Does Atlanta have a circulator bus?

[ElleKaye]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Yes, Atlantic station is the best example in the Atlanta area, there's also Bucride, but that's a little less well-known. 110 isn't so much a circulator so much as a bus that primarily runs within the city rather than branching out as most of the other routes do. The airport shuttles you mention aren't bad examples either, but unlike a true circulator, those are primarily point-to-point demand routes that go where the customer needs to, when they need to. A more broad example than a single-attraction (Atlantic Station) circulator might be a tourist-oriented and job-oriented bus from Arts Center, down the west side linking IKEA, Georgia Tech, Centennial Olympic Park, CNN Center, Five Points, Oakland Cemetery, and Grant Park. The Streetcar is an example of a circulator, but it of course runs on rails. The difference is that the streetcar is primarily work-oriented, meaning it's for the residents to use as transportation rather than tourists to get to the tourist sites. That's at least partly, if not mostly why the higher-capacity streetcar is better for its corridor than a bus.

Ah OK, I see what you're saying. There are two routes in Buckhead but they only run during typical business hours. I'm comfortable with streetcars because I went to college in New Orleans, but they are not free. Well, they aren't unless you can get a good running start for the back entrance/exit . As I said I went to school there and when we're young some of us do crazy things.

I'm just getting oriented with the Atlantic Station shuttle and Arts Center station. I'm kinda liking it though and feeling much more relaxed. Separate topic, but I should be on a first name basis with everyone behind the MARTA help station booth in Little 5 Points because what they tell me is just not sticking. That's embarrassing lol.

I get what you're and the OP are saying about circulation including a variety of attractions and what not. It sounds like a good idea.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

No, but we'll soon have a streetcar to nowhere.

Man, we made it to the fifth post before your broken record comment? You're slacking.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

No, but we'll soon have a streetcar to nowhere.

I don't think a streetcar is designed to be fast enough to serve as a circulator.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I don't think a streetcar is designed to be fast enough to serve as a circulator.

It is very slow.




However... given the need for the last mile connections to MARTA stops intown, improved, very local bus service in vicinity of these stops would make sense. A minor investment in bus service sure makes more sense than trying to achieve this same goal with very costly (and very inflexible) streetcar infrastructure.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I don't think a streetcar is designed to be fast enough to serve as a circulator.

Actually the streetcar is probably a little bit faster than a circulator bus factoring in acceleration and not having to merge, or pull out to make stops. Don't forget, even the new Clayton buses are only going to have an average speed of 15 miles per hour, and none of them are operating in a large downtown area, and are all "mainline" buses that serve long-distance (for a bus) corridors that won't even wander off onto side streets.

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

It is very slow.


However... given the need for the last mile connections to MARTA stops intown, improved, very local bus service in vicinity of these stops would make sense. A minor investment in bus service sure makes more sense than trying to achieve this same goal with very costly (and very inflexible) streetcar infrastructure.

Buses can only provide improvements up to a certain point. A streetcar has considerably more capacity than a bus does, as well as this particular streetcar serving as the cornerstone to a larger system. Both are warranted however.

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Actually the streetcar is probably a little bit faster than a circulator bus factoring in acceleration and not having to merge, or pull out to make stops. Don't forget, even the new Clayton buses are only going to have an average speed of 15 miles per hour, and none of them are operating in a large downtown area, and are all "mainline" buses that serve long-distance (for a bus) corridors that won't even wander off onto side streets.

The streetcar has an end to end operating speed of about 8 mph.

Buses can only provide improvements up to a certain point. A streetcar has considerably more capacity than a bus does, as well as this particular streetcar serving as the cornerstone to a larger system. Both are warranted however.

If there was proven demand for a high capacity line, then sure, but the streetcar is projecting only 2,600 rides a day. That is about 150 riders per hour. Having a large capacity on the line is not necessary. There is no demonstrated demand and spending $100 million on a 'build it and they will come' strategy is foolish given that a very nice, efficient bus transit corridor could've been built with the same results for a fraction of the cost.

[MattCW]

Originally Posted by gtcorndog

The streetcar has an end to end operating speed of about 8 mph.

Which per Google maps is about as fast as the drive time would be so it's not any slower than a bus.

If there was proven demand for a high capacity line, then sure, but the streetcar is projecting only 2,600 rides a day. That is about 150 riders per hour. Having a large capacity on the line is not necessary. There is no demonstrated demand and spending $100 million on a 'build it and they will come' strategy is foolish given that a very nice, efficient bus transit corridor could've been built with the same results for a fraction of the cost.

Except it wasn't foolish. Buses have been prowling the corridor for years, but only when the streetcar was greenlit did it encourage the new development. So it seems the "build it and they will come strategy" wasn't foolish because it worked. I'm not saying that will work everywhere, a streetcar isn't a magical cure-all that will always encourage economic development everywhere it's built. But it has already paid off in this corridor.

[magnetar]

Why mind the village idiot?

[gtcorndog]

Originally Posted by magnetar

Why mind the village idiot?