MARTA and public transportation (Atlanta, Dallas: crime, taxes, living in)

[ThreeSides]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Another reason why people fear MARTA.


Harlem Shake on MARTA (Atlanta Edition) - YouTube

Is it me, or is the Harlem Shake one of the most moist behaviors in the known universe?

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by ThreeSides

Is it me, or is the Harlem Shake one of the most moist behaviors in the known universe?

What does moist mean in that context?

[Adric]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

Because the people who do not even live in Atlanta will come here and mention that our rail doesnt go OTP

Even though it does? Indian Creek, Sandy Springs, Dunwoody, and North Springs stations are all OTP, though not very far out.

[NY2ATL2NY]

Umm Indian Creek is Like 30 Feet outside the Perimeter! The Only tru OTP line is the Northern Stops afta Dunwoody. Its Funny like someone mentioned here that its called "Metropolitan" and yet it only serves only 2 Counties and not Even all of it ( SE Dekalb,South Fulton co ) by comparison the entire Rail system is ONLY 48 Miles Long...Which was great for when it was built but Sorely Outdated as the Metro Has expanded Big time since 1979....Here in New York the "A" Line alone is 31 Miles end to end. Overall we got over 800 miles of Rail...And Even then It still dosent cover All Parts ( SE Queens, Southern Brooklyn, Eastern Bronx) Imagine Atlanta cris ccrossed in Rail lines? One could go from Cobb County all the way to Rockdale! But Politics as always played an unfortunate role in Atlantas Mass transit And as a Direct Result we Have the Traffic we have Today....O yea before I get Basked by the Native Atlantans....I Lived In Covington For over 5 years and worked DownTown...So ive seen firsthand how bad transportation is down there

[bryantm3]

yeah, it sucks, but there's not much we can do until marta fixes their problems managing money... maybe then we can get state funding.

[tonygeorgia]

I told ya!

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by bryantm3

yeah, it sucks, but there's not much we can do until marta fixes their problems managing money... maybe then we can get state funding.

MARTA currently operates on a service area tax set up by the state nearly 45 years ago. In other words, everyone who buys something within the MARTA service area is subject to a one percent sales tax.

Maybe it's time for the state to move away from this service-area model. Abolish the current tax that applies in DeKalb and Fulton only, and move to one that applies to the whole state. In other words, if you buy something in Georgia, one percent of your money will go to transit.

Granted, people in these other areas will probably start clamoring for a share of the revenue. "If we're paying the transit tax," they'll say, "then we should get transit service, too."

And it's hard to argue with that. Otherwise they'd be like the folks in counties like Cobb, Gwinnett and Rockdale are now -- every time they cross the county line to buy something, they get whacked with a tax despite not getting any service.

Nonetheless, I'm sure those kinks could be worked out. And it would open MARTA to receive additional funding from the state of Georgia as a whole, instead of just the area it services.

Seems like it would be a political no-brainer as well. It might be several decades before MARTA is able to provide service to these other areas but people typically don't mind paying for something if they're getting good value in return.

[Mahatma X]

MARTA should look to WMATA for inspiration. Both systems have a lot in common and the rail cars are similiar but WMATA is just a lot larger than MARTA is and WMATA's bus service is superior except for in PG county, Maryland where most of the buses have 30-60 minute headways like ATL does.

[westau]

Originally Posted by waronxmas

I'll never understand why people add the qualifier of "if you live near it". Isn't that the whole point?

It is because it is so limited in where it goes. It probably only reasonably serves 30% of the metro population. There are points in Fulton and Dekalb County that are a 30 minute drive from a Marta station.

The point of transit should be to go where the people are, not for the people to have to go to the 1/4th of the area it claims it is supposed to serve.

[arjay57]

South DeKalb and North Fulton are definitely at the front of the pack to get transit before MARTA even thinks about building lines anywhere else. They've been paying in for 40 years and are long overdue.