The ATL: new regional transit system (Atlanta, Marietta: monthly, rush hour, percent)

[brown_dog_us]

Does the name matter?

[cqholt]

Gov Deal signs ATL leg into law
https://twitter.com/AtlantaRegional/...22791431372800

[primaltech]

Awesome! It’s a done deal!

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Awesome! It’s a done deal!

Yes, it is...a bellwether moment for the city.

[autolycus25]

Well done by Tanner and Beach to get this thing to this point. It took some unfortunate compromises, but it’s still a big success for what needs to happen.

Now the real work begins: convincing the anti-transit members of our county commissions to let voters pick as much transit as we want, and to make sure the referendums pass.

[cqholt]

Tomlinson outlined an example of a no-build scenario. Buses operated by various entities are to be managed so that they arrive at shared stations at about the same time. This will result in, for instance, buses managed by MARTA and CCT arriving at a shared station at close to the same time, so that passengers can continue their commute more expeditiously.

The board that oversees it is comprised of 16 members. But there’s a twist – the commissioner of the Georgia Department of Transportation in a non-voting member; the chairman is appointed by the governor; the lieutenant governor and speaker of the House each get two appointments.

That leaves 15 board members to come from the region’s communities. The twist here is that each district encompasses at least three counties. This was done to ensure that a board member responds to the needs of multiple counties, which will promote the sense of regionalism the board is to espouse, Tomlinson said.

Each district is comprised of about 450,000 residents, Tomlinson said.

https://saportareport.com/upcoming-t...-to-commuters/

[tikigod311]

[quote=cqholt;51882112]

Tomlinson outlined an example of a no-build scenario. Buses operated by various entities are to be managed so that they arrive at shared stations at about the same time. This will result in, for instance, buses managed by MARTA and CCT arriving at a shared station at close to the same time, so that passengers can continue their commute more expeditiously.

Even though this is a worst case scenario, I love this. Hopefully it leads to just not timetable coordination but routing as well.

That leaves 15 board members to come from the region’s communities. The twist here is that each district encompasses at least three counties. This was done to ensure that a board member responds to the needs of multiple counties, which will promote the sense of regionalism the board is to espouse, Tomlinson said.

This is a surprisingly wise decision. This will help neuter the political aspect of transit investment

[bu2]

The Key to Transit: 240,000+ Downtown Jobs | The Antiplanner

"An op-ed in last Friday’s San Antonio Express-News argues that San Antonio is “one of the least-suited big cities in the world for building rapid transit.” This is because, though San Antonio is the nation’s seventh-largest city, it’s jobs are so spread out that transit just can’t work for most people.
According to Wendell Cox’s report on downtowns, in 2008 transit carried more than 10 percent of people to work in just five metropolitan areas: New York, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and Washington. These also happen to be the only metro areas that had more than 240,000 downtown jobs. Transit in Philadelphia, which had just under 240,000 jobs, carried only 9.3 percent of metro-area jobs. San Antonio has only about 60,000 downtown jobs, so is less than a quarter of the way to needing an improved transit system....

Transit’s share of Seattle commuting first reached 10 percent of the urban area in 2013 and 10 percent of the metro area in 2014. Seattle’s downtown also happened to reach 240,000 downtown jobs in 2013. This suggests that downtown job growth, not light rail or any other rail transit, is the key to Seattle being the only major urban area whose transit ridership is growing. While this might give hope to transit advocates in cities like Atlanta and Houston, which have close to 200,000 downtown jobs today, it means transit is hopeless in cities such as Austin, San Antonio, and San Jose, all of which have well under 100,000 downtown jobs....

According to the 2016 National Transit Database, the nation’s fastest heavy-rail line is BART, which averages 35 mph. Atlanta’s is 31 and Washington’s is 27, while New York City subways average just 18 mph. Considering that most transit riders also have to take time getting to and from transit stations, none of these can compete effectively with door-to-door driving, which in San Antonio averages 33 mph.
People who work downtown might be able to tolerate slow transit speeds, especially because transit allows them to avoid downtown congestion and high parking costs. But most people neither live nor work downtown, and to get to work many of them would have to change trains or buses downtown, making their journey even more time-consuming. Since parking outside of downtown areas is usually free, transit has a much harder time competing...."

[alco89]

Originally Posted by bu2

The Key to Transit: 240,000+ Downtown Jobs | The Antiplanner

This is exactly why I'm excited when new jobs come to the core of the city. I wonder if this number includes Midtown?

[bu2]

Originally Posted by alco89

This is exactly why I'm excited when new jobs come to the core of the city. I wonder if this number includes Midtown?

Probably.

But its one of the points I've been making is that transit needs to be able to get to as many jobs as possible. Cumberland and Clifton Corridor need to be connected. Stonecrest and Alpharetta and Kennesaw, not so much (not that there aren't some jobs out in those places). Also these "town centers" that the ARC has been pushing make it more difficult for transit to serve. You can't serve 25 downtowns scattered from Forsyth Co. to Buford to Henry Co. to Douglasville. We need to encourage 8-5 jobs to go to existing centers-Downtown, Midtown, Buckhead, Perimeter Center, Clifton Corridor and Cumberland.