Will Gwinnett County join MARTA? Not likely, officials say (Atlanta: schools, living in)

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Exactly.

This is why I've been saying what I've been saying in this thread, and people here (people who are fortunate enough to be residents of existing MARTA-served counties) don't like it. Which I totally understand, but, you know, don't kill the messenger.

There are different forms that the change could take, but there will be change. And no doubt the conservatives will strategically take the reins on regional transit, while they still have suburban-metro-ATL power, before Cobb and Gwinnett turn into Democratic-controlled counties. So that whole "wait it out" scenario is really off the table. Cobb and Gwinnett won't likely be joining the MARTA as we know it. But they will likely participate in the successor of MARTA or the newly modified MARTA. Which may or may not be called MARTA, and probably not.

Given this reality, my preference would be for all of it, MARTA and CCT and GCT and Xpress and whatever else, to merge into a newly-realized GRTA, which would have a similar structure and setup and governance board as the existing MARTA. It would basically be the direct successor of MARTA, as well as the direct successor/replacer/inheritor of those other smaller transit agencies. But mostly MARTA, since MARTA is by far the largest. Like it would take over the MARTA HQ and such. It would keep all of MARTA's people, resources, assets, all of it intact, so it would be basically like MARTA but with some changes, and a new name and look.

Then, IMO, you would have a very positive result. YES, some money has to be spent/wasted on rebranding. But besides that, you gain a lot. The big ones being that suddenly, the new MARTA (called GRTA) has 13 member counties where it can operate, it can serve the whole region finally. And suddenly, they have state backing, support, funding. All that stuff we've always wished MARTA had.

And no, all those counties won't be paying 1% sales tax. They'll be paying whatever they want to pay, and they'll get whatever transit they pay for.

So that's what will happen with Gwinnett. (At least I hope.) They'll pass a referendum for generic mass transit, and then probably before it's even operating, MARTA (now called GRTA and with a bit more Republican influence- but still with local representatives on its board), will be allowed to operate in Gwinnett, and will take over GCT assets and will be the planner/provider of this new Gwinnett mass transit.

Then a similar type of deal would happen in Cobb. Like you said, they'll do mass transit once the cards are controlled by conservatives.

But on the bright side, we'd get one, unified, mass transit system. Which is what we need.

How's that rebranding working for CCT?

[primaltech]

Really? That's your comment? It's like you didn't even read what I wrote.

Extremely underfunded CCT rebranded its inadequate transit service to CobbLinc. And I don't what the goals were with that, or if they've met those goals. I don't know what the heck Cobb County thinks it's even doing with CCT.

I don't want MARTA to rebrand. But I'm saying, maybe, doing so could be part of a package deal along with meaningful changes. Like, new counties, incl. Cobb and Gwinnett. State funding, etc.

I dunno. I know I want MARTA in Cobb. And Gwinnett. But we may have to sneak it in there. The stupids have the power.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Really? That's your comment? It's like you didn't even read what I wrote.

Extremely underfunded CCT rebranded its inadequate transit service to CobbLinc. And I don't what the goals were with that, or if they've met those goals. I don't know what the heck Cobb County thinks it's even doing with CCT.

I don't want MARTA to rebrand. But I'm saying, maybe, doing so could be part of a package deal along with meaningful changes. Like, new counties, incl. Cobb and Gwinnett. State funding, etc.

I dunno. I know I want MARTA in Cobb. And Gwinnett. But we may have to sneak it in there. The stupids have the power.

I did read what you wrote, and actually agree with most of it. However, going through the aggravation of rebranding an agency as part of "sneaking it" by voters is ridiculous. People are dumb, but they ain't that dumb.

[fieldm]

Originally Posted by Gulch

I did read what you wrote, and actually agree with most of it. However, going through the aggravation of rebranding an agency as part of "sneaking it" by voters is ridiculous. People are dumb, but they ain't that dumb.

I disagree. People are dumb, very dumb.

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by Gulch

I did read what you wrote, and actually agree with most of it. However, going through the aggravation of rebranding an agency as part of "sneaking it" by voters is ridiculous. People are dumb, but they ain't that dumb.

I wish that were the case. If it is, then the new agency or the modified MARTA or the modified GRTA, or whatever it is, can be called MARTA, which is a perfectly good name and look, and there would be no need for rebranding.

But seriously though, people are drooling, complete idiots. I mean, AJC-commenter-level idiots. If MARTA were renamed "Georgia Transit", and given a bland maroon paint job on everything (the same scheme as GCT), Gwinnett residents would eat that crap up. They'd completely change their tune. Seriously. All they really even know they oppose is the name MARTA. They're that stupid.

[fieldm]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I wish that were the case. If it is, then the new agency or the modified MARTA or the modified GRTA, or whatever it is, can be called MARTA, which is a perfectly good name and look, and there would be no need for rebranding.

But seriously though, people are drooling, complete idiots. I mean, AJC-commenter-level idiots. If MARTA were renamed "Georgia Transit", and given a bland maroon paint job on everything (the same scheme as GCT), Gwinnett residents would eat that crap up. They'd completely change their tune. Seriously. All they really even know they oppose is the name MARTA. They're that stupid.

Post of the year.

Similar to Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act

[primaltech]

Originally Posted by fieldm

Similar to Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act

Yeah.

I would say, definitely not all, but most residents who oppose MARTA in Cobb/Gwinnett, don't even know what they're even opposing, or why. They just oppose MARTA, because somebody told them it would bring "crime" or whatever other code words that obviously mean "black people", etc. Or someone told them it was a big government waste of money, or money funneled into Atlanta, or whatever. But mostly I think because it's an identity thing for the areas that do have MARTA, and that don't have it. It's like an identity war.

Which is probably why Gwinnett leaders are avoiding MARTA and just opting for a generic mass transit solution, without even really mentioning GCT or GRTA or who or what agency would even be operating it. Because they correctly know that this way, the transit tax referendum has a great chance of passing. Without all that nonsense stigma/controversy over MARTA. And then later on, after the vote passes, they can do whatever with combining it all into a new consolidated regional agency or whatever, kind of sneaking in what would have been MARTA.

I seriously believe though, as stupid and ridiculous as it is, a new and totally fresh name (especially one that's friendly to northside white conservative Republican suburbanities and exurbanites, like that mentions Georgia and not Atlanta), and a new general identity rebrand and new color scheme, that would be enough to do it. You'd have Cobb and Gwinnett on board, with probably very little board representation changes needed. Maybe the couple of non-voting Governor-appointed members would need to become voting members. But that's about it. Same old MARTA, with just a paint job.

Oh, and then make the actual transit for Cobb and Gwinnett based mostly around express commuter service to Downtown/Midtown and the airport and such, without all the stops. They'd eat that right up.

[fieldm]

I agree 100%

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Yeah.

I would say, definitely not all, but most residents who oppose MARTA in Cobb/Gwinnett, don't even know what they're even opposing, or why. They just oppose MARTA, because somebody told them it would bring "crime" or whatever other code words that obviously mean "black people", etc. Or someone told them it was a big government waste of money, or money funneled into Atlanta, or whatever. But mostly I think because it's an identity thing for the areas that do have MARTA, and that don't have it. It's like an identity war.

Which is probably why Gwinnett leaders are avoiding MARTA and just opting for a generic mass transit solution, without even really mentioning GCT or GRTA or who or what agency would even be operating it. Because they correctly know that this way, the transit tax referendum has a great chance of passing. Without all that nonsense stigma/controversy over MARTA. And then later on, after the vote passes, they can do whatever with combining it all into a new consolidated regional agency or whatever, kind of sneaking in what would have been MARTA.

So in other words, mislead people. That's a great way to get voted out of office.

I seriously believe though, as stupid and ridiculous as it is, a new and totally fresh name (especially one that's friendly to northside white conservative Republican suburbanities and exurbanites, like that mentions Georgia and not Atlanta), and a new general identity rebrand and new color scheme, that would be enough to do it. You'd have Cobb and Gwinnett on board, with probably very little board representation changes needed. Maybe the couple of non-voting Governor-appointed members would need to become voting members. But that's about it. Same old MARTA, with just a paint job.

Yet Brandon Beach was proposing "Atlanta Transit Line" as a new name which is actually more Atlanta-centric than "Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority." Your average anti-transit yokel in East Cobb isn't going to suddenly embrace "The ATL" any more than he/she would embrace MARTA.

Oh, and then make the actual transit for Cobb and Gwinnett based mostly around express commuter service to Downtown/Midtown and the airport and such, without all the stops. They'd eat that right up.

Unless the service was sharing the tracks and had to revolve around congested Norfolk Southern/CSX train schedules, in which any express service would be S.O.L.

[SEAandATL]

As I said before, commuter rail transit to Cobb and Gwinnett needs to be completely privatized. The demand is there, people will be with to pay $5-10 to ride a train to avoid the traffic. When waiting on government, even the best case scenario is not good enough (actually getting approved on the ballot in 2018 or 2020 or whenever and then wait like another 30-40 years for it to finally be completed). Cobblink should just become privatized. It already sounds like a name of a company rather than a government agency. MARTA can stay in Atlanta and adjacent cities. I don't see why we don't just have a unified system of different names.