Transportation is region's top concern. 91% say transit is important. (Atlanta: sales, 2015)

[jsvh]

ARC poll finds transportation still Atlanta's top concern | Atlanta Business Chronicle

With the Great Recession receding ever further into the past, transportation continues to be metro Atlanta’s top concern, according to a poll released Friday by the Atlanta Regional Commission.

In the third annual Metro Atlanta Speaks public opinion survey, 27 percent of respondents said transportation was the biggest problem facing the region, the second consecutive year transportation topped the list of concerns.

...

Hooker said metro Atlanta has added nearly 80,000 thousand jobs during the past year, fourth-highest among the nation’s metropolitan areas. The region gained 60,000 new residents during the same period, the largest population increase since 2008, he said.

The poll showed strong support for public transit, with 91 percent of respondents saying improving public transit is “very important” or “somewhat important” to Atlanta’s future. Forty-four percent believe expanding public transit is the best long-term solution to the region’s traffic woes, while 31 percent preferred improving roads and highways.

...

[GeorgiaPeanuts]

So gtcorn....cough....DirkMcGirk must be in the minority then with his backwards opinions on Marta

[skbl17]

Oh, I don't doubt that a sizable majority of the region thinks that transportation is important, or that transit is important. Where things break down is when people start talking about cost and value. We've all heard these questions:

"How much will this cost?"

"How will this be funded?"

"What value will this provide to me as a commuter?"

"Why should I help pay for this if it won't directly help my commute?"

Heck, remember that Gwinnett survey from a few months ago, the one where 63% of voters backed MARTA much to the applause of MARTA supporters and transit advocates? Once the question about the sales tax was factored in, support fell to 50%. It may not look all that significant, especially if you cite these ARC survey numbers, but in a region where 90%+ of people believe that transit is important, that 13% drop suddenly looks a lot more significant, distressing even. There seems to be an agreement on the importance of transit, but not the importance of funding transit.

- skbl17

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by skbl17

Oh, I don't doubt that a sizable majority of the region thinks that transportation is important, or that transit is important. Where things break down is when people start talking about cost and value. We've all heard these questions:

"How much will this cost?"

"How will this be funded?"

"What value will this provide to me as a commuter?"

"Why should I help pay for this if it won't directly help my commute?"

Heck, remember that Gwinnett survey from a few months ago, the one where 63% of voters backed MARTA much to the applause of MARTA supporters and transit advocates? Once the question about the sales tax was factored in, support fell to 50%. It may not look all that significant, especially if you cite these ARC survey numbers, but in a region where 90%+ of people believe that transit is important, that 13% drop suddenly looks a lot more significant, distressing even. There seems to be an agreement on the importance of transit, but not the importance of funding transit.

- skbl17

Always the wanting of cake but never the wanting of paying for it. There was an Onion article that I thought was actually pretty spot on. Report: 98 Percent Of U.S. Commuters Favor Public Transportation For Others.

To be clear, those aren't necessarily bad questions, but they do often lead to some rather frustrating outcomes. It's hard to get people to see benefits that aren't right in front of their face, even if it seems so obvious to the transit blowhards and foamers on here.

[jsvh]

skbl17 - Good points. But as we drop a billion dollars at a time on interchanges and spend hundreds of billions bailing out the bankrupt Highway Trust Fund, I think we need to be getting to the point of asking those questions fairly of road and transit projects equally. In cities, transit usually gets you more value than roads. And I do think we are getting to that point 50% +1 passes the tax and is a long way from where those numbers were in the past.

[ATLTJL]

Wait, wait, wait, wait.....

Is this poll telling us that traffic is the number one problem facing Atlanta?

Holy cow! I sure am glad that there are folks taking the time to figure THAT out.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Wait, wait, wait, wait.....

Is this poll telling us that traffic is the number one problem facing Atlanta?

Holy cow! I sure am glad that there are folks taking the time to figure THAT out.

I haven't been able to rep you in like 3 weeks

[primaltech]

It's not the existence of traffic that's a problem, it's the LACK OF OTHER OPTIONS.

Expanding transit won't do much for the former, but it will greatly help the latter.

[ATLTJL]

I think that probably what we really need is another expensive study on the subject.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I think that probably what we really need is another expensive study on the subject.

Ha!

Let's form an ad hoc working group to prepare a mission statement for the committee to present recommendations to the blue ribbon panel for the selection of a consultant search committee.

However, before they go careening off on a tangent, we'll need to set up a public input process to define goals for the mission statement process. It would sure be helpful to have some expert advice on preferred benchmarks to be achieved in the overall study framework, so that we can insure good information flow between the necessary constituencies. I hate it when you get bottlenecks in the modeling format that just lead to further uncertainties and sub-studies of previously known unknowns.

Set a critical path and encourage participation by all relevant stakeholders whenever possible, I say. If we don't have clear guidelines for where-we-want-to-be-looking-back, the entire protocol will be worth less than a lump of charcoal in a rusted out Big Green Egg.