MC General Chat



Dewi said:

A lot of it isn't so much the tracks themselves, but the alignment, older bridges, and at-grade crossings that require significantly slower speeds. Most of the time is lost in those stretches, and the deceleration/acceleration stretches following. :nerd:

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yup. It really only hauls ass for a few sections, but you can feel the car change camber in the turns. Pretty cool.



Dewi said:

A lot of it isn't so much the tracks themselves, but the alignment, older bridges, and at-grade crossings that require significantly slower speeds. Most of the time is lost in those stretches, and the deceleration/acceleration stretches following. :nerd:

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Thank your local politicians for turning down stimulus money to build high speed rail.



unbelragazzo said:

Thank your local politicians for turning down stimulus money to build high speed rail.

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Not just them, but also the populous. I live in Atlanta, and we had a transportation sales tax on the ballot back in the primaries in late July. It failed spectacularly, 3:1 against. And people still have the testicular fortitude to complain when traffic is horrendous. "Why don't they do something about it?"



Dewi said:

Not just them, but also the populous. I live in Atlanta, and we had a transportation sales tax on the ballot back in the primaries in late July. It failed spectacularly, 3:1 against. And people still have the testicular fortitude to complain when traffic is horrendous. "Why don't they do something about it?"

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Agreed. I do not understand this.

There is that Cameron Crowe film, "Singles" that touches on it: People love their cars.



Dewi said:

Not just them, but also the populous. I live in Atlanta, and we had a transportation sales tax on the ballot back in the primaries in late July. It failed spectacularly, 3:1 against. And people still have the testicular fortitude to complain when traffic is horrendous. "Why don't they do something about it?"

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To be fair they proposed that tax in conjunction with a lot of other, less honorable, policies. There were far-reaching effects of the bill. However, politics aside, MARTA is a complete abortion. It was created on a completely un-scalable platform for a city that more or less no longer exists. To make any impact we'd need a completely new solution and not just gild a turd. And even then, driving is a culture in Atlanta. OTP-ers wouldn't know what to make of a real, effective mass transportation solution.

Again, however, I'll keep the debate out of MC



bourbonbasted said:

However, politics aside, MARTA is a complete abortion. It was created on a completely un-scalable platform for a city that more or less no longer exists.

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Now this is a true point.



patrickBOOTH said:

There is that Cameron Crowe film, "Singles" that touches on it: People love their cars.

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That they do. They're wonderful, yet also terrible machines, often operated by people with substandard training and certification.



bourbonbasted said:

To be fair they proposed that tax in conjunction with a lot of other, less honorable, policies. There were far-reaching effects of the bill. However, politics aside, MARTA is a complete abortion. It was created on a completely un-scalable platform for a city that more or less no longer exists. To make any impact we'd need a completely new solution and not just gild a turd. And even then, driving is a culture in Atlanta. OTP-ers wouldn't know what to make of a real, effective mass transportation solution.
Again, however, I'll keep the debate out of MC

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I quite like the new CEO/GM. His attitude seems to be one that will, or at least should, work well with the powers that be in the state, and at the same time push whatever system we end up with forward.

MARTA is a mess on purpose. Atlanta Magazine actually had a few pretty good articles on MARTA and the state of transportation in the city and sprawl leading up to the vote that shed some light on the history of the system that a lot of people didn't know. I was surprised how many of my colleagues didn't know the circumstances the system was founded in.

EDIT: Yeah, they buggered the bill pretty bad, timing wise, and the policy could've been a lot better.



Dewi said:

I quite like the new CEO/GM. His attitude seems to be one that will, or at least should, work well with the powers that be in the state, and at the same time push whatever system we end up with forward.
MARTA is a mess on purpose. Atlanta Magazine actually had a few pretty good articles on MARTA and the state of transportation in the city and sprawl leading up to the vote that shed some light on the history of the system that a lot of people didn't know. I was surprised how many of my colleagues didn't know the circumstances the system was founded in.
EDIT: Yeah, they buggered the bill pretty bad, timing wise, and the policy could've been a lot better.

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I remember seeing that article, though I will admit I didn't read it with too much attention.

Perhaps the biggest indictment of MARTA is that I was raised in Atlanta and have lived here for the better part of 20 years. Yet I only started using MARTA with any regularity in the past three years (and even then it has only been to the airport and to Falcons/Hawks/Thrashers {RIP} games). I literally had to learn all of the lines, times and routes after living here for 17 years. Mass transit simply isn't something that most know or care about in the city.

Interesting.



Dewi said:

That they do. They're wonderful, yet also terrible machines, often operated by people with substandard training and certification.

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HEY NOW!

i love my car, but very often its just not the best solution. if people really are against better train systems because they love their cars, they should not be allowed to vote on anything altogether.



in stitches said:

HEY NOW!
i love my car, but very often its just not the best solution. if people really are against better train systems because they love their cars, they should not be allowed to vote on anything altogether.

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Honestly, I often find mine IS the best solution. I did a DC to NYC trip recently, and driving worked out to be faster, the timing was more flexible, and gas and train fare were just about equivalent. Packing was lower stress too- had some adventures finding street parking in Greenwich Village, but it was eminently doable. Tolls made it more expensive than the train, but it was still worth the flexibility I got in schedule.

I would vote for better train service precisely because my car is so often the better option.



cptjeff said:

Honestly, I often find mine IS the best solution. I did a DC to NYC trip recently, and driving worked out to be faster, the timing was more flexible, and gas and train fare were just about equivalent. Packing was lower stress too- had some adventures finding street parking in Greenwich Village, but it was eminently doable. Tolls made it more expensive than the train, but it was still worth the flexibility I got in schedule.
I would vote for better train service precisely because my car is so often the better option.

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interesting, i find with gas, tolls and city parking, bmore to nyc and back is far cheaper and quicker via train.

but, where in the city you are going, how much moving and shaking you will be doing, so on and so on.... all factor in too.

dif strokes for dif folks.



in stitches said:

HEY NOW!
i love my car, but very often its just not the best solution. if people really are against better train systems because they love their cars, they should not be allowed to vote on anything altogether.

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I love my car, as well. Sadly, in Atlanta at any rate, you have almost no choice but to drive. Like Bourbon said, MARTA has not been all that well run, historically. I live right off of a bus line (one), and while I can tell you the route number, I can't tell you where it goes. I rode it once to see how long it took to get to the train station (MARTA basically runs their buses as loops coming out of train stations, FWIW). It took 45 minutes in no traffic. To drive it: 10-15 minutes.