Cobb Pkwy BRT line included in Cobb County's Comprehensive Plan (Atlanta: vacation, title)

[SEAandATL]

Originally Posted by primaltech

It's like they're children.

When the one guy says, "this could happen immediately", so what does that mean? He's talking about BRT to this same level of quality as this LA Metro example, and when is he talking?

The Atlanta More MARTA referendum to fund BRT, was 3 years ago now, so why wouldn't this vacation trip have been that year, or before then? Oh, sorry I guess they did the same transit vacation thing then, too.

And meanwhile in embarrassing news on the other side of the Hooch:

https://www.mdjonline.com/news/commi...55bafed38.html

Chairman Boyce and Commissioner Cupid voted to include the BRT projects on the list of submitted Cobb projects for federal funding from ATL, but were outvoted and all 3 BRT projects were stripped out by the other 3 commissioners including my disappointing commissioner Ott.

So only minor items were left in there. Ridiculous.

It's like literally my ENTIRE LIFE all these Metro Atlanta jurisdictions have been "studying" transit. Like damn man, it's not that complicated. Ya just build transit.

This is why the private sector needs to step up. No more waiting for the government and a taxpayer funded system.

[MattCW]

Why would the private sector want to do something unprofitable?

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by primaltech

It's like they're children.

When the one guy says, "this could happen immediately", so what does that mean? He's talking about BRT to this same level of quality as this LA Metro example, and when is he talking?

The Atlanta More MARTA referendum to fund BRT, was 3 years ago now, so why wouldn't this vacation trip have been that year, or before then? Oh, sorry I guess they did the same transit vacation thing then, too.

And meanwhile in embarrassing news on the other side of the Hooch:

https://www.mdjonline.com/news/commi...55bafed38.html

Chairman Boyce and Commissioner Cupid voted to include the BRT projects on the list of submitted Cobb projects for federal funding from ATL, but were outvoted and all 3 BRT projects were stripped out by the other 3 commissioners including my disappointing commissioner Ott.

So only minor items were left in there. Ridiculous.

It's like literally my ENTIRE LIFE all these Metro Atlanta jurisdictions have been "studying" transit. Like damn man, it's not that complicated. Ya just build transit.

Cobb is gonna Cobb

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by cqholt

Cobb is gonna Cobb

Especially with:

Parish said there is no funding currently associated with the county’s proposed projects, and if they are included in the ATL’s Regional Transit Plan, they would have to come back before the board before they are acted upon.

But the ATL was gonna solve all our problems apparently.

"No Bucks, no Buck Rodgers" wasn't just applicable to space travel.

[SEAandATL]

Originally Posted by MattCW

Why would the private sector want to do something unprofitable?

Because it would actually be a positive ROI. If they built a high quality rail to the Battery. Marietta, Kennesaw, etc. people would pay to use it.

[Joe_P]

Because it would actually be a positive ROI. If they built a high quality rail to the Battery. Marietta, Kennesaw, etc. people would pay to use it.

Demand to use transit and people willing to pay to use is not the same as it making money.

Transit and roads for that matter, are not money makers in general.

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by SEAandATL

Because it would actually be a positive ROI. If they built a high quality rail to the Battery. Marietta, Kennesaw, etc. people would pay to use it.

But would enough people pay enough to use it to make it profitable. People pay to use the Streetcar. At its current ridership (last I read was bout 830 per day) and cost, it would take over 300 years just to pay off the original construction cost, much less operations. That's not profitable, and no private developer would take that on.

I think rail between Kennesaw and Midtown would get high ridership, however. I don't think Kennesaw and Marietta to the Battery would be enough of a draw.

[cqholt]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

But would enough people pay enough to use it to make it profitable. People pay to use the Streetcar. At its current ridership (last I read was bout 830 per day) and cost, it would take over 300 years just to pay off the original construction cost, much less operations. That's not profitable, and no private developer would take that on.

I think rail between Kennesaw and Midtown would get high ridership, however. I don't think Kennesaw and Marietta to the Battery would be enough of a draw.

There is a lot of planning that goes into making a transit line successful. Ticket costs, headways, schedule, etc. People are not going to pay the premium that a for-profit, private company would charge if the headways are too long and it doesn't save time. This means more transit vehicles, operators, higher O&M which raises the costs.
The W&A line thru Cobb County is a good opportunity for P3, to bring rail transit to the corridor.

[Need4Camaro]

Originally Posted by primaltech

It's like they're children.

When the one guy says, "this could happen immediately", so what does that mean? He's talking about BRT to this same level of quality as this LA Metro example, and when is he talking?

The Atlanta More MARTA referendum to fund BRT, was 3 years ago now, so why wouldn't this vacation trip have been that year, or before then? Oh, sorry I guess they did the same transit vacation thing then, too.

And meanwhile in embarrassing news on the other side of the Hooch:

https://www.mdjonline.com/news/commi...55bafed38.html

Chairman Boyce and Commissioner Cupid voted to include the BRT projects on the list of submitted Cobb projects for federal funding from ATL, but were outvoted and all 3 BRT projects were stripped out by the other 3 commissioners including my disappointing commissioner Ott.

So only minor items were left in there. Ridiculous.

It's like literally my ENTIRE LIFE all these Metro Atlanta jurisdictions have been "studying" transit. Like damn man, it's not that complicated. Ya just build transit.

Originally Posted by cqholt

Cobb is gonna Cobb

Originally Posted by Gulch

Especially with:



But the ATL was gonna solve all our problems apparently.

"No Bucks, no Buck Rodgers" wasn't just applicable to space travel.

TBH right after I saw that video my first thought was how Cobb, N.Fulton, and Gwinnett would react to such an idea ...

MARTA: Hey guys we found a cool new solution for transit in your region! Let me expla--
Cobb:
N.Fulton:
Gwinnett:
MARTA: okay....okay fine ...I'll come back in 5 years after another taxpayer vacation with a better proposal.

The issue never was the transit means, or even costs. They have the solution right under their nose - they just have their hands tied when it comes to deploying it.

[SEAandATL]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

But would enough people pay enough to use it to make it profitable. People pay to use the Streetcar. At its current ridership (last I read was bout 830 per day) and cost, it would take over 300 years just to pay off the original construction cost, much less operations. That's not profitable, and no private developer would take that on.

I think rail between Kennesaw and Midtown would get high ridership, however. I don't think Kennesaw and Marietta to the Battery would be enough of a draw.

I meant from Midtown to the Battery, Marietta, and Kennesaw. Of course ridership will peak during the Braves season. I think with high quality trains that are kept cleaned and well maintained with about 10 minute or less headways would work.

Originally Posted by cqholt

There is a lot of planning that goes into making a transit line successful. Ticket costs, headways, schedule, etc. People are not going to pay the premium that a for-profit, private company would charge if the headways are too long and it doesn't save time. This means more transit vehicles, operators, higher O&M which raises the costs.
The W&A line thru Cobb County is a good opportunity for P3, to bring rail transit to the corridor.

In that case it would be more likely to go direct to Downtown instead of Midtown. That is a little bit closer to reality than to build a HRT or even LRT line from scratch. It shouldn't be too much trouble to run DMU trains on the existing lines, although they probably need to upgrade the tracks and build a few stations. Marietta Station could be used for that purpose again.