Atlanta and Marta to operate the streetcar jointly (camping, to live)

[Staysean23]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

Ding ding ding!

I'm not anti streetcar, just anti waste of money route streetcar.

Its built so what are you going to do about it. Either your going to ride it or not.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

Ding ding ding!

I'm not anti streetcar, just anti waste of money route streetcar.

What is your preferred route?

[erick295]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

$100 million worth of people?

Hell... only 2,600 trips (or potentially just 1,300 people) are expected on it each day.

That is horrible.

I see where you're coming from and think boosters are being disingenuous when they list POIs that are mostly on the west end of the route (sort of like you when you arbitrarily add 10% to the real cost because you like the way $100 million looks). This line is short and the east end is underdeveloped. It's a bit of a risk, but one that looks as if it might pay off, as some ACTUAL streetcar-driven development is appearing on the radar (not the stuff that appeared years ago that people have since attributed to it).

That said, you don't seem to understand the situation here. First, much of that money came from a federal grant which we probably couldn't have gotten for any other similarly sized route planned at the time. Second, public transit isn't supposed to be profitable route-by-route. It's infrastructure, not a business. Third, this loop is the middle portion of a much longer route that is planned to run from North Ave. to the BeltLine.

On a more topic-related note, I saw someone waiting at one of the stops the other day. I don't know if it's being communicated clearly enough that this isn't running yet.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by erick295

On a more topic-related note, I saw someone waiting at one of the stops the other day. I don't know if it's being communicated clearly enough that this isn't running yet.

Probably cqholt

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by Staysean23

Its built so what are you going to do about it.

But at what cost? $100 million is an additional $225 from every person in the city, or $1,000 from a family of four.

Yet we don't have money to operate our parks, pave the streets or build a playground? And this is in a city where 76% of our children qualify for free or reduced meals?

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by arjay57

But at what cost? $100 million is an additional $225 from every person in the city, or $1,000 from a family of four.

Yet we don't have money to operate our parks, pave the streets or build a playground? And this is in a city where 76% of our children qualify for free or reduced meals?

Probably the best analogy is a poor family buying a car. Yes, the car is expensive when they could buy food, but that car will enable them to get better employment and a job that can pay better. It's called an investment, and the streetcar already has a positive return on investment, and it's not even running yet!

[Mutiny77]

Originally Posted by arjay57

But at what cost? $100 million is an additional $225 from every person in the city, or $1,000 from a family of four.

Yet we don't have money to operate our parks, pave the streets or build a playground? And this is in a city where 76% of our children qualify for free or reduced meals?

The total $92 million capital cost to deliver the Atlanta Streetcar includes:

• $47.6 million in TIGER II Federal Transit Administration grant funds
• $32.6 million from the City of Atlanta Recovery Zone Bond funds and Department of Watershed Management Clean Water program
• $6 million from the Atlanta Downtown Improvement District (ADID)
• $6.45 million from the Atlanta Regional Commission Livable Centers Initiative Program

Funding - Atlanta Streetcar

Only about $45 million of the cost comes from local sources.

[jsvh]

I take the streetcar over the Cobb stadium any day for invesments.

The streetcar has probably already spurred a hundred million worth of development before even opening and many more to come no doubt as streetcar projects typically trigger billions in development. The Cobb stadium is giving the Cobb-nuts wet dreams because they *might* get a $400M mixed use development for the $400M tax dollar investment in the stadium.

[demonta4]

Lets sum up all the information here: The streetcar is phase 0 of the total streetcar network. As of now it pretty much goes nowhere, but it will be more useful in the future as a last mile connection. Its already paying us back with new development around it. Okay, you can stop arguing now, enjoy your Saturday.

[alco89]

Originally Posted by demonta4

Lets sum up all the information here: The streetcar is phase 0 of the total streetcar network. As of now it pretty much goes nowhere, but it will be more useful in the future as a last mile connection. Its already paying us back with new development around it. Okay, you can stop arguing now, enjoy your Saturday.

Omg, THANK YOU!