MARTA eyeing major expansion up Georgia 400 corridor (Atlanta, Roswell: sales, real estate)

[MattCW]

While I see your point about walkability, I really don't see that as a hinderance here. For example, take a look at these two links: http://goo.gl/maps/SDZHn http://goo.gl/maps/gc3Gq
Those are from a town in New York along the New Haven Line. I was actually looking for something else and wound up Googling the location of Larchmont. The first link shows the area around the train station and I-95, while the second shows what I assume to be the historic downtown area of Larchmont. Going to Streetview, the downtown area is very much alive. I can see something similar happening for the 400 corridor, the downtown areas remain, while development increases right along the transit route. The outlying areas can still be served by bus or streetcar service. Yes, that's a different area, and yes that train line has been there 100 years, but I'm using the general pattern of what exists now to illustrate my point.
Incidentally, I was the tall kid in the red shirt that rambled something about express service during the first Q&A session

[bryantm3]

Originally Posted by MattCW

While I see your point about walkability, I really don't see that as a hinderance here. For example, take a look at these two links: http://goo.gl/maps/SDZHn http://goo.gl/maps/gc3Gq
Those are from a town in New York along the New Haven Line. I was actually looking for something else and wound up Googling the location of Larchmont. The first link shows the area around the train station and I-95, while the second shows what I assume to be the historic downtown area of Larchmont. Going to Streetview, the downtown area is very much alive. I can see something similar happening for the 400 corridor, the downtown areas remain, while development increases right along the transit route. The outlying areas can still be served by bus or streetcar service. Yes, that's a different area, and yes that train line has been there 100 years, but I'm using the general pattern of what exists now to illustrate my point.
Incidentally, I was the tall kid in the red shirt that rambled something about express service during the first Q&A session

what a cool little downtown area! it's like some of the neighbourhoods we have in town.

were you the kid up front and to the right? if so i was like right behind you with my dad. i live only a few blocks away.

i agree that walkable development is going to (and already has) occured in the downtown areas like alpharetta and roswell and that transit development will spur that— but i was referring to the areas immediately around the marta stations, like out on holcomb bridge road, for example.

it would be difficult to walk directly from walkable areas like downtown alpharetta or roswell to the bus and commute downtown— that's why i think generally people who are looking for more walkable urban communities (ie: where you don't even have to own a car) are going to focus intown. people in alpharetta and roswell, despite having a better urban community directly around them, are still going to own cars.

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

i don't think this is true for several reasons. the primary reason is that north fulton is already a major jobs center, only behind the CBD and perimeter. giving that area transit will increase job opportunities for people who don't live in north fulton. i was just talking to someone who lives in college park and commutes all the way to alpharetta every night, and it puts a huge transportation expense on him. there are a lot of higher paying jobs that poorer folks don't have access to because transit doesn't serve the area well. the north fulton line will promote upward mobility by giving poorer folks who don't have cars access to better jobs.

Precisely. I was thinking about the article that talked about income inequality across various U.S. metros, including Atlanta, and major reason was due to the lopsided spatial placement of jobs in the metro area. While scores of good jobs aren't coming to the south and west sides anytime soon, at least providing better transit access to north Fulton will help folks get to those jobs much easier.

[LynnHarris]

Originally Posted by Mutiny77

Precisely. I was thinking about the article that talked about income inequality across various U.S. metros, including Atlanta, and major reason was due to the lopsided spatial placement of jobs in the metro area. While scores of good jobs aren't coming to the south and west sides anytime soon, at least providing better transit access to north Fulton will help folks get to those jobs much easier.

I agree...

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

what a cool little downtown area! it's like some of the neighbourhoods we have in town.

were you the kid up front and to the right? if so i was like right behind you with my dad. i live only a few blocks away.

No, I was kind of in the back in an aisle seat.

i agree that walkable development is going to (and already has) occured in the downtown areas like alpharetta and roswell and that transit development will spur that— but i was referring to the areas immediately around the marta stations, like out on holcomb bridge road, for example.

it would be difficult to walk directly from walkable areas like downtown alpharetta or roswell to the bus and commute downtown— that's why i think generally people who are looking for more walkable urban communities (ie: where you don't even have to own a car) are going to focus intown. people in alpharetta and roswell, despite having a better urban community directly around them, are still going to own cars.

My point wasn't that people could walk between the two areas, but that the bus would serve to connect the two areas so the people in the traditional downtowns would still have quick service to the core line. One thing that would help this would be if MARTA were to include the buses in the paid zone at stations so people wouldn't have to tap again once they got off the bus. But that's more difficult for "community" stations like MARTA wants to install up 400 with the exception of Windward, as that requires a decent level of infrastructure that I think they want to avoid.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by MattCW

No, I was kind of in the back in an aisle seat.

My point wasn't that people could walk between the two areas, but that the bus would serve to connect the two areas so the people in the traditional downtowns would still have quick service to the core line. One thing that would help this would be if MARTA were to include the buses in the paid zone at stations so people wouldn't have to tap again once they got off the bus. But that's more difficult for "community" stations like MARTA wants to install up 400 with the exception of Windward, as that requires a decent level of infrastructure that I think they want to avoid.

What's so hard about tapping to exit a station? Tapping is what loads transfers on the breezecards.

[MattCW]

True, I forgot about the rail to bus transfer, you'd end up having to tap out of the bus in that case. I was just thinking of ways to make the bus to rail transfer even easier both from a consumer, and construction perspective.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by MattCW

True, I forgot about the rail to bus transfer, you'd end up having to tap out of the bus in that case. I was just thinking of ways to make the bus to rail transfer even easier both from a consumer, and construction perspective.

I still do not understand what is so hard about tapping to exit the gates? The only people who have issues with this are those that only use MARTA to travel to the airport, sporting events, etc. Commuters have no issue with task.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by cqholt

I still do not understand what is so hard about tapping to exit the gates? The only people who have issues with this are those that only use MARTA to travel to the airport, sporting events, etc. Commuters have no issue with task.

They don't use it as frequently?

[MattCW]

It's still a slowdown and chokepoint. Every now and then my card doesn't read and I have to go to another faregate. Plus, it would physically shorten the walking path from bus to train because you wouldn't need room for the faregates, heck if you really wanted to be crazy, you could design the stations like Five Points platforms, and just have the bus pull up on the side platform, but you can't do that with faregates.