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Originally, this would have been "Train from Hades" but my phone didn't record video when I told it to for some reason, so the magnitude of the problems can't be easily seen.
I was returning from Atlanta today to Indian Creek. I knew there was single tracking on the Blue line, but MARTA's site indicated a normal 20 minute schedule with only platform side for Kensington and Avondale changed. The ride in was normal, the otubound to Indian Creek was about 10 minutes late, but they got the inbound out only about 1 minute late (2 minute turnaround). Coming home however, I waited on the EB blue line platform and watched two Green line trains pass through, since the norm is to interlace the trains (Blue, Green, Blue, Green, Blue) I figured something was wrong despite no notifications either on itsmarta.com, or via martaalerts. So I board the second Green line train figuring to make my way as far east as possible and I certainly wasn't alone, several people gave up and boarded that train too. At King Memorial, someone asked the operator about the Indian Creek train and she indicated it was right behind hers because "we're singletracking between Decatur and Indian Creek." I can't come down hard on her because she was just repeating what was told and probably wasn't told details. Well, sure enough the Blue line train came in next and it boarded, at standing room only load. Despite both the PDF schedule on the single tracking page and the Android app schedule reflecting a 20 minute headway, due to the two Green line trains and the spacing, I'd guess it was actually a 24 minute headway.
That's not the bulk of the problem however. The problem came when they announced that the train would terminate at Avondale. This was irritating, but wasn't on the outset infuriating. What was infuriating was how it was handled. Everyone gets out, and floods the Avondale WB platform. To MARTA's credit, they did pull the outbound train to the same platform as the "shuttle" so we didn't have to scramble through the station. The shuttle train is nowhere in sight when we get there despite the RoW flashers being active, and the station exit signal showing flashing green. Finally it appears on the viaduct. It creeps, and creeps and creeps, and stops about a quarter mile away. Then it creeps forward a few yards, then stops. It repeats this creep-stop exercise maybe a half-dozen times before getting a single car onto the platform...where it sits. Finally, people start leaving it. Yes, they disgorged the entire 6-car train through at least a single car, and given the 15 minute wait, possibly a single door. It sits some more, then they bring it up along the platform, where everyone waiting for it boards. Then we sit, we sit, we sit, our outbound leaves, and another arrives, and they board our train, and we continue to sit. FINALLY it edges forward...20 yards. Then stops, then we sit some more, then we edge forward some more, then the brakes dump. We edge forward and dump 3 more times I think, and we FINALLY get moving. This is one of MARTA's oldest sets, a Q-310. The rest of the trip is uneventful, the biggest change to normal is it was crowded enough I couldn't eventually find a seat, and we were on the left-hand track.
I don't fault the people on the ground, they did the best they could under the circumstances. What I do fault is this ridiculous single-tracking program that's been going on for what? A decade now? Management too, when the shuttle was clearly having mechanical problems, it should have been yarded, using a diesel engine if necessary, and a new train retrieved; the yard was right there. There's also the dispatching. They could very easily have kept only a single train in the Avondale-Indian Creek section while still running the advertised headway. It's 5 minutes from Avondale to Indian Creek. At T=0, train is at Avondale going east. Time T=5, train terminates at Indian Creek. Time T=15 (10 minute turnaround) train leaves Indian Creek. Time T=20, train is at Avondale going west, and meets the next EB train. All it would have taken is a juggling of times, it's not like the connections at 5 points were awesome anyways.
Bottom line is the nonsense today turned a 20 minute sprint from Five Points, into a one-hour nightmare. Ok, it could have been worse, 90 degrees outside, raining, dirty stations, but it shouldn't have happened at all. What if the next time the conditions aren't so favorable?
How many people did MARTA lose today? I heard 3-4 people (just ones near me) say that as soon as they got their license or car, they'd ditch MARTA. I'm not one of them fortunately, I still think this mess was better than the mess of traffic that is Atlanta, but my patience is not unlimited. How many other people were first-time riders trying out transit, and have sworn it off for good? And will now vocally oppose transit expansion projects?
Back to the single-tracking, why are we still putting up with this? Both New York and Chicago have realized that they can't continue with the tiny little maintenance sessions and went to radical measures. NYC shuts down an entire trunk line four nights a week in a maintenance blitz. Chicago just shut down part of their red line for five entire months. MARTA isn't as old, nor in as bad a condition as these other lines, but that doesn't matter. If anything, that should help the issue, as the shutdown wouldn't be for as long. I don't know what the best answer is, one of the two, or something in between. Suffice to say, I will be writing several strongly-worded letters to Keith Parker, MARTOC, and possibly several elected officials on this matter. I don't hold any wild visions that I'll change the face of MARTA, that would have been the point of the video I tried to take, to provide some public embarrassment, but I can't sit idle in this either.
I am so amused with your story. I too have made several attemps to ride MARTA and it has never gone smoothly. (Well, in fairness, I have never had a problem doing a park and ride from Lindbergh to the airport.)
I just do not understand why there is almost always a problem. Is it just bad luck? I remember having some weirdness around Atlanta Arts Center (I think) where women, and children plus the elderly who couldn't sprint the broken escalator were left behind.
I'm usually pretty good at solving problems but I really don't know what needs to e addressed first. Is it the age of the equipment or just a matter of logistics?
That's why I don't ride MARTA anymore. I'm pro-transit, but driving a car is so much easier then taking transit here. MARTA has gotten so bad with it's service these days. It pissed me off so much I said buh bye.
Yes I'm also baffle at how long track maintenance has went on for years now. Also would it not be smarter to do track maintenance from 1:30AM to 5:30 when the system is closed. However one thing to Marta credit, I never saw maintenance during rush hour Monday through Friday. I think they do maintenance on the weekends in exception of home Falcons football games and after 10 pm on weekdays.
MattCW: Good suggestions about how maintenance projects should be handled by MARTA on their heavy lines.
Though, it should be noted that the reconstruction of Chicago's South side Red Line heavy rail line was paid for by the State of Illinois, a state government that seems to recognize the critical importance of mass transit to the continued functionality of the ENTIRE transportation network of Illinois' largest metropolitan region in Chicagoland (...the aforementioned Red Line heavy rail line directly pulls hundreds-of-thousands of vehicles daily off of an extremely severely-congested and peak-hour delay-plagued I-90/I-94 Dan Ryan Expressway with the Red Line operating directly within the median of the 14-16 lane-wide Dan Ryan Expressway).
State funding of such important transit maintenance projects is virtually a total impossibility in a regional political climate in the Atlanta region and state political climate in Georgia that continues to be thoroughly-dominated by anti-transit (and anti-transportation infrastructure) politics, despite the fact that the MARTA heavy rail-anchored network pulls hundreds-of-thousands of vehicles off of a severely-congested road and freeway network at the core of the Atlanta region.
Here is a link to the CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) page detailing the reconstruction of Chicago's Red Line heavy rail line: CTA Red Line South Reconstruction Project
From the link above:
Quote:
On May 19, 2013, as part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s Building a New Chicago
initiative, CTA launched its Red Line South Reconstruction Project—to completely
rebuild the 10.2-mile stretch from just north of Cermak-Chinatown to 95th
Street. The 44-year-old line had exceeded its expected lifespan and was plagued
by slow zones and delays.
Five months later, the $425 million project—funded by Governor Pat Quinn’s Illinois Jobs Now! program—delivered a brand new railroad.
On Sunday, October 20, 2013, CTA returned trains to service and unveiled many
station improvements, completing the project on time and on budget.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElleKaye
I am so amused with your story. I too have made several attemps to ride MARTA and it has never gone smoothly. (Well, in fairness, I have never had a problem doing a park and ride from Lindbergh to the airport.)
I just do not understand why there is almost always a problem. Is it just bad luck? I remember having some weirdness around Atlanta Arts Center (I think) where women, and children plus the elderly who couldn't sprint the broken escalator were left behind.
I'm usually pretty good at solving problems but I really don't know what needs to e addressed first. Is it the age of the equipment or just a matter of logistics?
Most of MARTA's operational issues stem very-poor management at the organizational and local levels of governance and intentional and wanton neglect at the regional and state levels of governance as well as an unwillingness by both ITP urbanites and OTP suburbanites to share political control over the transit system with the other party.
MARTA officials and officials in Fulton and DeKalb counties have traditionally used MARTA as a jobs and benefits program for friends and relatives while regional and state officials outside of Fulton and DeKalb counties have traditionally neglected, opposed and even been hostile to MARTA for political and ideological reasons (...the political reasons being that OTP suburbanites wanted to wrest sole political control over MARTA's operations, hiring and contracts away from ITP urbanites; and the ideological reasons being that many suburbanites opposed MARTA because they feared that it would bring racial minorities, crime and urban lifestyles out to the 'burbs...something that is happening anyways without a significant transit presence outside of I-285).
Last edited by Born 2 Roll; 10-26-2013 at 10:48 PM..
I've been without a car since May. I dreaded taking MARTA again but I thought it would be easier since I live in a great location with relation to two train stations. I was wrong. It is just as awful was it was when I first started riding MARTA in the late 90's.
Chicago handled their track maintenace WAY better by implementing round-the-clock shuttles to ferry people from other train lines to connect to the buses at stations along the repairs route. Even with things running normally it takes me on average two hours on average just to go short distances on MARTA to include riding the train.
I rode CTA in July during the repairs from downtown to the far southwest side. I had to catch the bus from the end of the red line, which is 13 miles from downtown. And let me tell you, Chicago did not mess around with those shuttles. I was able to get from downtown to my sister's place in 30 minutes. And this was during 4th of July weekend! The same ride would've taken me hours on MARTA. The shuttles were back-to-back lined up. There was no waiting to catch a connecting shuttle. If you missed one another one was sitting directly beind it and they went directly to their assigned red line stations by express way with no stops in between.
In another thread someone asks what city should MARTA look to. MARTA should definitly look to Chicago with regard to how to runs things during track repairs because Chicago did the darn thing! I didn't know what to expect with the red line being ripped out but I was highly impressed. And not only was the shuttle system highly efficient, the work is finished! Perhaps those over the red line project figured it would be inefficient to single track for the sake of its ridership. Having ridden both during repairs, I will have to agree.
Another complaining thread . The Atlanta forum is filled with negative, complaining and whining people.
Its just pitiful.
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