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Combining all of the Atlanta metro area's main public transit providers (MARTA, GCT, Cobb Linc, GRTA Xpress) into one singular agency (likely under the GRTA banner) may appear to be the best way to advance the desire to provide transit to the entire region.
But deeper examination of that often-prescribed solution of combining MARTA and the metro region's other transit providers into one regional transit agency reflects that pushing to consolidate all of the metro's area transit agencies into one large regional transit agency (presumably under the GRTA banner) likely might not be the best answer in a region with such stark political, social and cultural differences between neighboring counties and different parts of the region.
Another thing to think about for the transit fanboys is that Cobb and Gwinnett are not monolithic.
Cumberland is one thing but MARTA is irrelevant for a large portion of Cobb. However, the commuter rail line makes sense all the way out. It is far more likely to be successful with a Cobb solution rather than forcing MARTA when it isn't wanted to (for the most part) needed.
Another thing to think about for the transit fanboys is that Cobb and Gwinnett are not monolithic.
Cumberland is one thing but MARTA is irrelevant for a large portion of Cobb. However, the commuter rail line makes sense all the way out. It is far more likely to be successful with a Cobb solution rather than forcing MARTA when it isn't wanted to (for the most part) needed.
I think MARTA bus service (with its better frequency and service levels than CCT) would be rather useful in all of Cobb, at the very least wherever the CCT buses are running now, and maybe more routes. Like, I see bus routes inside the city limits of Marietta that would be useful to get to the square, IF those buses ran all 7 days and at a high enough frequency. MARTA could offer that improvement.
Plus, MARTA bus could run on Roswell Rd (120) between Marietta and Roswell, or on Johnson Ferry into Sandy Springs. Etc. At least some people would/could use that, potentially helping some with traffic congestion.
Anyway, Cobb is less monolithic than Fulton, which is a geographically huge county which ranges from rural to suburban to urban. Its rural areas in South Fulton really are more rural than Cobb's most rural areas. And yet that whole county is a MARTA member. That doesn't mean that there is or that there needs to be a bus stop at every farm at the remote outskirts of the county.
While I would be very happy about MARTA partly in Cobb in just the Cumberland area, it will still be weird that slightly OTP Smyrna and Marietta and Mableton and etc, would not have MARTA, yet Milton and Fairburn does.
Maybe there needs to be circles with radii at certain distances out from Atlanta City Hall, determining MARTA service levels. As in, within this inner circle, max service, then a medium service (maybe within 20 miles of Downtown), then a minimal service further than that, then no service past the last circle. County lines should be irrelevant and ignored. MARTA would be better off being funded by zip codes.
Another thing to think about for the transit fanboys is that Cobb and Gwinnett are not monolithic.
Cumberland is one thing but MARTA is irrelevant for a large portion of Cobb. However, the commuter rail line makes sense all the way out. It is far more likely to be successful with a Cobb solution rather than forcing MARTA when it isn't wanted to (for the most part) needed.
I don't have any problem with people being spirited in their advocacy for increased and improved transit access, especially in a large major metro area with a severely constrained road network like Atlanta.
But that is an excellent point that Cobb and Gwinnett counties are not monolithic.
Those are also very good points that the operations of an urban transit agency like MARTA would likely be irrelevant for a large portion of a largely suburban county like Cobb.
I also completely agree with your statement that commuter rail service would be a good fit for the entire I-75/US 41/W&A corridor that makes up the backbone of Cobb County's linear development patterns.
And I agree that the push for transit upgrades and expansion into a county like Cobb might be more likely to be successful if it the transit solution is one that Cobb feels like it has direct control and ownership over instead of a solution that Cobb might feel is being imposed upon it by Atlanta.
But with a current population of about 750,000 people (a population that is more than many major American cities), other posters also make an excellent point that a heavily-developed and heavily-populated core metro Atlanta county like Cobb likely needs more than just regional commuter rail service alone.
With its population of about three-quarters-of-a-million people and its status as an important member of metro Atlanta's five-county urban core, Cobb County needs a robust high-capacity rail transit solution that needs to be on-par with the level of service that Heavy Rail Transit service can provide, particularly along the heavily-developed and heavily-populated I-75/US 41/W&A corridor.
Cobb County may not necessarily need Heavy Rail Transit service per se, but Cobb County does need an HRT level of transit service because of the size of its population and its importance as a key member of metro Atlanta's five-county urban core.
Now the type of robust high-frequency high-capacity HRT-type rail transit solution that Cobb needs does not have to be executed and operated by MARTA... But that high-capacity transit solution likely will have to operate on tracks that are not shared with freight trains on the CSX/Western & Atlantic Railroad tracks as has been frequently proposed as the commuter rail solution for Cobb County.
Cobb County needs regional commuter rail service, but it needs to be on a double-tracked corridor that is exclusively only for passenger trains and at very-high frequencies (very-low headways) that are similar to the frequencies that heavy rail trains are operated at.
If MARTA is not a politically/socially/culturally viable setup for Cobb County, then slap a "Cobb Linc," "GRTA," "Metro Northwest" or whatever type of banner on the trains that is politically/socially/culturally viable and provide the county of 750,000 people the high-level of high-capacity transit service that it so desperately and severely needs as a heavily-populated/heavily-developed/heavily-congested urban county.
Otherwise, without that increasingly important high-capacity transit option, outlying areas like Cobb and Gwinnett and beyond will most likely continue to lose ground to areas with better and more direct access to high-capacity transit in a 21st Century marketplace that places an increasingly high value on direct transit access.
And MARTA buses couldn't serve Spring Rd in Smyrna (which would have high ridership), or Cobb Pkwy north of the stadium.
It's just not a great solution. It would be better than the situation we have, but it would not be ideal. We need one regional transit system, that doesn't have to suddenly stop and turn around at some stupid invisible line somewhere, but can simply provide service where it's appropriate, and as it's appropriate. Anywhere and everywhere in the metro. One system/brand.
And MARTA buses couldn't serve Spring Rd in Smyrna (which would have high ridership), or Cobb Pkwy north of the stadium.
It's just not a great solution. It would be better than the situation we have, but it would not be ideal. We need one regional transit system, that doesn't have to suddenly stop and turn around at some stupid invisible line somewhere, but can simply provide service where it's appropriate, and as it's appropriate. Anywhere and everywhere in the metro. One system/brand.
I agree that the entire Atlanta metro area (or least the entire five-country urban core of Fulton/DeKalb/Clayton/Cobb/Gwinnett) needs transit service.
What I don't necessarily agree with is that the entire metro area needs to be served by one system/brand.
Right now, the expansion of MARTA into Cobb County by way of voter referendum just does not seem all that viable due to the continuing resistance of the Cobb Board of Commissioners to the idea of commissioning a referendum.
The idea of letting just the Cumberland area alone join MARTA obviously seems to many transit expansion advocates to be a good way to compromise and possibly get high-capacity transit into a major regional activity center quicker than might happen otherwise.
But the anti-MARTA faction of Cobb voters (a faction that continues to control Cobb politics) is resistant to the idea of letting just the Cumberland area alone join MARTA because of the fear that doing so will pave the way to letting MARTA expand even farther into the historically MARTA-averse county in the future.
Because Cobb County's political leadership continues to be so resistant to the idea of permitting a MARTA expansion referendum, letting Cobb County and Georgia state government come up with a transit solution that will be unique to what is generally a highly transit-averse area in Cobb County and suburban/exurban OTP metro Atlanta and acceptable to what continues to be a transit-averse Cobb County electorate might be a route that could help to accelerate the process of bringing improved transit access to the area.
Otherwise, transit expansion advocates will likely have to wait until such a time as Democrats would hold a majority of seats on the Cobb County Board of Commissioners before a vote on MARTA expansion into the county would be permitted by Cobb government... A time that would likely be many years away before it occurred.
And it does not really matter if the entire Atlanta metro area is served by one transit system with the same brand, especially in a large major metro area/region that is so diverse in its transportation needs and its politics and culture from one part of the metro/region to the other.
Branding has never really been the problem with transit operations in the Atlanta metro region.
A severe lack of proper funding from such sources as large-scale P3's (Public-Private Partnerships) and TODs (Transit-Oriented Development) has been the main problem with transit operations since the inception of MARTA.
Cobb County's transit setup is a good example.
Recently Cobb County, of course changed the name and brand of its transit service from "Cobb Community Transit" to "Cobb Linc" but even with the change in name and branding, Cobb County's transit system is basically still the same severely-underfunded inadequate bare bones operation that it was before.
Another thing to think about for the transit fanboys is that Cobb and Gwinnett are not monolithic.
Cumberland is one thing but MARTA is irrelevant for a large portion of Cobb. However, the commuter rail line makes sense all the way out. It is far more likely to be successful with a Cobb solution rather than forcing MARTA when it isn't wanted to (for the most part) needed.
You're right, Cobb and Gwinnett aren't monolithic, but that's why pretty much all of us proposing MARTA as the agency aren't proposing a single technological solution. We understand that heavy rail isn't the solution for the entirety of both counties, and aren't proposing that it should be.
We've been suggesting tiered levels of service in appropriate corridors, including Commuter Rail, Heavy Rail, Bus Rapid transit, and the full range of MARTA's more standard bus services.
MARTA is more than just the heavy rail network, and it must be thought of in such a way. Especially now that it is taking over the streetcar, has created a range of bus service types, is planning commuter rail, is planning larger light rail lines, and is planning bus rapid transit.
So no, I don't think the range of build environments in both counties, which show up in Fulton and DeKalb and Clayton as well, are any kind of barrier to the effectiveness of MARTA as a serving agency.
Maybe there needs to be circles with radii at certain distances out from Atlanta City Hall, determining MARTA service levels. As in, within this inner circle, max service, then a medium service (maybe within 20 miles of Downtown), then a minimal service further than that, then no service past the last circle. County lines should be irrelevant and ignored. MARTA would be better off being funded by zip codes.
Instead of circles, focus higher quality transit along already dense corridors (Cobb Pkwy/I-75 and I-85.) Those are already natural corridors for high quality transit, with tiered bus service radiating out from the stations.
I would be OK with CobbLINC or GRTA operating Cobb's commuter rail solution, as long as it has enough funding and is high enough quality and frequency, and is incorporated into the MARTA official rail map (regardless of MARTA's involvement level).
But at the very least the Cumberland CID must join MARTA, so that MARTA can operate high capacity transit around 285 and to all the major business centers.
Similarly for Gwinnett, allow MARTA to at least serve the Peachtree Corners area, which is the most populated city in Gwinnett. If for no other reason than it could finally properly serve Johns Creek along the 141 corridor.
That would still be unfortunately balkanized, but it would at least be better than what we have now.
I would be OK with CobbLINC or GRTA operating Cobb's commuter rail solution, as long as it has enough funding and is high enough quality and frequency, and is incorporated into the MARTA official rail map (regardless of MARTA's involvement level).
But at the very least the Cumberland CID must join MARTA, so that MARTA can operate high capacity transit around 285 and to all the major business centers.
Similarly for Gwinnett, allow MARTA to at least serve the Peachtree Corners area, which is the most populated city in Gwinnett. If for no other reason than it could finally properly serve Johns Creek along the 141 corridor.
That would still be unfortunately balkanized, but it would at least be better than what we have now.
Why so obsessed with the map?
MARTA and Gwinnett could enter into a service agreement, similar to MARTA and Cobb County where they could serve 141.
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