations. To even further highlight Dr. Scott's sincerity, she literally broke out in tears of joy when the ARC board approved the loan to MARTA.
People need to come to grips with the fact that MARTA definitely has a funding crisis as a result of poor design rather than poor leadership and leaders like Jill Chambers do everything they can to ensure that the agency fails.
Ugh, Jill Chambers.
That name might as well be a four letter word in this household. She is the personification of absolute and total buffoonery.
Trust me when I tell you that she would love NOTHING more than to see MARTA cease to exist. I got her so mad once at a hearing that she was practically foaming at the mouth. For some reason people buy her venom enough to keep re-electing this fool.
Hopefully, the people of the State & Metro will totally clean house of these tools next Fall, but reecent elections give me little reason to be optimistic. The sad thing is the whole lot of them still have almost a year and a half to inflict even MORE damage to the Metro.
That wasn't a threat at all. I can tell you firsthand that MARTA's operating budget is really that dire as I have several friends that are transportation planners with MARTA. It shouldn't be a surprise either considering that MARTA doesn't have access to half of its revenue in regards to supporting operations. To even further highlight Dr. Scott's sincerity, she literally broke out in tears of joy when the ARC board approved the loan to MARTA.
My point was that even in a completely dire situation, they/she could have said that SUNDAY service would have to be discontinued, but instead she chose FRIDAY to use as the day. Friday is Atlanta's busiest commute day and a regular work day for many people, and it was used as leverage with the idea of "we'll shut down thousands of rail/bus commuters from being able to get to work on Fridays, and/or add tons of suburban cars back onto the road when they can't ride it, if you don't do this for us...".
In other words, she picked the worst day of the 7 in a week to use as "the" day to shut down, that would have the biggest impact at causing disruption to the metro area. Look, I support public transit. I'd LOVE to see rail in every corner of the metro area right now, and if I could, I'd use it today even out where I live if I could. But when Scott did THAT, I too, saw that as a direct threat tactic as opposed to just passing on emergency scenarios, and I would have no respect for her at all based on that action at this point. That's what I was saying. Not that MARTA isn't getting shafted by the State for funds or anything (they are) - just that her display was handled incorrectly, and that some level of mismanagement is going on there (IMO) as well.
As far as stimulus funds though, it's entirely possible that other areas could get some to add to their systems or create new systems. CCT, Gwinnett Transit, etc... in theory they could apply for and get stimulus money to start up their own light rails that could connect to MARTA, etc. Whether they're smart enough to do it, who knows.
My point was that even in a completely dire situation, they/she could have said that SUNDAY service would have to be discontinued, but instead she chose FRIDAY to use as the day. Friday is Atlanta's busiest commute day and a regular work day for many people, and it was used as leverage with the idea of "we'll shut down thousands of rail/bus commuters from being able to get to work on Fridays, and/or add tons of suburban cars back onto the road when they can't ride it, if you don't do this for us..."
In other words, she picked the worst day of the 7 in a week to use as "the" day to shut down, that would have the biggest impact at causing disruption to the metro area. Look, I support public transit. I'd LOVE to see rail in every corner of the metro area right now, and if I could, I'd use it today even out where I live if I could. But when Scott did THAT, I too, saw that as a direct threat tactic as opposed to just passing on emergency scenarios, and I would have no respect for her at all based on that action at this point. That's what I was saying. Not that MARTA isn't getting shafted by the State for funds or anything (they are) - just that her display was handled incorrectly, and that some level of mismanagement is going on there (IMO) as well.
She chose Friday because:
Operating costs are significantly higher on a Friday (weekday) than on a Sunday. Merely cutting service on a Sunday wouldn't have been enough to accomodate the operations funding gap.
A number of people in the workforce work every other Friday--especially during the summer--as part of flex scheduling.
I've met Dr Scott several times and I can guarantee you that she wasn't trying to use fearmongering. It was the absolute truth. And as far as mismanagement, the workings agency has drastically improved under her watch and she is very adept at working with other regional and state transportation agencies--something that really hasn't happened in Metro Atlanta.
Quote:
Originally Posted by atlantagreg30127
As far as stimulus funds though, it's entirely possible that other areas could get some to add to their systems or create new systems. CCT, Gwinnett Transit, etc... in theory they could apply for and get stimulus money to start up their own light rails that could connect to MARTA, etc. Whether they're smart enough to do it, who knows.
There aren't enough transportation stimulus funds to fund that sort of capital expansion--especially since the funds had to be distributed among the 18 counties in the metro region. Not to mention the federally required local match on the part of the counties that they would need for funding such improvements and expansion just isn't there.
There is a transportation funding crisis on both the national and state level. In regards to the national level, the Highway Trust Fund is insolvent--meaning that more money is going out than going in. Funding that MARTA gets from the FTA comes from this source, of which 15%-20% of HTF funds are allocated to the FTA. Of this pool of money that the FTA oversees, the lions share goes to the top 5 transit agencies in the country--i.e. NYC (MTA), Chicago (CTA), Boston (MBTA), Philadelphia (SEPTA), and Washington (WMATA). Thus MARTA is forced to jockey with peers such as Dallas (DART) and Denver (RTD) for the pittance that's left.
The question that remains is what are we as citizens prepared to do to advocate to our legislators and executive office-holders. Everybody loves to gripe and complain about taxes without realizing what they are used for. If people really want to see an improvement in transportation than they're going to have to man up and not only accept, but be willing to pay for it.
Re: other metro transit systems trying to get stimulus money...
Any transit expansion request is supposed to be "shovel ready". There are no plans that are far enough along to qualify for the stimulus money other than the Peachtree streetcar and even in that case it will be a race to make the deadline (September I believe).
why should marta recieve a stimulus package ? Marta fair goes up every year. I agree with alot of the rest of the people, they need to see who's lining their pockets with the money
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