Trying to get a bead on the commute (looking to move)

[afdinatl]

Remember the express bus is a direct ride to Midtown. It isn't the regular city bus. It will all be people going to work

[relientKitten]

Thanks all. It seems that finding something in a good district, close to MARTA, in our price range is pretty rough. We're pretty much convinced that we'll need to commute by car.

So we're looking at North Decatur, Marietta, and Smyrna. How are the commutes from those areas? We found a place we like in North Decatur--does anyone have a recommendation for a good day care (3yo) in that area?

[Tarzanman]

I lived in Collier Ridge many many many many years ago right after I graduated from Tech.
Unless you're going to Fox & Hounds a lot, the location was a bit out of the way and would certainly require a car (lots of hills to drive up and down) even just to get out of the complex.

I have no idea what it looks like today. I haven't driven that road in almost a decade.

[evannole]

Originally Posted by relientKitten

Thanks all. It seems that finding something in a good district, close to MARTA, in our price range is pretty rough. We're pretty much convinced that we'll need to commute by car.

So we're looking at North Decatur, Marietta, and Smyrna. How are the commutes from those areas? We found a place we like in North Decatur--does anyone have a recommendation for a good day care (3yo) in that area?

Certainly Marietta would provide you with a 30 minute (or less) commute to Arts Center, as long as you're near the Square, inside the actual Marietta city limits. (Places with Marietta street addresses that are actually deep into East Cobb and West Cobb would take much longer.) I commute to near the airport and rarely does it take me more than 45 minutes, and the airport is a good 15 minutes farther than Midtown. You'll have to take the highway to keep it around 30 minutes - going via Atlanta Road or U.S. 41 would certainly be possible but would take longer.

Most of Smyrna would provide the same kind of commute, and there are ways to do it on the surface streets. (It's been a while since I've driven down Atlanta Road into the city at rush hour, though, so I don't know if going via surface streets would keep you under your 30 minute threshold. Certainly taking 75 (getting on at either Cumberland, Mount Paran or West Paces Ferry) should.)

Comparable real estate is probably a bit cheaper in the good parts of Marietta than in the good parts of Smyrna, which is one reason we ended up there after nearly 20 years in Smyrna. That may be changing, however, as the area close to the Square in Marietta is white hot.

Apart from the slightly longer commute, we don't really miss Smyrna at all. The area around the Marietta Square has a really appealing small city feel (urban, but not large), there are ample restaurant and shops we can walk to, and there's always some kind of festival or concert going on in the Square.

I don't know much about North Decatur, I'm afraid, other than the fact that it's not inside the city limits and therefore doesn't benefit from the excellent Decatur City school system.