MARTA to make an $8 billion pitch to change the face of Atlanta (Alpharetta: discounts, suburban)

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by ccdscott

Yep. Think about it, the 110 is the flagship route of the city, running on the most famous named streets in America. Meaning, it shouldn't be any turns or anything at all. You get on and go straight. If you have the ART on this line, it can get close to what Walker was talking about at the end of his book -- the blending of the street and the urban environment as one.

Yeah. The 110 especially should not be a "route". It should be like the Red line or Gold line. Permanent.

Here's what I imagine for the 110, which could be an example for other road corridors:

-About 1/3 of the stops that it has now. All spaced roughly ~1/4 mile apart from each other.

-Every stop has a name, signage, route information, time til next bus arrives, etc. Buses have an automated voice announcing which stop is next, and what all surrounding stuff is served by that stop.

-Stops every 10 minutes during peak hours, and 20 minutes otherwise and on weekends. Don't even bother with complicated time tables. Just be reliable enough so that people can walk out there and grab the bus.

-Articulated, high capacity bus. Multiple doors for faster boarding. Emphasis on tapping your Breeze card, which you load on your phone or online or at a Breeze card machine. I would almost even have that be the only way to pay for the fare, that way everything stays fast and rapid on boarding. Just put about 20 Breeze card stations along the route, like ATM machines.

-Rename it the Peach Line. All the ART lines should be named, and not have a number.

-The line and all the stops should be shown on the rail map, in all trains, buses, shelters. Get rid of the old complicated bus route map. ART + rail lines, all on one combined map, so that people and visitors and tourists can easily navigate the system, and it's all simple and makes sense and easy to understand.

I believe if you did 10 ART routes just like that throughout the metro, along key corridors, MARTA total ridership would probably double or something. People would say, "wow, MARTA goes places now!". It's all in perception, man. People don't understand the bus system, and they see how frequently it stops just to let 1 person off, and how long the stops take, and they think that it's useless, and I don't blame them.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ccdscott

Yep. Think about it, the 110 is the flagship route of the city, running on the most famous named streets in America. Meaning, it shouldn't be any turns or anything at all. You get on and go straight. If you have the ART on this line, it can get close to what Walker was talking about at the end of his book -- the blending of the street and the urban environment as one.

Brilliant! An awful lot of Atlanta history on that line as well.

[MattCW]

One big improvement for downtown routes should be not requiring use of the bus bays. The worst offenders are North Avenue, Midtown and Arts Center. There's no reason to require the buses to pull all the way into the convoluted maze of service roads when a stop streetside suffices. It works well for the Tech Trolley and Buckhead. The key is pedestrian accessibility. Some stations may be more difficult like Avondale (which is going to be redone anyways), but even something like Kensington could have its bus loop cut across so buses going through don't have to back track as much as three times (depending on the route and approach). Also eliminate left turns as much as possible. Easily 5 minutes could be cut from the Lenox routes by coming out of the north end of the bus bay, turning left across the light-traffic E. Paces Ferry, then turning right onto Lenox Rd. Coming in, turn right onto E. Paces Ferry and then turn left across a road that basically dead-ends just another 100 yards down.

[primaltech]

Corridor ART buses shouldn't make turns or have routes, they should just drive as straight as possible on one road corridor, in more or less one direction. For example, currently the #5 arterial bus turns on Johnson Ferry, and travels east to Dunwoody station. But when/if there's ever a Northridge train station, the 5 could just continue north along Roswell Rd, until Northridge.

I don't want a bus that takes me over to the nearest train station so that I can wait for the next train to take me to Lindbergh station, I just want the bus to continue straight down (as rapidly as possible) to Lindbergh station. Minimal transfers is huge.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Here is a direct link to the letter to Eaves on what they can get for 0.25% and 0.50% options: https://cmgajccommuting.files.wordpr...12-15-2015.pdf

There's no way to do this solely in DeKalb?

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

There's no way to do this solely in DeKalb?

I'm wondering if CEO Parker has a similar write-up like this, but just for DeKalb. For all the money the county would be spending, they don't get nearly any ART, nor any express services or circulators in their county. All that's shown in DeKalb is the Clifton Corridor, the I-20 East HRT, and the tail en of the 110 ART ending at the Brookhaven Station.

There almost has to be a document, very much like this one, tailored for DeKalb county, and I wish we could see it, if such a document exists. Otherwise, DeKalb would have a decent case for feeling shorted on this deal. Forget Johns Creek, you'd have practically every municipality in DeKalb county upset.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

There's no way to do this solely in DeKalb?

This was a letter written to the Fulton Co Chairman so that is what it is focused on. I am sure there could be an option written for Dekalb at their request.

[sumitsu]

Creative Loafing: Fulton officials want transportation funding — but how much should MARTA get?

The question that anti-rail/anti-MARTA mayors like Alpharetta mayor Belle Isle and Johns Creek mayor Bodker should be asking themselves is whether their positions as mayors qualify them to stand in the way of the right of Fulton County citizens to make these decisions at the ballot box. Put the 1/2% sales tax MARTA is asking for on the November ballot; they're welcome to campaign for the result they want, but it shouldn't be their decision.

[skbl17]

I have no words for this.

On the other hand, I've been wondering if maybe MARTA should just demolish Indian Creek. They already plan to build a new station at Covington Highway, which would be about a mile along the track from Kensington station. I've always seen Indian Creek as a commuter station for east/south DeKalb, Rockdale, and south Gwinnett commuters, but once the I-20 expansion comes along, the need for Indian Creek station would be negated. Why not just scrap it instead of rebuild it?

- skbl17

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by skbl17

I have no words for this.

- skbl17

I do. How about the fact that the author ignores the fact that the increased traffic would be from growth spurred by the introduction of heavy rail into the region. Or the fact that the author used Cobb's study of it's proposed BRT line, which they used as an argument about transit increasing traffic, to justify requesting BRT north along GA 400.

How about the fact that they, a senator, didn't actually show any polls, or surveys to back up their claims? For all I know, they're only talking to the politicians who are against the expansion and creating selection bias?

How about the fact that they ignore the ultimate argument that the money MARTA is looking for, is also being sought by the Northern Fulton mayors, meaning that their argument about raising taxes and costing lots of money is, itself, a red herring. Taxes would be raised and money spent for (more) roads instead of transit.

How about the fact that they ignore the rest of the region in their arguments against the idea. Ignoring that buses, ART, HRT, LRT, and maybe others would be built with the money, not just in North Fulton, and that, by voting against the tax, they doom a good bit of the rest of the projects as well?

How about the fact that a senator is looking at the growth now as if it were sustainable without further investment in infrastructure? What about how they scoffed at the fact that Mercedes moved near a transit line for its use, even though they have said that was a part of their choice over and over. How about how they ignored that, while people are buying cars, it's because they are forced to to function in the larger metro, when expanded transit would give other options?

There is just so much short-sighted, misunderstanding / willful ignorance. It's almost as if it's its own satire: an article about red-herrings misunderstanding and misrepresenting the arguments...