Why suburbia sucks (Atlanta, Smyrna, Alpharetta: stats, commute, trees)

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Agreed 100%.

Would certainly be the most cost effective per rider. No need to build roads that already exist. Just buy the vehicles.

Adding more buses will not work because unless given a dedicated lane, signal priority, etc. the buses will get caught in congestion and start bunching.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_bunching

[LTCM]

Suburbia sucks because it's just too densely populated. I need to move to a place with more elbow room, I think going back to Fulton county would be great, plenty of room there.

[jsvh]

It is funny how some of the most densely populated areas often feel like they have the most room.

Sitting on a balcony on a highrise overlooking central park feels a like you have a lot more room than sitting in 10 lanes of gridlock in the exurbs.

Atlanta is one of the least dense metros, yet many think it is too crowded. Of course they think that because our lack of density has created the traffic that is the real "pain" people are feeling.

[sedimenjerry]

Originally Posted by jsvh

It is funny how some of the most densely populated areas often feel like they have the most room.

Sitting on a balcony on a highrise overlooking central park feels a like you have a lot more room than sitting in 10 lanes of gridlock in the exurbs.

Atlanta is one of the least dense metros, yet many think it is too crowded. Of course they think that because our lack of density has created the traffic that is the real "pain" people are feeling.

1)Sitting on a balcony overlooking Central Park requires a ridiculously large salary or a trust fund. For the vast majority of people, that's not an option and neither is anything similar.

2)The exurbs by definition don't have 10 lanes of gridlocked traffic. They have very little traffic or only a few lanes anyway. But then again I know you think anything outside the Beltline is the suburbs and anything OTP is exurban.

3)You just compared relaxation time (sitting on a balcony) to transportation (sitting in traffic). Let's flip that shall we? Sitting on a backporch with a view of Kennesaw Mountain feels like you have a lot more room than standing shoulder to shoulder to mouth to back etc. on the subway commuting to downtown Manhattan at 8 am.

You've made some ridiculous comparisons before but this might be in your top 5.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by sedimenjerry

1)Sitting on a balcony overlooking Central Park requires a ridiculously large salary or a trust fund. For the vast majority of people, that's not an option and neither is anything similar.

2)The exurbs by definition don't have 10 lanes of gridlocked traffic. They have very little traffic or only a few lanes anyway. But then again I know you think anything outside the Beltline is the suburbs and anything OTP is exurban.

3)You just compared relaxation time (sitting on a balcony) to transportation (sitting in traffic). Let's flip that shall we? Sitting on a backporch with a view of Kennesaw Mountain feels like you have a lot more room than standing shoulder to shoulder to mouth to back etc. on the subway commuting to downtown Manhattan at 8 am.

You've made some ridiculous comparisons before but this might be in your top 5.

Sorry that got you so worked up but it is true. People don't feel that Atlanta is too dense if they commute along the Beltline at 8am. They feel it is too crowded because they sit in traffic going to and from the suburbs. They don't feel it if they spend a few hours on their balcony overlooking the skyline each evening, they feel it if is is already dark by the time they get home to stare at the back of their neighbors house.

You want to keep doing long commutes in the suburbs so you get a few minutes among the trees in Kennesaw compared to a few hours among the trees in Piedmont Park, that is your right. But that is not yielding a good quality of life that most prefer.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by jsvh

You want to keep doing long commutes in the suburbs so you get a few minutes among the trees in Kennesaw compared to a few hours among the trees in Piedmont Park, that is your right. But that is not yielding a good quality of life that most prefer.

I would be curious to see a map showing where people in Cobb county commute. Or people in Kennesaw.

People in this forum seem to be saying all sorts of things about life OTP that those of us who actually live OTP know to be untrue in many if not most cases.

If I want to relax in the trees, I look out my back window, sit on my deck, or sit on my front porch.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

If I want to relax in the trees, I look out my back window, sit on my deck, or sit on my front porch.

Right, but you don't get to do that as much in the suburbs as you do in the city because you are spending more time in your car. Fact is your average commute times are longer in the suburbs.

Not only that, but in the city you have the option of a relaxing commute reading on the train instead of yelling at tail lights.

[atler8]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Adding more buses will not work because unless given a dedicated lane, signal priority, etc. the buses will get caught in congestion and start bunching.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_bunching

Many of us here on the forum have not been around in Atlanta long enough to recall the days before there any or much of a functioning Marta rail system & when practically all routes began or terminated in the immediate vicinity of Five Points. In other words I'm referring back to before there was a Five Points Marta Station.
The scene on Peachtree was just like what you showed in that photo and the mass of buses definitely impacted the flow of all other traffic.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by jsvh

Right, but you don't get to do that as much in the suburbs as you do in the city because you are spending more time in your car. Fact is your average commute times are longer in the suburbs.

This is why I call nonsense.

I commute 7.8 miles each way with very little traffic. It's 15-20 minutes. 30 tops if there's some sort of accident. Many of the folks in my neighborhood have a similar commute.

"The suburbs" is 6 million people. You can't generalize. I don't live 40 miles OTP. I live 4 miles OTP. People inside the CoA have longer commutes just to other places in the CoA.

[hautemomma]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

"The suburbs" is 6 million people. You can't generalize. I don't live 40 miles OTP. I live 4 miles OTP. People inside the CoA have longer commutes just to other places in the CoA.

Great point. Even on the interstate, Kennesaw is about 13-16 miles OTP, depending on which exit you're originating from. Many people live within 1-3 miles of an on-ramp. I think those who never or rarely venture from a finite ITP bubble come across pretty callous and clueless about the realities in which many of us live.