Reply With QuoteHa ha ha! Atlanta sucks, and this just goes to show...
Atlanta's MARTA
Things have been going on for quite awhile now that just aren't so good - so I've gathered the last few months in various news articles. Here's a recent story:
MARTA's fallen and it can't get up
If somebody doesn't help the crumbling backbone of Atlanta's transit network, it'll whither away and die
BY MICHAEL WALL
Every five minutes or so on weekday afternoons, a small herd of people files up the stairs from the train platform at MARTA's Lindbergh station. Then, they stampede toward the buses idling outside.
They're professionals in business suits, and laborers in dirt-smeared T-shirts. They're teenagers wearing headphones. They're families with shopping bags. Occasionally, they're tourists.
Some walk. One or two leap up the steps three at a time. If they don't make their connections, they could wait an hour for the next bus home.
It's 2:19 p.m. on a Thursday. Near the top of the stairs, Hispanic workers pressure-wash the station's rock and cement floor, while riders from the last train briskly walk toward their buses.
One man walks down the steps. He's wearing a V-neck navy blue sweater over a white dress shirt and a black tie. A bright MARTA ID tag hangs from a string around his neck. A walkie-talkie is attached to his shoulder.
He is Stan Williams, the guy who makes sure the trains run on time.
In 1998, Williams quit his job as the manager at a CVS store and joined MARTA to become a rail station manager. Four years later, he was promoted to rail-line supervisor.
Williams watches passengers each day as they rush on and off the trains, in and out of the stations. But he's seen up close something riders in their hurry might miss: Atlanta's rapid-rail system is straining under a combination of age and neglect.
Despite the relative youth of MARTA's rail lines (the first train ran from the Avondale station to Georgia State in June 1979), most of the system's cars are so outdated that MARTA can't get parts for them. The maintenance department either has to make the parts itself or hire another company to customize them.
When a train breaks down, which happens about once a day, it's up to line supervisors like Williams to get there fast. He must fix the car that stopped working, patch it temporarily or move it out of the way.
Riding with train operators is the best way to keep mobile, to spot potential problems and to patch them quickly. So when he makes it down the stairs, Williams waits for the next train headed south. "Airport" says the red marquee.
"Here we go, rush hour," he says to driver Curtis Jenkins as he ambles into the operator's cab. Jenkins' turtleneck, dark glasses and beard make him look intimidating, like the original Shaft. But he's really a jovial guy.
"This is when the fun starts," Jenkins answers.
Williams sticks his head out of the left-hand window to watch passengers get on and off. When the doors clear, he presses a blue button on the inside of the car. The doors close.
Over the next seven hours, he'll monitor the line between Five Points and North Springs by hopping on and off trains headed in either direction.
Jenkins pushes up a joystick and the train starts moving. With deceptive smoothness and in no time flat, it reaches 55 miles per hour.
The state of Georgia spends plenty of money on transportation projects -- so long as those projects meet the state's own peculiar brand of political correctness.For instance, the Department of Transportation intends to spend $291 million this year on "developmental" highways -- roads that, by definition, aren't needed to relieve congestion. The DOT also moved March 18 toward approving a $106 million commuter rail line to Lovejoy, a town with a population of 2,495, 12 miles north of Griffin.
The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority is spending $27.5 million on the start-up and operation of three suburban bus systems that will feed into MARTA; it's already subsidizing buses in Cobb and Gwinnett.
And April 15, Gov. Sonny Perdue announced plans to spend a total of $15.5 billion on transportation projects.
Meanwhile, the state will supply MARTA with squat. The system handles five times as many riders as those five suburban bus systems combined. But the state will give it only $2 million to purchase vans and small buses for disabled and elderly riders.
Lawmakers won't give MARTA a dime for fuel, salaries, or maintenance of its stations, buses and trains. Nor for that matter will they provide money for any of the system's day-to-day needs. They never have.
MARTA will maintain its most notable distinction as the only major transit agency in the country that doesn't get operating money from its state government. No wonder, then, that a key weapon in metro Atlanta's battle for clean air and less congestion is dying a slow death right before our eyes.
Williams rides south, standing inside the operators' cockpit, in front of the doors that lead to the passenger car. Jenkins sits at the control panel.
Both men have heard rumors that MARTA's brass is considering another round of furloughs and layoffs. (A few days after we rode together, MARTA General Manager Nathaniel Ford announced a major round of cuts involving mainly bus service, but more layoffs are expected.)
"I heard the job cuts are coming, possibly in June -- 400 jobs maybe," Williams says.
Over the last two years, MARTA has reduced its work force by about 700, and now Williams is worried about keeping his own job. "I'm not the last on the totem pole, but if they don't get me on this go 'round, then there's the next one," he says.
Jenkins also heard the June cuts would number 400. The two MARTA veterans commiserate about how much harder their jobs have gotten since the last round of layoffs, in December, and how much worse MARTA's service has gotten.
Williams' turf used to be smaller, but now he and the other line supervisors are spread out over larger territories. "Already, not only am I doing my job," he says, "I'm doing two or three other people's jobs."
He admits that the cuts have worsened the agency's infuriatingly spotty service. "Trains have to sit and wait for supervisors to arrive, which takes longer because we have a bigger territory to cover."
The fiscal crisis has rushed up on MARTA. About 15 years ago, the agency was making more money than it needed to operate. Officials set up a reserve fund in case MARTA ever faced hard times. This time last year, MARTA projected it had enough money in those reserves -- nearly $35 million -- to make up for another four-and-a-half years of budget shortfalls.
But hard times arrived with a vengeance. Ridership is down 15 percent from 2001, the year that brought the Sept. 11 attacks and a 25-cent fare increase. In the same period, MARTA's primary source of income, a 1 percent sales tax levied in Atlanta, and Fulton and DeKalb counties, has declined by $23 million to $273 million. The agency is projected to finish 2004 with a budget shortfall of $54 million.
To make up for the lost income, MARTA officials dip into the reserve fund. Despite a smaller work force, and despite route cutbacks and reduced maintenance, the reserve fund has shrunk to $19 million, only enough money to last another year and a half, officials now estimate.
If the reserves run out, MARTA will be broke. It won't have enough revenue to buy fuel for its buses, pay its employees or power its electric trains. So MARTA officials are doing the only thing they really can do: They're cutting back -- again.
Williams says, "If we could get assistance from the state ... ." But he doesn't finish his sentence. It's as if the concept is so outrageous that there's no point in contemplating it.
At 2:37 p.m., Williams walks out of the train doors into the Five Points station. He joins the crowd rising up the escalator and enters the station's bustling core.
Five Points, the system's hub, puts MARTA's crumbling infrastructure in plain sight. Tiles are buckling and lose. Water stains streak the ceilings and the walls. Mineral deposits from the leaks have created stalagmites next to the rails.
Most of the turnstiles don't work, and as we walk across the station's brown tile floor, we notice a dozen anxious riders waiting in line either to pass through the gates that do work or to hand their tokens to an attendant who lets them in.
Designed 30 years ago, the Five Points station was imagined as the dazzling anchor of a modern rail system that would serve a five-county metro area. But suburban fears of urban (read: black) crime led voters in three counties -- Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett -- to reject MARTA service, along with the penny sales tax that would help fund the system.
For about an hour, Williams shows me the run-down corners of a structure that never quite met its potential. He chitchats with other employees and helps customers find their way to the right platform.
At 3:39 p.m., we step onto a shiny new car headed up to the North Springs station at the top of the line. All seats are taken and three or four people are standing, holding the handrails.
The train fills as it hits the stops under Midtown, then emerges to zip over the I-85/I-75 Connector. If the automobiles below are moving at all, they're so slow you can't tell.
Those cars stuck in traffic are an argument for MARTA's existence. Road builders and some developers claim Atlanta can build its way out of metro Atlanta's traffic mess. But the hard truth is that more roads tend to get filled with more commuters, who drive longer distances. That's the cycle that created the congestion to begin with. And more commuters going longer distances do little to solve the region's air pollution problem.
Despite its modest reach, MARTA keeps a surprisingly large number of cars off metro Atlanta's roads. Overall, the system has about 470,000 riders a day. That's a substantial benefit to a region already suffering from ozone smog.
The traffic jam below makes a MARTA ad over Williams' left shoulder all the more ironic. It thanks MARTA riders for "using mass transit to: Reduce air pollution, Reduce traffic congestion, Reduce fuel consumption."
The train slows just before it reaches the Sandy Springs station, where most riders turn their heads to look out the left side of the car. Their eyes are drawn by MARTA's latest attempt to earn a few more bucks. It looks as if a silver Cadillac sedan is zigging and zagging right next to the train, but it's just an eye-catching commercial.
Screens lit with images of the Cadillac are attached to a tunnel wall, level with the train's windows. Much like thumbing through the pages of an old-fashioned flipbook, the train zips by the images and makes them look like a moving car.
MARTA has earned about $7 million this year by wrapping buses in advertisements. It's developing a new revenue stream with ads like the Cadillac images alongside the train.
Seeing that innovation gives Williams an opportunity to praise his boss, Nathaniel Ford. "Mr. Ford came in here, inherited a lot of the financial strain when he became CEO, and has been searching for ways to make money," Williams says.
Ford has searched for new revenue streams in his four years as general manager. But he's also found controversy.
WSB-TV reported in February 2003 that the new GM spent $23,000 remodeling his office. In a year and a half, he expensed $15,000 for food and drinks.
In December, the MARTA board voted for Ford's hefty raise when it renewed his contract for five years. His base salary will be $205,000, but with bonuses and allowances, Ford could earn $265,400 this year, and up to $309,500 by 2009. Ford deferred the salary increase and bonus for six months. He said he wanted to set an example of fiscal restraint.
Still, the raise came just as MARTA was eliminating 100 positions. That didn't look good. And it didn't endear MARTA management to state leaders. In fact, state DOT Commissioner Harold Linnekohl and Georgia Regional Transportation Authority Executive Director Steve Stancil, both of whom sit on the MARTA board, voted against renewing Ford's contract.
Another recent scandal has done even more damage to the agency's reputation. Nearly three months ago, board member Mychal Walker admitted he accepted $20,000 from a French company competing for a $100 million contract to upgrade MARTA's fare system, including the rail stations' 25-year-old turnstiles. Board members have asked Walker to resign, but he's refused.
Even before the recent controversies, state officials had a lukewarm relationship with MARTA. Before his 2002 re-election defeat to Sonny Perdue, Gov. Roy Barnes seemed to be edging toward a bailout, either with state funding or a state takeover. First, he created GRTA, which contracted with MARTA to run some of the new suburban bus systems. Many transit advocates thought the next step would be for GRTA to swallow MARTA and turn it into a state-run transit system, which might have seemed less of a bogeyman to suburbanites.
But Perdue's attitude toward MARTA has been chilly from the get-go. In October, he chose Stancil, a former Republican legislator who voted against GRTA's creation, to be GRTA's executive director. Stancil admits MARTA is the spine of the region's transportation system. But, he says, MARTA "needs to show us that they're willing to right their own ship, and then come to us if it gets righted. If that happens, I think you'll see that the state is responsive."
Before Stancil's appointment, in a letter to Ford last July, Perdue declared it was up to the agency to tighten its belt by eliminating underused bus routes and doing a better job of monitoring its own performance.
MARTA already has eliminated some underused routes and is in the process of cutting another 15 percent of its bus service. And a year earlier, Ford actually implemented a system to monitor performance, much like the one Perdue seemed to be calling for.
An audit mandated by the General Assembly two years ago found that MARTA performed as well or better than other big transit agencies in the areas of cost effectiveness and service.
But the audit also found that MARTA performed poorly when it came to administrative overhead. MARTA was overstaffed, the auditors said. Since the audit was done, however, MARTA's work force has gone from 5,200 employees to about 4,500.
Meanwhile, the state itself is dumping another financial burden on MARTA. The suburban systems funded by GRTA link directly into MARTA's stations. Clayton County's buses tie into MARTA's Airport station. Gwinnett's go to the Doraville, Arts Center, and Five Points stations. Cobb's buses connect at Arts Center, Hamilton Homes and Five Points.
Those riders pay MARTA's $1.75 fare on their return trip to the 'burbs. But under a reciprocal agreement with GRTA, their suburban bus fare allows them to transfer to MARTA for free. Even if they were paying both ways, their fare would only cover about a third of the cost of a ride. The rest of their trip is covered by federal grants and by Fulton, DeKalb and Atlanta sales taxes.
The funding imbalance led Atlanta City Council, and the Fulton and DeKalb commissions, to vote two years ago against giving MARTA any more sales tax revenue after the year 2047. They did this not to shut MARTA down, but to signal to the state and neighboring counties, "It's your turn to pitch in."
It's not unfeasible that one day those county buses could pull up to a MARTA station and find the gates locked, the windows boarded up and bus driveways closed off with chains.
Suburban commuters stand shoulder to shoulder in the aisles of the train carrying Williams to the sparkling clean North Springs station. Rush hour is in full swing.
The train comes to a stop. Williams and the rest of the crowd shuffle out. As the passengers head down an escalator toward their cars, he splits off and walks across the platform to a kiosk that serves as his office where he writes up his shift reports.
Connected to the station, and visible from Williams' window, is a six-story cement parking deck that holds more than 2,000 cars. Most have Fulton, Cobb and Forsyth county tags, a few are from Gwinnett. Because it's always full, MARTA built another three-story parking deck next door. That deck is overflowing, too.
Pointing to the parking decks, Williams says, "Gwinnett, Cobb, Clayton -- they are all using the system, but they will not help the system. They all tie into MARTA and reap our benefits.
"It's only a penny sales tax."
EPILOGUE:
A BANNER DAY IN MARTA'S DEMISE
April 15 is a momentous day in Atlanta's transportation saga.
At 10 a.m. in the Empire Room of the West Tower of the Sloppy Floyd building, Gov. Sonny Perdue unveils the state's most expensive plan to date to fight congestion. He carefully outlines his plan to spend $15.5 billion in six years, almost entirely on roads.
During his speech, the word MARTA doesn't pass Perdue's lips. Asked afterward if MARTA would get any of the money he talked about, he answers that MARTA would get some. Then he says Steve Stancil would be a better person to answer that question.
Stancil steps forward to announce MARTA will get $2 million. His voice drops when he says he and DOT Commissioner Linnekohl already have arranged to meet with Perdue in the fall to discuss getting MARTA in on the next round of state bond money.
It's the first clue that Perdue might consider giving substantial state money to MARTA.
Later, the governor's spokesman spins MARTA's fate more negatively to an out-of-town paper. "Nobody rides MARTA," he tells the Macon Telegraph. "Its ridership is dwindling. [Perdue] needs to be convinced the ridership will be there ... and [MARTA] can be economically viable."
At 2:21 p.m., the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announces that 20 metro Atlanta counties don't meet new clean air standards. Only 13 counties didn't qualify under the old standards, which scientists said didn't do enough to protect people from air pollution.
The new designations will trigger more stringent controls on pollution from industrial plants, and will require state transportation planners to come up with new ways to reduce vehicle emissions. Among the options: cleaner, more expensive gasoline; more commuter buses; and even commuter rail.
At 7 p.m., in Atlanta City Hall, MARTA board Chairman Michael Walls hosts a public hearing to take comments about the agency's decision to reduce its bus service by 15 percent. To save $11 million, MARTA officials will eliminate four routes. They'll also combine and shorten 107 other routes.
When they go into effect June 26, the service cuts will impact more than 2,000 Atlantans, and they will drive MARTA's ridership down even further.
Walls catches an earful from dozens of aggravated people who depend on buses to get to and from work. Activists wearing "Save MARTA" stickers stand up and condemn Perdue. Others complain about MARTA's many shortcomings, from buses that run hours late to horrible customer service.
Walls wasn't hearing anything he didn't already know. But he's convinced the struggling transit agency can do little more on its own to improve or expand its services.
"The more services we cut, the more riders we lose," he says in a separate interview. "The more riders we lose, the more services we're going to have to cut. It's a downward spiral." MARTA officials say they're looking at another 10 percent cut in 2005. And in 2006, if a new source of money isn't found, the agency will increase fares again. The spiral continues.
Ha ha ha! Atlanta sucks, and this just goes to show...
How come Atlanta wasn't mentioned as "tipping" in the "T.P." ?
Several months ago, the suburban county where my house is voted against MARTA extention into the county seat. Public concern was that the train stop would attract a bad crowd into the historic downtown district. About a month after that, a fund-raising committe was announced to restore the small city park and train depot downtown. THe committee's first order of business was deciding what kind of museum to make out of the historic train depot, which once shuttled many citizens to work in downtown Atlanta.
I think the sprawl in Atlanta is much worse than Dallas. To me, Atlanta's sprawl seems more rural and less master planned.
Are the stations in good locations?
Does anyone have the stats for the size of MARTA's rail systems versus DART's rail system?
I think the average lot size in Atlanta's suburbs is larger than other metros, and municipal govts are far less organized than DFW examples, Plano & Frisco. Since most of suburban Atlanta receives municipal services from a county govt, there is less emphasis on community individuality, although gated neighborhoods are populat. It may be that the population growth has been too much too fast just like Houston experienced, but not enough road widening takes place in metro Atlanta - an areas population may quadruple, but the curving country roads only change as potholes are filled. GA is also home to some creative 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch your back' politics in which property rights have a stronger hand determining where political power exists. Same corruption, different twist as any area, I suppose.
The county in which I live has mandates slow growth for over a decade, no more than 4% per year. Additionally, no building permits are granted for dwellings less than 1,800 sq feet, and in most areas in the drainage basin for the resevoir providing our drinking water has minimum lost size of 3 acres. I love having a house in the woods 15 miles from downtown, but hate when it takes 15 minutes to go 2 miles getting onto the highway.
MARTA's stations are in good locations for the most part, especially parallel to the North-South spine of the city. Having a station inside the airport is excellent, but there are some stations smack-dab in the middle of a neighborhood waiting for gentrification. Several of the bigger malls in Atlanta have MARTA stations, as well as the football/basketball/hockey stadiums. It seems that DART may have more miles of train tracks already, and certainly the 2030 plan eclipses MARTA's current rail system. I dont have the numbers handy.
Atlanta is not that bad! though i can't say the same about Houston..
MARTA...aka Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta. This is what the locals call it (and why no one in Atlanta rides it!).
Atlanta probably has the worst sprawl in the US. Even Dallas and ouston don;t have it that bad. Atlanta has some nice parts ( parts of the skyline, etc ) but otherwise, I'm staying away. Houston is multitudes better.
Houston. Only.
that's REALLY horrible^ isn't Atlanta mostly African-American? I can't believe there are comments like this out there in the Deep South in these times. YUCK!Originally Posted by Geaux Tigers
That comment was horrible. Horribly funny.
No, I think if you ever rode MARTA you'd understand, noe.
Atlanta is the most sprawling and rascist city in the nation.
"There is much to admire, but little to deplore,—many things to enchant, but few to offend,—and for the people, and their institutions, there is a splendid future, behold what you may, see what you can, believe {what you} have a mind to. . .I have given you a very reliable description of the country in which I live and am unwilling to exchange for the frozen North."
—M. J. Mathis of Dallas County, writing to friends in 1859
www.haribon.org.ph
I ride MARTA trains regularly. While it's true that many frequent riders are inclined to 'keep it real', the train is very convenient. Atlanta is the most bigoted area I've ever lived in.
Be careful here please.
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
Yeah, watch it dude.
Houston. Only.
I was only trying to make a point that most of my friends in Atlanta don't feel safe riding MARTA due to the stories of muggings and rapes aboard the trains (and yes, many of the suspects doing the mugging and raping ARE black). I think the acronym was born more out of fact as opposed to being born out of racism (not that I'm saying racism doesn't exsist). Sorry if I offended anyone.
As for those of you saying Atlanta is the most biggoted area you've ever been to, appearantly you've never spent much time in Shreveport, or any town in Louisiana for that matter. But, that discussion is for another board and another day. Again, didn't mean to hurt anyone's feelings.
The most bigoted place I HAVEN't been to? Paris.You see a real estate ad in a newspaper that essentially says... no blacks need apply.
If you get nervous when you're in a situation in which you are a minority, you may not feel safe on a MARTA train. I believe most violent crimes occur in the MARTA parking garages, but I'm pretty sure the occurance of MARTA area viloent crimes is lower than the average for the city. A couple times a year, the media focuses on a violent crime within MARTA jurisdiction, but for the most part, the stations and trains are free of violent crime. THe biggest problem with MARTA is that it's falling apart and no one wants to do much about it.
I've never spent much time in Shreveport, and during my many trips to New Orleans, I have been mostly a tourist. I've lived in Amarillo, Corpus Christi, Victoria, San Antonio, Dallas, Orange County, CA and Atlanta. Of those, Atlanta seems to be the most bigoted. People here comment on how bad it is in Alabama, and apparantely Mississippi still has the worst race relations. The South still lives in the hearts of many of it's red-neck sons and daughters, and many Africian Americians aggressively challenge that South.
YES! True. In paris, the only people who are welcomed are the French themselves....as well as the Nazis.
Houston. Only.
The Nazis? What are you talking about? And just because many Frenchpersons feel alienated by our unilateralism and jerk tourists doesn't mean they aren't accepting of others.
Last edited by Foucault; 02 July 2004 at 06:00 PM.
"There is much to admire, but little to deplore,—many things to enchant, but few to offend,—and for the people, and their institutions, there is a splendid future, behold what you may, see what you can, believe {what you} have a mind to. . .I have given you a very reliable description of the country in which I live and am unwilling to exchange for the frozen North."
—M. J. Mathis of Dallas County, writing to friends in 1859
www.haribon.org.ph
Germany invaded Paris in the 1940's during Hilter's reign of terror across Europe. France basically did nothing to stop them.
Sorry, couldn't resist being a smartass!
I just can't stop laughing... I love all this tasteful humor...
France does have it's racism problems, and they need to deal with them, but they do not hate all Americans. They hate the same americans I do -- those of the mindset "f--k the rest of the world, who cares what they think, they're all stupid anyway."
We have an abundance of that mindset in America, so, its stands to reason that many americans are not well received in other countries with as much national pride as we have.
Leaving this tangent, however, does MARTA have something similiar to DART police? Do they have cameras at stations like DART does? How is the lighting in parking lots, etc? Do you think Dallas will be facing a simliar problem soon, or does the fact that we'll have rail going through very affluent neighborhoods (perhaps even "posh places" hahaha) help our chances? I can only assume that MARTA at some point was as well connected as DART hopes to be. It goes to and from the airport, right? Why is it such a limited passenger base?
I rode MARTA from Lindbergh Station in North Atlanta to the airport last summer. I was surprised to see that there was little development around the stations--nothing along the lines of Mockingbird Station, but then again maybe I just missed it. This may stem from the fact that some (or all) of the stations inside the city are underground.
My experience was that the average rider seemed to be very poor or look homeless. I did not see any businessmen even though it was fairly early in the morning. I also didn't feel very safe as I saw an argument break out that nearly turned into a fistfight.
From what I understand from friends in Atlanta, riding the train doesn't have the "coolness" factor that it does here.
You have to love the thought people put into fake acronymns. That MARTA is classic if not tasteless, but one has to have a sense of humor -- who knows how many fake acronymns good-humored black people have for you crackers.
I rode MARTA once. Although not many crackers, it seemed decent enough. I enjoyed the subway parts.
Personally, I think a similar thing is hurting the West End. Let's face it, many non-black people feel uncomfortable around large groups of black teenagers screaming, running around, and goofing off. This seems to be the nucleus of the West End station; and I think it might "scare off" some non-black people from coming to the West End.
Do you think this is an issue?
I'm a black person, and I do have to agree with you. Such loitering shouldn't be tolerated no matter who it is. Why so many people there just hanging out? The bus transfer station? My funniest/scariest experience there was this guy handing out applications to be in a porno. He was entertaining a lot of people around and scaring some off at the same time. Some big guy says why are you here. I'm tired of listening to your crap. The guys proceed to bump chests a little, and the porno guy takes his stuff and hikes it up the street. Very surreal.
I just get tired of seeing people my age in public. They make me look bad.
lol. Like those kids skateboarding up and down the isle of the DART trains? They were your age.
I think someone told me the reason Deep Ellum was getting 'such a bad reputation' is that blacks were coming in late on weekend nights
"OH MY!"
Since the place mainly draws rebellious suburban kids (it seems), perhaps they just can't deal with anyone who isn't just like them and therefore such a great hue and cry is raised over very little crime...
Last edited by Lakewooder; 07 July 2004 at 08:25 PM.
DART does need to look into checking loitering at stations, etc. Having transit police check for tickets of those waiting at stations would a) help to fix loitering and b) be much easier than walking through a crowded train checking for tickets. It's not perfect, but it's something.
I agree that people shouldn't be afraid of people who are different, but I do see what is going on at the West End station as something different. I wouldn't call that a hangout spot, but rather a 'coming and going' place. Lots of El Centro students passing through as well as West End and some business patrons on that side of town. I imagine this won't be allowed when the Merryvale is up and running.
I agree. It is very annoying.
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
I also agree with you here. This is also very annoying.
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
From first hand experience, this is true. I also don't recall them making such a stink when the skinheads used to roam DE years ago assualting people.
Just noticed these...
Actually, the kind of attitudes towards North Africans and other Islamic immigrants is pretty bad. I've seen it myself, both times I was there. They don't like them.
Yeah, well, go figure. Most people my age also think that DART is an amusement park ride, that or a mobile homeless shelter.
Except for all those First Baptist Academy students that take the train to and from school, I would assume...
What is Merryvale?
I know it would be expensive, but I think it would behoove DART to enclose some stations - West End specifically - to alleviate some loitering. I did not notice such loitering around many El stations in Chicago. People don't want to have to fight through a crowd of teenagers to get off the train.
see "downtown - announced"
http://www.downtowndallas.org/IntownHousing.PDF
gracias.
I rode MARTA from Hartsfield to and from downtown Atlanta and on a recent trip to that city. I won't do it again. On the return trip to the airport, some guy was soliciting people to play a shell game with walnut shells. Some dufus lost $20 bucks to him, and got pissed off. They started fighting and the dufus pulled out a 2 foot length of pipe, and started trying to beat on the other guy. Of course, everyone else in the car moved away as they fought, and at the next stop the gamester jumped off and ran, the dufus in pursuit. Another commuter, a local, told me that that was not an unusual occurence on the train. I hope that DART, as it grows, will do a better job of policing the trains. If average citizens don't feel safe, then the system is doomed to failure. If people act antisocially, they should be removed/barred from the system.
Whoa, that is scary. I agree that the trains need to be safe and "percieved" to be safe.
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
Sad but true, MARTA is falling apart. Seems that as the Olympic spirit diminished, public interest in good public transportation faded faster. I've used MARTA for over three years, and I have never witnessed anything like that, but I have heard about it. I certainly on guard more often. It's too bad.
Crowded trains, can help this a lot. Of the horseplay I've seen, its mostly been on less crowded really late or mid morning trips. DART police actually did something each time. Hopefully DART stays on this and avoids the the complacency that can come with time.
Although the infrastructure is crumbling, MARTA has been great to me over the years. $1.75 to get to the Airport at 5:30 pm is gold in Atlanta. A 3:00 am New Years special train to take me home from a concert at Phillips was golden. The development of Buckhead around Limburgh and the Buckhead Station, GOLDEN. I do not know what the state of Georgia's problem is, but they either need to support this thing, privatize, or do something else with some of their highway funds, or that region is going to descend two or three notches in Dante's little "scenario"...
"To be intimate with a foolish friend is like going to bed with a razor."
After reading this entire thread for the first time only today , I have a few thoughts / questions:
The original article mentioned that parts for MARTA trains were unavailable due to the age of the system, or had to be custom made by third party manufacturers. Will this happen to DART trains as they age? How do cities with much older systems (NY, Chicago, etc.) manage? Although I have never taken MARTA, it looks a lot like the Washington METRO which I have taken dozens of times on trips. That system is popular and runs smoothly - they obviously have spare parts to repair with.
Another poster mentioned the trains in Atlanta never reached the "coolness factor" that DART has. I don't personally think people here ride the trains to be cool, but rather the convenience of not being stuck in traffic for 2 hours each day. Dallas and Atlanta are really so similar, I cannot understand the resistance to commuting on the train in Atlanta when Dallas has really seemed to embrace the trains. I ride Monday-Friday rush hours, and the trains are always crowded. White folks, black folks, hispanics - everybody rides!
How does Houston compare? I know the METRO there is still pretty new. Popular with commuters or no?
Interesting discussion here about MARTA. Now bearing in mind this was a while back and the first two articles were from the time I was living there, its something about Atlanta, that once you FILTER through the sterotypical issues and race issues (which I did not experience) and the ignorance of some people, it is a beautiful place. Don't get me wrong, I love being here in the Metroplex...but for my industry, and what I will like to do...I wish I could return to Atlanta. Granted much has changed there, but my time there was entirely too short.
And 2 years and 10 months later, I am back...and so much has changed. Times have changed but some things stay the same. I miss Dallas...so please enjoy for me.
Well if you want to know anything more about this interesting transit system here...keep watching. In the next couple of weeks I plan (if you want to know) to bring the forum up to speed on the RTR (Regional Transportation Referendum) vote and where does the region's transit system go from here.
Please do! I was following the RTR, and voted against the "plan" without hesitation. Time and time again, the speaking-points and/or a glossy overview of a plan to fix the inadequate, out dated transportation scheme of The ATL surfaces, and will reek to high heaven of the corrupt cronies still holding onto as much as possible. The recent RTR wasn't a plan, it was a another attempted thoughtless molestation of residents' pocketbooks.
A previous multi-billion dollar transportation initiative involved building a I-75 / I-85 cargo shortcut beyond the northern exurbs. The highway would have been equally effective to solve Perimeter congestion as doing nothing. In less than a year of GDOT preparations to get going with the outer loop, the Governor quietly and swiftly canceled the entire initiative. People started sifting through the financials and discovered a small group of elected officials and buddies of the governor were set up to make millions off the construction. The project was canceled and promptly disappeared.
The most recent RTR was simply too similar in nature. I made up my mind after reading about a page of "details" to know the true, esoteric decision makers were frothing to get that thing passed.
Atlanta shows the problem of bringing through traffic, especially freight haulers, anywhere near the urban core. If they do a bypass, it needs to be an expensive toll road way out in the boondocks with very few interchanges, just what truckers can use, but commuter would not pay routinely. It is not to bring more access to commuters. Commuters have all the access they need if all the semis with no business in Atlanta never enter inside the loop.
While I support the South Dallas Inland Port, do not send those trucks up I-35 or around 635. That action would be an unmitigated disaster. It is totally different to be in traffic surrounded by huge trucks. We in Dallas rarely experience that kind of traffic. We do not need to start.
If you mapped Houston's METRO to Dallas, only one station (Fannin South) would fall outside Loop 12. I believe that is true with the new lines they're fixing to open as well. So it's not really for commuters in the same way as Dallas' or MARTA. It does link almost 100 million square feet of workspace, though.
What Houston could use is a freight rail bypass.
There is a lot of truth to your point. The challenge was that while the community had a voice in the matter, some residents I shared information with basically said that the messengers before hand had made many empty promises; so much so that it would have taken much more results to convince them that the proposed improvements (for which the funds were being asked for) would provide benefits in terms of improved mobility, access to jobs, jobs created and paying additional taxes. Those who had the facts waited too late to get the word out, the politics of picking projects was too much and the opponents views were so diverse on skewed positions that it did not have a chance of passing. Unfortunately, the term t-splost was used so much its pure definition was skewed in some instances. The challenge now is something needs to be done to improve mobility; what will it take for a common ground approach to make improvements that the citizens will believe in voting for.
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