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That 5 points station needs a damn cleansing. I'm sorry but it sucks down there. No I am not afraid for myself but its not appealing having a bunch of degenerates hanging there every damn day.
The east-west line is not as bad as this forum is making it seem, ive taken in for 20yrs now. Some of these comments make it seem like your one step from death by getting on the train. If you want to see a real ghetto area take the #3 train in brooklyn NY, the green line in southside of chicago, or subway to north Philly.
West of 5pts is all bad areas, but east of it is:
GA State- college students, and government workers
King Memorial- Projects torn down and area starting to being revitalized
Inman Park- Nice on north side of the tracks, sketchy on southside
Edgewood- Nice on north side of the tracks, sketchy on southside
East Lake- Nice on north side of the tracks, hit or miss on southside
Decatur- in downtown decatur which is nice
Avondale-not in a bad area
Kensington- hoodish at times
Indian Creek- not in a bad area, but mainly more good than bad
Ive ridden the train from the airport plenty of times and its not dangerous, some of the folks on there may be loud and obscene, but it very rarley breaks out into anything major. When anything happens on Marta the news makes sure they report it, so you have to honestly think back to the last yr and thing HOW MANY times have you tuned into the news and heard of a shooting/assult on marta....not very often. With the type of crowds on the train, any given day something could happen since it will only take one loud annoying person to cross paths with someone who just doesnt give a d@mn for something to break off.
Not to say what you have to deal with on the train on a regular basis isnt very annoying with the wanna be rappers, beggars, crying babies in which the mother does nothing to calm it down, and the new trend of folks listening to there music through the speakerphone so everyone has to hear it. Ive heard alot of the people marta pd arrest have weapons on them, thats why i just ignore those folks pay em no attention and listen to my mp3 player.
Marta should have 1 cop that walks the train back and forth like it did in the 90's if it wants to give a safer perception.
The east-west line is not as bad as this forum is making it seem, ive taken in for 20yrs now. Some of these comments make it seem like your one step from death by getting on the train. If you want to see a real ghetto area take the #3 train in brooklyn NY, the green line in southside of chicago, or subway to north Philly.
West of 5pts is all bad areas, but east of it is:
GA State- college students, and government workers
King Memorial- Projects torn down and area starting to being revitalized
Inman Park- Nice on north side of the tracks, sketchy on southside
Edgewood- Nice on north side of the tracks, sketchy on southside
East Lake- Nice on north side of the tracks, hit or miss on southside
Decatur- in downtown decatur which is nice
Avondale-not in a bad area
Kensington- hoodish at times
Indian Creek- not in a bad area, but mainly more good than bad
Ive ridden the train from the airport plenty of times and its not dangerous, some of the folks on there may be loud and obscene, but it very rarley breaks out into anything major. When anything happens on Marta the news makes sure they report it, so you have to honestly think back to the last yr and thing HOW MANY times have you tuned into the news and heard of a shooting/assult on marta....not very often. With the type of crowds on the train, any given day something could happen since it will only take one loud annoying person to cross paths with someone who just doesnt give a d@mn for something to break off.
Not to say what you have to deal with on the train on a regular basis isnt very annoying with the wanna be rappers, beggars, crying babies in which the mother does nothing to calm it down, and the new trend of folks listening to there music through the speakerphone so everyone has to hear it. Ive heard alot of the people marta pd arrest have weapons on them, thats why i just ignore those folks pay em no attention and listen to my mp3 player.
Marta should have 1 cop that walks the train back and forth like it did in the 90's if it wants to give a safer perception.
You are absolutely right, great post. Still there are too many morons just hanging around the station. They need to really enforce the no soliciting.
SAAN and RandyWatson, maybe in your opinion the E-W line "isn't that bad." Hear my opinion, which is actually forgiving compared to most people's opinion about MARTA. I'm a supporter (not of that line), but image is all that matters. My opinion can be echoed by millions in metro Atlanta.
Not to be a snob or come across as racist, but I am a professional looking white guy with blonde hair and blue eyes who wears nice clothes and a nice watch during the day (and often at night). When I pack luggage to take to the airport, it isn't just underclothes. I frankly don't want to be around ghetto thugs anywhere, let alone a train car full of them. It makes me feel uncomfortable, especially when I already had the crap beat of me on the Art Center platform for not giving up my cell phone to a group of thugs. I don't look "hard" or street worn, so I am an easy target, as I have found out. Loud and obnoxious is what drives away professionals like me, college students, middle class and upper class choice riders trying to take the train to the airport, work, or the mall, etc.
The thugs need to be diluted with more non-thugs. Just 4-5 thugs on a train hooting and hollering and carrying on like thugs can easily empty out a train car of the smallish bastion of sane people who work and carry on normal lives there is. There is an entitled, loud, non-working, criminal element crowd that rides MARTA more visibly than any other public transit system I have ever ridden. Then again, other systems are large enough to have avoidable ghetto lines and lines that the rest of humanity rides.
Sure the risk of dying in a car wreck is much higher than getting shot on MARTA, but I think mentally it's a lot easier to grasp the dangers of driving, and it feels more like death is in your own hands. Stuck on a train with a bunch of thugs picking on an elderly woman or a lone white boy/girl rider, etc and it's almost like you have no choice or say in the matter of your death or assault or just plain old harassment. Plus, nobody will come to your defense!
I'm a huge public transit supporter and I'm actually educated fairly substantially on the matter, but I just want to see better for Atlanta and honest discussion about it. The streetcar and the very eventual Beltline are peeking my interest. MARTA HRT will not be expanded again or at least for a while.
The bottom line is that if city planners/transit planners (part of the problem is they are two separate things) want to get 25 year old profs who drive newish imports out of their nice cars and into trains, they need to clean up the trains. First get rid of the stench (it can be overwhelming at times), second improve security, third expand the system. And if MARTA had a larger operating budget, the headways could be shortened ().
That 5 points station needs a damn cleansing. I'm sorry but it sucks down there. No I am not afraid for myself but its not appealing having a bunch of degenerates hanging there every damn day.
Yes, that station looks awful and the immediate surroundings are even worse if that is possible. Five Points station definitely reflects badly to anyone using it to go to Underground.
I have ridden MARTA many times off and on for years. There have been a few times I was a bit nervous on it, but other than panhandlers, people leave me alone. One improvement with MARTA I noticed in more recent years is the rail cars no longer have nasty carpet in them, and overall they seem cleaner with working AC and heat.
I even rode MARTA at night on a regular basis due to my job, not feeling unsafe really, but the recent murders are a definite concern. MARTA with large crowds of people going to events is OK, overall. Sometimes drunk throngs of people leaving concerts or sporting events were worse in their behavior than some people you might think look criminal. Those people annoyed me more personally than some people some might deem as suspicious.
I avoided using the MARTA buses, so I don't know if others' experience differ, but just a few bad experiences with them in the long past made me want to avoid the buses as much as possible.
The East-West line is not so bad in my mind or even Southward to the airport. Some of the stations west of downtown are a bit rough, but I never really felt unsafe myself. I guess some of this is perception and people not knowing those areas as well. There are definitely thuggish people who ride MARTA. Maybe certain people are more targeted than others unfortunately.
It does sound like the MARTA police need to be proactive. I like Five Points downtown, but yes, it is rough around the edges and needs to be cleaned up. Maybe with GSU expanding, things may change more. Downtown has improved overall in the past decade or so, but there is definitely plenty more to do to make it seem safer. I think discouraging panhandlers from being in the area would definitely help.
SAAN and RandyWatson, maybe in your opinion the E-W line "isn't that bad." Hear my opinion, which is actually forgiving compared to most people's opinion about MARTA. I'm a supporter (not of that line), but image is all that matters. My opinion can be echoed by millions in metro Atlanta.
Not to be a snob or come across as racist, but I am a professional looking white guy with blonde hair and blue eyes who wears nice clothes and a nice watch during the day (and often at night). When I pack luggage to take to the airport, it isn't just underclothes. I frankly don't want to be around ghetto thugs anywhere, let alone a train car full of them. It makes me feel uncomfortable, especially when I already had the crap beat of me on the Art Center platform for not giving up my cell phone to a group of thugs. I don't look "hard" or street worn, so I am an easy target, as I have found out. Loud and obnoxious is what drives away professionals like me, college students, middle class and upper class choice riders trying to take the train to the airport, work, or the mall, etc.
The thugs need to be diluted with more non-thugs. Just 4-5 thugs on a train hooting and hollering and carrying on like thugs can easily empty out a train car of the smallish bastion of sane people who work and carry on normal lives there is. There is an entitled, loud, non-working, criminal element crowd that rides MARTA more visibly than any other public transit system I have ever ridden. Then again, other systems are large enough to have avoidable ghetto lines and lines that the rest of humanity rides.
Sure the risk of dying in a car wreck is much higher than getting shot on MARTA, but I think mentally it's a lot easier to grasp the dangers of driving, and it feels more like death is in your own hands. Stuck on a train with a bunch of thugs picking on an elderly woman or a lone white boy/girl rider, etc and it's almost like you have no choice or say in the matter of your death or assault or just plain old harassment. Plus, nobody will come to your defense!
I'm a huge public transit supporter and I'm actually educated fairly substantially on the matter, but I just want to see better for Atlanta and honest discussion about it. The streetcar and the very eventual Beltline are peeking my interest. MARTA HRT will not be expanded again or at least for a while.
The bottom line is that if city planners/transit planners (part of the problem is they are two separate things) want to get 25 year old profs who drive newish imports out of their nice cars and into trains, they need to clean up the trains. First get rid of the stench (it can be overwhelming at times), second improve security, third expand the system. And if MARTA had a larger operating budget, the headways could be shortened ().
And I don't disagree with you and thus my initial post they need to clean 5 points up.
The Southline to the airport is really a depressing ride from 5 points down because the area looks worse and worse the further you go. I only take the Eastline to get to the Dome/Arena I wouldn't go any further. The Westline isn't as bad as advertised especially if you are heading to Decatur. The Northline is the only decent line and notice how MARTA has eliminated many routes in that area.
SW30303 I do agree with how you feel because there is nothing worse than a 20 min wait for a train and have to deal with all that once it comes and i personally take GTRA Xpress bus to avoid the train ride now adays when possible.
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j simms
