Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
MARTA is better in the urban center.
BART is far better for shuttling commuters from the suburbs into the job centers of SF and Oakland.
Without MUNI, the Bay would tie with Atlanta based on that aspect. However, when you add in MUNI's inter-city transit, the Bay comes out on top.
To me, that's why DC is better than the other two. It's nearly as good as BART for commuters, but it's better than both at intra-city traveling. Combine BART and MARTA, and they're better than DC Metro. But separate, they're not individually as good. So I guess in a way, BART is more comparable to MARTA, since they both serve one purpose better than other, while DC Metro combines the two services.
DC Metro might not go far enough in it surburban rider delivery. But if you add Marc and VRE, than the DC region is way ahead of anything on the West Coast and beyond. Marta does not factor in this equation at all. All you have is Marta, no commuter rail equivalent. Even Baltimore heavy/light rail surpasses Marta when you factor in the region that it is in. In this case MARC just ties this together. And one could only imagine what it would be when MARC ever connect to SEPTA. Like a diamond in the sky.
Though I would agree with the sentiments on lack of interurban service within San Francisco, I don't see BART as a similar system to MARTA, as MARTA isn't very far reaching into the Atlanta suburbs. Even major suburban counties like Cobb county where the Braves play don't have access to it and probably won't for a very long time.
BART is more similar to WMTA in the sense of having multiple suburban lines pretty much covering nearly all corners of their respective regions. I would say if BART had better access to other parts of San Francisco outside of the Market and Mission corridors, it would obviously benefit the entire network as a whole in terms of ridership inside and outside of San Francisco.
I have done a lot of business in the leafy 'burbs north of Atlanta. When you get off the plane, you rent a car. MARTA is useless. I only use it if I have a convention to attend.
It will be a slam dunk for the DC Metro once the line to Dulles is finished early next year. If I land in DCA, I take the Metro. At Dulles, I rent a car even if I only have to be in Herndon.
I've used BART and CALTRAIN quite a bit. It's more useful in my travel pattern than MARTA but nothing like as good as the DC Metro plus MARC/Amtrak and the other rail options. I'd have to say DC because it's not useless like MARTA for my travel pattern.
I have done a lot of business in the leafy 'burbs north of Atlanta. When you get off the plane, you rent a car. MARTA is useless. I only use it if I have a convention to attend.
It will be a slam dunk for the DC Metro once the line to Dulles is finished early next year. If I land in DCA, I take the Metro. At Dulles, I rent a car even if I only have to be in Herndon.
I've used BART and CALTRAIN quite a bit. It's more useful in my travel pattern than MARTA but nothing like as good as the DC Metro plus MARC/Amtrak and the other rail options. I'd have to say DC because it's not useless like MARTA for my travel pattern.
Absolutely not true. Obviously unbeknownst to you apparently, the Red Line has 3 stations in the heart of Perimter Center - one of which is only 3 blocks from Cox HQ's. It's a 40 minute one seat, stress free ride to and from the Airport.
Marta is crap. It doesn't serve enough of the metro area despite being open since the 1970s. BART hands down.
Yet MARTA carries more people daily than all of DFW's various systems combined. They are spending over $460 million on sleek new train cars as well, replacing the entire fleet. Without MARTA, we would have never landed the Olympics. Doesn’t sound like crap to me.
MARTA is definitely trying to make the best of what they've got. Heavily encouraging TOD and there's a full bus network redesign in the works.
The future of expansion will definitely be through BRT and light rail. Although the streetcar seems useless now, it's the first step in an urban core light rail system that hopefully will be comparable to Muni one day.
Interestingly I think the best bet for heavy rail expansion may be the Green Line. It seems to have the right ingredients coming together - growing development on the Westside, open space along the old CSX yard, and Cobb seems open to carving out a special tax district in the Cumberland area to fund expansion there.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
