Could Atlanta be in the running for second Amazon headquarters? (Dunwoody: station, transit)

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by magnetar

Parts of Atlanta have great transit availability, other parts don't. No one ever argued otherwise. Obviously, the areas being pitched to Amazon are the ones with strong transit connectivity.

Overcrowded trains aren't on their own a sign of a highly-functioning transit system.

Exactly, the 7:54am westbound Blue Line train this morning was packed, not crush loads, but very busy for what some posters on here call a horrible transit system.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Our metro area should have at least a proportionate amount as many transit stations/miles of track as theirs, given our metro population (over half of metro Chicago's), and our density levels vs theirs.

Particularly in the commuter rail department. They have 241 stations! Just give us 60 commuter train stations, that would make all the difference. Instead of 0.

People would still complain about having to transfer from CRT to HRT in the CBD and would use it as an excuse to drive.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by Iconographer

Agree. Improvements need to come in the form of better coverage and shorter wait intervals on both bus and train schedules. In other words, we need more $$$$ for MARTA.

BRT running in fully-dedicated lanes.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by cqholt

BRT running in fully-dedicated lanes.

Works beautifully for Seattle.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by Iconographer

Works beautifully for Seattle.

And yet they're still rushing to build out a stronger rail network.

[Iconographer]

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

And yet they're still rushing to build out a stronger rail network.

Why not?
Most of my neighbors and I regularly took the 130 Express from West Seattle to Downtown. Circumventing the always present traffic clogs was a great incentive along with timeliness and reliability of it.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Exactly, the 7:54am westbound Blue Line train this morning was packed, not crush loads, but very busy for what some posters on here call a horrible transit system.

It's not what exists that's lacking, but what doesn't exist.

If the Blue Line didn't even exist, the Gold Line would still be packed. If it only went as far north as Lindbergh, it would be packed. Being packed is not an indicator for a transit system effectively covering a metro area.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by primaltech

It's not what exists that's lacking, but what doesn't exist.

If the Blue Line didn't even exist, the Gold Line would still be packed. If it only went as far north as Lindbergh, it would be packed. Being packed is not an indicator for a transit system effectively covering a metro area.

You have called MARTA useless, yet the hundreds of thousands of trips taken daily would disagree. Could it be better, yes, and if Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton would have opted in 40 years ago, who knows would it could be. But that does not mean the South's only subway system, should be the blamed for what it does not serve. Why isn't GRTA or the county-based transit agencies serving those areas with high capacity transit?

[fieldm]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Exactly, the 7:54am westbound Blue Line train this morning was packed, not crush loads, but very busy for what some posters on here call a horrible transit system.

The haters gonna hate.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by cqholt

You have called MARTA useless, yet the hundreds of thousands of trips taken daily would disagree. Could it be better, yes, and if Cobb, Gwinnett, and Clayton would have opted in 40 years ago, who knows would it could be. But that does not mean the South's only subway system, should be the blamed for what it does not serve. Why isn't GRTA or the county-based transit agencies serving those areas with high capacity transit?

I have never once in my life blamed the leadership or management of MARTA for our lack of transit in Metro Atlanta. Its being useless or next to useless for most people, is fact, but is not its fault. I thought that was clear since I specifically note that a billion times every time I talk about this stuff. Yet you take offense.

MARTA is useful for the small % who do use it every day. Great. That's good.

It's useless for a lot people who live far OTP, or who don't work at a major job center. That's at least understandable.

But it's also useless for the vast majority of people who live in the city and ITP and in MARTA-served counties. That's not good.

No need to get defensive when I am just stating the obvious here, which is backed by the statistics and just simple observation. Everyone drives everywhere every day around here. Generally speaking. Only way we're going to get more people to ride MARTA is if we vastly expand MARTA, and vastly expand regional transit connections in general, in any way we can. Also if parking requirements are looked at in the city and such.

Don't confuse that with someone who blames MARTA's leadership for not doing the right things or whatever. That's a very tiny part of the issue at most. The huge part of the issue is lack of outside funding and support for MARTA, and suburban counties not allowing MARTA to operate there. Just the whole general situation with transit opposition in GA. (And opposition to raising taxes in order to properly fund the services we need, etc.)