Marta train ride from Airport to Five Points is very ugly. (Atlanta: how much, neighborhoods)

[Atlwarrior]

Graffiti, half torn down building is our first introduction to the city for visitors. Why want the City of Atlanta, East Point, Marta beautify the route. While approaching Oakland city you have horrible folk art and graffiti. Then from Oakland city to West End, you have huge abandon buildings and graffiti again. Can graffiti be removed or will it be pointless. Could they get real artists to paint something pretty that graffiti people would respect and leave alone. It's not a good look for first time visitors.

I also notice graffiti starting to spread in Buckhead.

[Supplies]

I was terrified the first time taking the Marta , being stared at, people asking me for money,woman threw up across from me, couldn't wait to get off, I heard they had security traveling on every train, I didnt see any.

[bigstick]

Oh Brother, this is in every city with subway, heavy rail. Look at NYC, PHILLY, BOSTON, it ain't pretty.

[gerrythesnake]

Originally Posted by bigstick

Oh Brother, this is in every city with subway, heavy rail.

Yes. You can tell who hasn't traveled anywhere before lol

[AnsleyPark]

Originally Posted by gerrythesnake

Yes. You can tell who hasn't traveled anywhere before lol

That's beside the point, Gerry. It doesn't matter who has travelled a lot or not. The route is still an eye sore.

[jsvh]

These same "sights" are able to be seen from streets too. This is not a MARTA problem unless it is something on their property, which they are actually pretty good at keeping cleaned up. But there will always be some neighborhoods that are worse than others, and they will seem "scary" to those who are not exposed to them, rather it is driving by in a car or train.

[gerrythesnake]

I actually agree with the OP but everything can't look like Buckhead

[cqholt]

The route is an eye sore because it was heavily industrial before the de-industrialization of the US. it costs a lot of money for land reclamation of polluted soil and tearing down buildings. Also, this area is the southside and suffers from a lack of investment and stigma about the area.

I was terrified the first time taking the Marta , being stared at, people asking me for money,woman threw up across from me, couldn't wait to get off, I heard they had security traveling on every train, I didnt see any.

PS its just MARTA, not the Marta. I can tell you are not very exposed to living in a big city and using transit.

[alco89]

Originally Posted by gerrythesnake

I actually agree with the OP but everything can't look like Buckhead

This. Idk when I finally noticed how horrible it looked, but when I did, I was embarrassed lol. There's really nothing that could be done unless the whole area redevelops with the Beltline coming through, which probally won't happen for another 20-30 years if at all...

[atler8]

The approach in from the airport certainly is gritty & not attractive but with the myriad of properties & owners along the route, I'm not sure how much the various municipalities along there can do to improve the look at this point. Oftentimes old railroad corridors/rights of way, which the South Line route is, declined over a period of decades & became eyesores in many cities & towns.
Experienced MARTA train riders of long standing may recall that much of the East Line between King Memorial & where the line goes under ground after passing to the east of the East Lake station used to be similarly unnattractive. While still gritty in some areas, that East Line has improved drastically because of the redevelopment of the corridor with business & residential construction. The Inman Park & Candler Park areas have witnessed the biggest turnaround in that rail corridor but even the area near the King Memorial station has improved markedly.
That redevelopment was driven by demand in the market . Any such large scale change along the South Line may have to be similarly driven for it to take hold & bring about a meaningful improvement.