Atlanta's Regional Rail and Transit Systems.

[Hybrid0NE]

Cobb's Transit Plan

I saw a map of the proposed transit line through Cobb County today. It follows I-75 from the MARTA Five Points Station to Acworth and stations are listed as...

Cumberland

Terrell Mill

Franklin Road

Marietta

Town Center

Edited May 30, 2006 by Hybrid0NE

[teshadoh]

Cobb's Transit Plan

I saw a map of the proposed transit line through Cobb County today. It follows I-75 from the MARTA Five Points Station to Acworth and stations are listed as...

Cumberland

Terrell Mill

Franklin Road

Marietta

Town Center

Don't you mean the Arts Center station? Also, that transit line was exclusively on I-75 & not also on Marietta Blvd? This is the Northwest Connectivity study isn't it?

[Student]

So Cobb is Accepting Marta?

[teshadoh]

So Cobb is Accepting Marta?

No - it's BRT. Only the Beltline / Inner Loop & Memorial Dr BRT projects would be umbrealled under MARTA. But it still remains to be seen what occurs once the Transit Board is fully operable - either MARTA, GRTA, CCT, GCT & CT will operate independantly with oversight from the Transit Board. Or the Transit Board will consolidate all transit systems into a new moniker or under 'MARTA'.

[Hybrid0NE]

Don't you mean the Arts Center station? Also, that transit line was exclusively on I-75 & not also on Marietta Blvd? This is the Northwest Connectivity study isn't it?

Yes, from the map and site-info it seems like they've moved onto the next stage...

There's a 176 page document on Station planning on their site is anyone is up for some reading...

NW HOV/BRT Station Area Planning

[teshadoh]

Took a look at the powerpoint presentations - for one example, they have included the proposed I-75 widening. Idiotic to put it mildly.

But what the map actually shows are the HOV lanes - but they do include Five Points MARTA station, I don't know why. But I was surprised that the study still doesn't indicate that there is a specific end location - that it could be anywhere in downtown / midtown Atlanta. The specific study area is just in Cobb County - so I don't know who will be involved to determine what the alignment is in Atlanta.

[Lady Celeste]

With the addition of the new gates at some of MARTA's train stations, it appears that ridership is being more accurately counted is actually higher than previously expected. Per a spokesperson with MARTA, surely all the newly counted people were not gate jumpers. Has gas prices really caused more people to use public transportation?

[AubieTurtle]

I think there are several things going on. The first two have already been mentioned:

1) Fare gate cheats are now paying to get in

2) Higher gas prices have gotten some people to change their habits

I'm sure both of those are true but looking at the numbers, the largest increases seem to be at stations that have limited to no parking, so if it is people trying to save on gas, they're all near the station.

Two other things I think are happening:

1) The increase of population near the MARTA stations is creating a new market. Not all of these are people who just moved in, some have been living near a station for a year or two but just started to change their old suburban lifestyle habits over to more urban habits like using mass transit

2) People who were turned off by the old gates have come back. Not only were the old gates frustrating but the old token machines sometimes would not take your dollar no matter how crisp it was. If you miss the train a couple of times just trying to pay your fare, you'll stop using it even if you really want to use it. With the new system in place, many choice riders who found paying fares to be an annoying process can now do so quickly and easily. When the permanent cards that can be recharged by credit card at any Breeze machine or online are rolled out in a few months, it will be even easier.

The truely annoying thing is that Breeze was suppose to be in place about two years ago. The company that lost the bid for the work sued MARTA to keep them from using the company that won the bid. MARTA won in court, but that battle delayed the rollout of the new system while the trial went on. It would be nice if MARTA could countersue the company for the past two years of lost revenue and for damage to its reputation. Even more annoying was the discovery that Gwinnett's member of the MARTA board had been taking money from the losing bidder. The Gwinnett county commission refused to remove the crook from the MARTA board (afterall, they have no interest in seeing MARTA succeed so they enjoy being able to harm MARTA from the inside). In the end, the way the Gwinnett member was removed was because he was arrested for non payment of child support and state law says that for that crime, one must be removed from any state board.

[teshadoh]

I too am not surprised at the increased number of riders intown, particularly by just watching people at the bus stop. I have witnessed an increased number of bus riders, primarily lower income that may likely have a car - but are hurt the most by high gas prices. But watching people on the street & sidewalk near GSU / Grady at Edgewood - I see a lot more bicyclists & scooters on the street than before. In fact, I at times find it hard to believe how many commuters I see riding bicycles or scooters - many the conventional White middle class business people. But in most cases younger college aged or 20 / 30 something. Which is an accomplishment in itself...

[Andrea]

I was pleased to see this:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atl...tstreetcar.html

New streetcar plan extends to S. Atlanta

A group of business and community leaders charged with putting streetcars on Atlanta's Peachtree corridor has made its first big decision: extending the proposed transit line about two miles to the south to connect with the southern arc of the Beltline.

Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin created the Peachtree Corridor Task Force earlier this year in an effort to turn the city's signature street into a world-class thoroughfare. Initially, the group was to consider a streetcar line from Phipps Plaza in Buckhead to the West End neighborhood south of downtown.

Task force members said Wednesday extending the line would help increase the city's transit network while bringing needed development into long overlooked south Atlanta neighborhoods.

[macdaddy]

I was pleased to see this:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atl...tstreetcar.html

Me too, Andrea. This not only promotes redevelopment on the southside, but connectivity of transit lines that converge there. That should be a goal citywide.

[ryanmckibben]

Me too, Andrea. This not only promotes redevelopment on the southside, but connectivity of transit lines that converge there. That should be a goal citywide.

Absolutely, it's hard to imagine, and more then a little bit sad, that at one point Atlanta had close to 150 miles of streetcar lines criss-crossing the city. We tore them all up and will now spend hundreds of millions, if not billions, recreating what once already existed.

[Andrea]

Absolutely, it's hard to imagine, and more then a little bit sad, that at one point Atlanta had close to 150 miles of streetcar lines criss-crossing the city. We tore them all up and will now spend hundreds of millions, if not billions, recreating what once already existed.

Ryan, did you happen to catch that old 1933 Streetcar map I posted a while back?

1933 Atlanta Streetcar Map

<Oops, the image is too large, let me just give the link.>

Edited June 15, 2006 by Andrea

[ryanmckibben]

That map is truly amazing. Just imagine what Intown Atlanta would be like if we still had that extensive of a transit system. This map should be a goal for the cities current and future administrations.

[ironchapman]

Ryan, did you happen to catch that old 1933 Streetcar map I posted a while back?

1933 Atlanta Streetcar Map

<Oops, the image is too large, let me just give the link.>

All in favor of having those lines restored say "Aye!".

<"Aye!">

Seriously, it would be amazing if we still had that.

[Andrea]

That map is truly amazing. Just imagine what Intown Atlanta would be like if we still had that extensive of a transit system. This map should be a goal for the cities current and future administrations.

Yeah, and the streetcars ran all the way to Stone Mountain and Marietta. Here's a photo of one buzzing along the Inter-Urban line toward Mayretta.

The cars themselves were just beautiful, too. I'd take a ride on this anyday!

What the streetcars looked like

[ryanmckibben]

Doesn't it make you want to...

[macdaddy]

Doesn't it make you want to...

Unbelievable that those were discontinued. Even if we had only some of those lines again, it would make a huge difference in mobility from one part of the city to another.

[Student]

I have a question. Why does the State of Gerogia and Gwinnet County have seats on the MARTA Board? I thought Georgia wouldn't give a dime to MARTA, and Gwinnet didn't want anything to do with it. I was looking at the MARTA Board Here.

[AubieTurtle]

It's because Gwinnett originally signed up to part of MARTA but then decided to not put in any money. As a result, Gwinnett, Cobb, and Clayton all have representatives on the MARTA board but do not contribute any funds.

In recent years, the Gwinnett representative has been a source of controversy when he was found to have taken money from the loser of the Breeze contract. He claimed he did nothing wrong and Gwinnett refused to remove him from the board. In the end, he was removed when he was arrested for not paying his child support, which causes the automatic removal from any state board.

It's not a fair situation but I expect much worse to come in the next few years if there comes a unified transit board for the region.

[Hybrid0NE]

Aubie... Cobb doesn't have a representative on the MARTA board. Maybe it's because Gwinnett and Clayton are going to be the easiest counties for MARTA to reach. The Northeast and South rail lines are already aimed in those directions.

[damus]

What Atlanta needs are lines connecting the varoius suburbs. Right now, you have to take MATRA downtown and change trains if you are working in a different area. The world's truely successful lines don't rely on one focal interchange.

Well Boston and Chicago each have sort of central hubs. While you may have more than one central interchange point, it's just as inconvenient as having a single central interchange. If you want to go from Braintree on the red line to Heath on the green line in Boston you're still going way out of the way to transfer. Boston's system is pretty successful.

[AubieTurtle]

Aubie... Cobb doesn't have a representative on the MARTA board. Maybe it's because Gwinnett and Clayton are going to be the easiest counties for MARTA to reach. The Northeast and South rail lines are already aimed in those directions.

Gwinnett and Clayton have spots on the board because MARTA is a state authority, even if they don't receive state funds, and the state law that created the authority gave them spots on the board. I believe that Cobb had a spot too but that may have been removed when CCT was created. It has nothing to do with the closeness of rail lines. Personally, I think it they don't put in money, they shouldn't have a say in how things are run, especially since Gwinnett has shown they can not select representatives who don't use the position for personal gain. But I'm sure the Gwinnett County Commission (who gets to choose their representative) enjoys doing anything and everything they can to screw up things in Fulton and DeKalb since it gives them more power.

[Andrea]

I like this:

New MARTA route to roam Peachtree

The transit system is proposing a new bus route, dubbed "The Peach," that would travel along Atlanta's signature Peachtree corridor, between the state Capitol in downtown Atlanta and Lenox Square mall in Buckhead.

Peachtree is now served by two bus routes — one in Buckhead and another in Midtown and downtown. Passengers traveling between those areas have to change buses at the Arts Center rail station, a time-wasting process that MARTA officials believe has kept ridership down.

City business and civic leaders pressed MARTA for the change, with former Atlanta Mayor Sam Massell, a longtime Buckhead booster, leading the way. Massell said a single bus line on Peachtree would better connect downtown Atlanta and Buckhead and help get some cars off the traffic-clogged thoroughfare.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/atl.../0626marta.html

[Hybrid0NE]

^^^

I didn't even know there were two different bus routes on Peachtree. You learn something new everyday.