2012 Atlanta Region Transportation Referendum (Marietta, Acworth: public transportation, commute, deal)

[arjay57]

Before I vote on this I want somebody important to come to my house and explain how this is a good deal for me personally.

[shivtim]

^Definite YES vote from me, and all of my friends and co-workers are also yes votes. The Beltline, Clifton rail, and bike and ped improvements all have the potential to transform the city. I think this will win in-town by a fair margin, but it remains to be seen if that will overcome the suburban vote (where I expect it to lose by a fair margin, except perhaps in Gwinett). There are some tea-partiers who are really gearing up against ANY tax, including this one. They post a lot on the pro-TIA facebook pages, in a manner that I would almost consider trolling and inappropriately aggressive. It's kind of ironic, considering the suburbs make out like bandits (all suburban counties except Cobb will get back more money than they pay, both from the $6.5 million pot and from the 15% local monies).

As for the 30% MARTA-dependent statistic, that's bus and rail combined. You're probably right that bus riders are more likely to not own a car than rail riders. I do think there are a number of very useful MARTA bus routes though, and I'll take them instead of driving sometimes. Especially if parking will be costly where I'm going, or if it's for a festival where parking would be a mess. The 110 ("the Peach"), the 39 on Buford Highway and a couple of routes on Ponce and 10th Street are pretty useful if you live in Midtown. They just don't run frequently enough on weekends.

Also, I can't find the statistics (I don't know if they even exist) but I imagine almost 100% of the riders of GRTA Xpress buses have cars in their households. That's a great example of someone choosing to take the bus when they have a car available. Most of these people are driving a small distance though - to park and ride lots.

I also found a 2009 ARC survey that estimated 41% of transit riders in Atlanta don't have a car. This included all transit in Atlanta, not just MARTA (CCT, GRTA, the now defunct C-tran, etc). Interestingly, 27% of riders had 2 or more cars in their household, but still took transit.

[cqholt]

One road that will benefit greatly from the TIA is Buford Hwy. The pedestrian upgrades will cut down on the number of deaths on that road.

[architect77]

Pls vote YES so that Atlanta might get 1 new highway built within my lifetime. Every other similar size city has TRIPLE the amount of freeways.....Houston, Dallas, Bay Area, Philly, etc.

[atltechdude]

Originally Posted by architect77

Pls vote YES so that Atlanta might get 1 new highway built within my lifetime. Every other similar size city has TRIPLE the amount of freeways.....Houston, Dallas, Bay Area, Philly, etc.

While I do plan to vote yes, there are no new freeways I am aware of in the project list. It is mostly surface street and interchange improvements, and transit.

[architect77]

Currently, Georgia ranks 48th in the nation in per-capita spending for transportation. As matters now stand, 70% of the Atlanta region’s transportation funding over the next 30 years will be spent to simply maintain the existing roads and systems, leaving little room for expanding the current system.

Vote Y E S !

[testa50]

Originally Posted by atltechdude

While I do plan to vote yes, there are no new freeways I am aware of in the project list. It is mostly surface street and interchange improvements, and transit.

The Sugarloaf Parkway Extension will add about 9 miles of new limited access highway.

316 will upgrade about 9 miles of existing highway to limited access.

The Tara Blvd Superarterial project will convert 2 miles of existing suburban arterial roadway into mixed limited-access and arterial (like Peachtree-Industrial).

That's all I know of in the way of limited access roadways. ~20 miles is not a whole lot, but a lot better than nothing.

[PKCorey]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Before I vote on this I want somebody important to come to my house and explain how this is a good deal for me personally.

Fulton County/Atlanta won't have a roundtable via a conference call? Rockdale is suppose to have one but I forgot to register for it.

Rockdale doesn't seem to get much out of TIA but a few road widening projects and they have already started on the C/D at 285 and 20 which should make my ride home even better once the Wesley Chapel and Panola people aren't in the way on 20 but I'm still voting for it.

Also, I can't find the statistics (I don't know if they even exist) but I imagine almost 100% of the riders of GRTA Xpress buses have cars in their households. That's a great example of someone choosing to take the bus when they have a car available. Most of these people are driving a small distance though - to park and ride lots.

96 percent have at least one car

Source: GRTA

[tonygeorgia]

Make sure u please spread the word to your friends and family about this vote

[tonygeorgia]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Before I vote on this I want somebody important to come to my house and explain how this is a good deal for me personally.

What's your address?