Cobb Pkwy BRT line included in Cobb County's Comprehensive Plan (Atlanta: light rail, designs)

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by bu2

Well if we spend a bunch of money on a commuter rail line parallel to a freeway with a HOT lane (which would only require capital outlays for a bus), that's millions of dollars we no longer have the OPTION to use to improve service in other ways.

Yeah but a commuter rail would likely not need improvements immediately after implementation just due to the very nature of how it operates in not sharing RoW with vehicles

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by SAAN

Most folks in NYC and DC have to transfer after they get off the commuter rail, so I dont think hopping on MARTA from Eastpoint will be a deal breaker

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Yeah but theres a difference between NYC and Atlanta. In NYC it is impedingly difficult to drive within Manhattan so more people will be willing to make that transfer, also how many of them are transferring to another train? In Atlanta if you start making too many transfers people will just choose to drive.

Riders from Clayton County already transfer at CP or East Point.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by Need4Camaro

Yeah but a commuter rail would likely not need improvements immediately after implementation just due to the very nature of how it operates in not sharing RoW with vehicles

Nor does a properly designed HOV/HOT lane as they have in Houston and other places.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Riders from Clayton County already transfer at CP or East Point.

And it would be nice not to have them 2nd class citizens and get a one vehicle ride to downtown.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by primaltech

I feel like we need a collective reminder that the reason Atlanta is noteworthy and not some small southern town like most of the South, the reason Georgia is not Alabama or Mississippi economically, is because WE INVESTED IN STUFF. We implemented taxes, and built out progressive infrastructure and public projects (MARTA, airport, major highway projects, skyscraper-friendly zoning, etc). And then, after about the early 90's, we basically stopped. And look what happened, lots of other cities started to catch up to Atlanta, particularly along the Sun Belt.

We should go back to the ambitious Atlanta. That's what made this city and area great.

Doesn't mean New York or Chicago style taxes. But we can't have not enough taxes to the point that it cripples the ability to have great expansion projects. The city and metro is growing. We need to think big.

What an amazing concept. To get public stuff, you have to invest in it.

Seems as if a lot of other countries know this. Why can't we any more?

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by walker1962

This thread started over FOUR years ago and from what I can see, nothings been done! In that time in Dallas/Fort Worth, two additional light rail lines have opened, several have been extended and a streetcar line started service. I know in Denver, D.C. and hell even in NYC, expansion has occurred. It's ridiculous the greater ATL area remains so disjointed in its plans to expand public transit!

And yet our ridership still blows DFW out of the water.

[toll_booth]

Originally Posted by JMatl

And yet our ridership still blows DFW out of the water.

Because North Texas has light rail, not heavy rail. They also have three commuter rail lines, but they don't get a lot of traffic.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by toll_booth

Because North Texas has light rail, not heavy rail. They also have three commuter rail lines, but they don't get a lot of traffic.

I'm aware of this. He continues to brag about DFW and put down Atlanta in post after post. We do some things right here, and having HRT is definitely one of them. DFW has more than double the track mileage of Atlanta, yet we continue to have impressive ridership here that is more than double theirs. I will continue to push back against his obnoxious attempts to continually paint Atlanta in a negative light. It's time somebody does.

[primaltech]

Since this thread has a lot of (deserved) complaining about Cobb and transit, I'll mention a positive note, that CobbLinc is at least going to make its biggest improvements in its history, next month:

https://www.cobbcounty.org/transport.../announcements

Sunday service
Rapid bus service every 15 minutes, with that BRT-like or ART-like Rapid10 route
Other route modifications and streamlining and improvements

I'm glad to see this, but the county needs more funding for transit, regardless of MARTA, and regardless of MARTA there needs to be better seamless integration with MARTA under ATL, so hopefully at least that much will happen.

[primaltech]

At least give the Rapid10 some signal priority and a higher capacity slinky bus.