Keith Parker: MARTA’s rail system ideally would be double its size (transfer, construction)

[MattCW]

When MARTA service goes to 10 minute headways in May, it will actually exceed the capacity of the roadway slightly.

[erick295]

Originally Posted by MattCW

When MARTA service goes to 10 minute headways in May, it will actually exceed the capacity of the roadway slightly.

Ugh! I miss those days... 10 minutes on weekdays, 15 on weekends. I can't wait to get that schedule back again. I'm sure it will happen in a year or two.

[alco89]

Originally Posted by MattCW

When MARTA service goes to 10 minute headways in May

Which means about 5 minutes on the overlap Red/Gold and Blue/Green lines, right? Can't wait.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by erick295

I'm sure it will happen in a year or two.

You mean in a month or two?

[erick295]

Originally Posted by jsvh

You mean in a month or two?

I mean across the board. Aren't they only increasing peak frequency for now?

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by erick295

I mean across the board. Aren't they only increasing peak frequency for now?

Yes but that's when the trains most need to pick up their frequencies.

[Saintmarks]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Holy s**t dude! You write some of the shortest and most simple-minded sentences anyone has ever seen.

Sorry, but someone had to say what everyone was thinking.

For some, it's easy to criticize but difficult, if not impossible, to actually have something meaningful to contribute to a discussion.

To break it down so that you and a few of the reading-impaired and the simple-minded can understand (as most people who log-on to City-Data.com actually have excellent reading comprehension skills and actually like to read words): BUSINESSMEN IN COBB AND GWINNETT COUNTIES SECRETLY SUPPORT NORTH FULTON REPUBLICANS' DESIRE TO SELL MARTA TO HIGHEST BIDDER!...Complete story in pictures at 11!


Likewise, gtcorndog, just like how everyone so anxiously awaits your 10-word essays on what could have been easily said in zero words. I've never seen someone with so little (if anything) to contribute to the conservation say so much to communicate absolutely nothing.

Or to translate specifically for you gtcorndog: DUH...HE SAY TWO MANY WOORDS GTCORNDOG DON'T LIKE 2 REED...END DUH.

LOL!!!!

Love your posts. Love this reply to downright rudeness. No, nobody had to say anything, but since they did, perfect response.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Saintmarks

LOL!!!!

Love your posts. Love this reply to downright rudeness. No, nobody had to say anything, but since they did, perfect response.

Thanks.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Then suggest a higher-capacity transportation option. A single lane of highway has at most a 2000 vehicle per hour capacity. A single MARTA rail line has at minimum, 4200 people per hour capacity (6 car trains every 15 minutes). HOT/HOV lanes only work until they're filled up. See I-85 lately? There is lots of congestion despite them putting in those fancy HOT lanes. So what do we do? Build more? And more lanes? Then some more? How wide do you want GA-400 to be? 12 lanes each direction? To match that capacity, MARTA only needs two tracks, running 8-car trains on 3.5 minute headways. Something completely achievable by this one rail expansion. It's called future-proofing. Add a third track, or roughly the space required for a single lane of highway, and you can effectively double your capacity. Most people will be going south in the morning, then north in the evening, so adding a third track gives you two tracks each way during the peak times which on 3.5 minute headways, brings capacity up to 48,000 people. That's the equivalent of 24 lanes of highway IN EACH DIRECTION!

I don't think a study from 2003 is valid anymore. Especially since it's MARTA largely leading the charge on a red line extension along GA-400. A lot has changed since 2003.

The shortness of the HRT alignment is exactly why is isn't actually as cost-effective as the light-rail alternative. The LRT alternatives were chosen because they wouldn't be crippled by being terminated half-way through the corridor like the HRT alternative would be. LRT provides the best cost vs. benefit to the entire corridor. If you read the locally preferred alternative analysis report under the screen 1 section, you can see the methodology and it quickly becomes clear why LRT was chosen, and why it's a better fit.

If you want to look at the screen 2 section, it becomes far more clear. The O&M costs for HRT were just under twice as much as LRT. It was also in this state that the HRT alternatives were ranked the lowest. This factors into federal funding because the FTA likes to see the cost effectiveness and the HRT alternatives didn't even meet the minimum criteria. I won't go through the rest of the scoring criteria, but it's all right there in Appendix B of the full LPA report for the Clifton Corridor.

Capacity is meaningless if there is not a demand for it. Hell, you could run MARTA trains at 5 minute intervals and thus more than double the capacity. However, that is a foolish thing to do since that would have little impact on the demand for the service. You do this post after post. Building capacity without demand is foolish. Start thinking about demand more than capacity. A crowded highway alone does not indicate that there is a 1:1 demand for MARTA along that same corridor.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

Capacity is meaningless if there is not a demand for it. Hell, you could run MARTA trains at 5 minute intervals and thus more than double the capacity. However, that is a foolish thing to do since that would have little impact on the demand for the service. You do this post after post. Building capacity without demand is foolish. Start thinking about demand more than capacity. A crowded highway alone does not indicate that there is a 1:1 demand for MARTA along that same corridor.

As demand increases with only highways, you quickly have to build a new lane of highway, but as demand increases along rail, you don't have to do anything but run more trains (to a point).
That's all I'm saying, I'm not saying MARTA should run trains at 3.5 minute headways right now.