Doraville MARTA station is gross (Atlanta, Rome: sex offender, home, moving)

[DreamerD]

I never remember Doraville being that disgusting but I guess it's because as soon as I got off the train, I went to use Gwinnett transit. Loitering is a problem though. I can easily see people loitering to figure out who to mug.

[Presidentsharpe]

Doraville Station is one of the better stations to be honest. Pretty clean to.

All public transit elevators pretty much smell like urine. Because that's where the homeless people urinate. That's not a unique problem at Doraville.

I agree that MARTA and the police could do a much better job addressing the loitering that takes place at certain stations. While at the same time, once inside those MARTA gates you're pretty much okay.

So general tip, stay away from transit bathroom and elevators. Avoid sitting in corner seats by the ends of the train cars. Be very firm with response when addressing any bum. Firm, not rude.

And again, Doraville Station is actually very clean.

[AnsleyPark]

Yes, the urine stench is awefull. Why can't folks just go find a tree?

[MattCW]

Weren't they piloting a urine-detection system in some of the Midtown area elevators? Any progress with that?

[ldoeoeo]

This is Atlanta. There is no civic pride. Just the opposite. Half the roads are crooked and cracked, and curbs all busted. This is town who's citizens just don't care.

[magnetar]

This thread made my eyes roll so hard they're stuck there now. Thanks a lot.

[ATLTJL]

It probably doesn't matter much where your eyes are if your head is planted that firmly in the sand.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by magnetar

This thread made my eyes roll so hard they're stuck there now. Thanks a lot.

Mine too. I use Doraville quite often and it is not anywhere near as bad as some people are claiming. The only real downside of this station is its poor planning and layout as a park-and-ride station. Compare it to the convenience of North Springs and you'll see what I mean.

[cwkimbro]

I feel stuck in the middle on this one.

I think there are some good points here.

I use this station sometimes when I am getting picked up by certain people and this station does have its failing points compared to others, particularly end of line stations.

Doraville isn't the 'hood. It isn't particularly nice and well off either. It is just an industrial working class suburban community

Beyond that I agree with most things. The elevator always smells of urine. Yes, I know this is common of all MARTA stations and many subways, however its a legit complaint for someone to make seeing it for the first time. That elevator, in particular, is always bad. I always wished there was an escalator going down, so I could easily bring my luggage with me.

The thing that greatly affected the look and feel of this station for me was back when they put in the new fare-gate system. The extra fencing around the bus bays, so people would tap into the rail station, made things feel much more closed in. I think this is, partly, why you will find some more complaints on people loitering or misbehaving. It is harder to spread out a small bit on the lower level and feels more caged off and enclosed. When that station and bus bay was originally designed, they were not leaving room for something like that from an aesthetic view.

I also find the walk to the kiss and ride lot/pick up location to be slightly long and uphill. At Kensington I can just wait at the curb.

I tend to like the feel of Kensington and Dunwoody stations slightly better. While they have a similar problem, the stations are double-sided and multi-level. It creates more space and openness.

Now the type of people you see at this station depends on the time of day a bit. There are some white collar commuters during commute hours only. However, this station is not conveniently directly tied to a freeway. I would say there are more local bus and people that live in the immediate area compared to North Springs. Although, both have a large AT&T parking deck aimed at collecting white collar commuters.

One flaw Doraville has for it picking up commuters is the freeway access isn't great. I'm sure it was originally intended to be. You have to navigate a couple local streets, but the big flaw is the on/off ramp to I-85 north dumps you into the cars going from I-285 E to I-85N and that bottlenecks particularly bad. It also tends to dump commuters where the traffic really starts, so there isn't much benefit for most auto-commuters using the station. It might be easier to get to Peacthree Industrial, though. I haven't ever been that way.

Had the NE line had one last station that curved towards I-85 and had a better direct on/off connection to I-85N, you'd probably see far more white collar professionals. I know some people that prefer to go down to Chamblee, although that station has its own series of pros cons.

[Pan21]

Originally Posted by magnetar

This thread made my eyes roll so hard they're stuck there now. Thanks a lot.

Same, I honestly thought this was a troll thread until I read the replies