What is the One Thing MARTA Should do Most? (Atlanta: moving, activities)

[Atlwarrior]

Synchronize bus and train schedules. Some times you must wait 20 minutes because a bus arrives a minute before a train just left. Also have bus driver wait a couple minutes if they realize their bus are empty and a train will arrive in a couple of minutes.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Um. Isn't that trying to legislate one's personal views? I fail to see how this would benefit MARTA. What are they gonna do, hand out citations for talking too loud? Have time-out corners at one end of the train?

That's not legislating personal views -- it's simply maintaining order in the public space. People are perfectly free to go somewhere where they aren't impinging on others and yammer their heads off.

And of course it's appropriate to call them down or issue a citation.

[MattCW]

At exactly what decibel level and duration at that, or various decibel levels constitute an affront to order in the public space? Unless you can answer that, you can't really impose a strict limit across the entire train. You might could create a single "quiet car" on each train, Amtrak and many commuter rail agencies do this, but that's a bit much for the short trips MARTA provides. Plus, again, you run into vigilantes, and cops who don't actually know the rules. These quiet cars don't outright prohibit talking, as long as you whisper it's ok, but people have been yelled at because they dared to whisper because the yeller thought quiet means silent. The current system is frankly fine, we shouldn't be trying to "solve" problems, that aren't really problems.

[arjay57]

I say just enforce the rules we have now. Isn't already against MARTA regulations to play music without headphones? Just use the same volume level when it come to cell phone yakking.

If I see someone blabbing at high volume or otherwise playing the fool, I don't mind telling them myself to cool it. Why shouldn't MARTA officers do the same? I don't see them knocking themselves out with other duties.

It's all about quality of life. If public transportation wants to compete with the automobile then it needs to address matters of this nature. If someone was riding in my car and hollering into their cell phone at high volume I'd tell them to can it, or get out. In fact I have done that very thing a few times.

[cqholt]

I honestly don't recall being chatted up on a MARTA train.

People on MARTA are quit friendly and sitting next to someone can start up a conversion. I did notice riding MTA that nobody talked. I guess Atlanta is still a southern city, so people are more friendly here.
If a rider has an issue with someone talking loud, they can ask them to please be quiet or move to another car. Its that simple, we don't need a quiet car or stupid loud talking rule. Loud music is another story, if someone is playing music without headphones then they are breaking the rules and need a citation, but if someone has headphones with music turned up so loud other people can hear, then feel sorry for that person because they are just damaging their own hearing.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by cqholt

...we don't need a quiet car or stupid loud talking rule. Loud music is another story, if someone is playing music without headphones then they are breaking the rules and need a citation, but if someone has headphones with music turned up so loud other people can hear, then feel sorry for that person because they are just damaging their own hearing.

I agree that we don't need a "quiet car."

But why is loud talking different from loud music?

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I agree that we don't need a "quiet car."

But why is loud talking different from loud music?

Some people are loud talkers while others are close talkers.

[cqholt]

4 Ways the Feds Are Making Transit Better - Commute - The Atlantic Cities
The Federal Transpiration Administration changes to the New Starts and Small Starts program will expedite the process of transit agencies to file grants. This should help streamline the process and make it easier for MARTA to apply for funding for projects.

[cqholt]

Finally: A Transit Ticket on Your Smart Phone - Commute - The Atlantic Cities
Next great idea in mass transit? Less infrastructure for the transit agencies to maintain, less chance of riders losing breeze cars. I think it could work.

[MattCW]

Actually for a system like MARTA that already has the faregates, the better system would be to enable the faregates to read NFC, near-field communications. NFC and RFID are already largely compatible, so I doubt there would be much noticeable infrastructure change. This would also mean any changeover from Breezecard to smartphone would be relatively painless for the passengers, or MARTA could simply keep supporting both systems.