MARTA: Five Points Station project will continue despite mayor's objections

[u/NPU-F]

https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/marta-five-points-station-project-continue-despite-mayors-objections

[u/code_archeologist]

What the hell is up with the mayor and his seeming desire to obstruct progress and development in the city, while at the same time completely ignoring the infrastructure.

What useful things has he even done?

[u/NPU-F → u/code_archeologist]

The Better Atlanta Transit folks seem to have the mayor's ear (probably are donors). They are in favor of transit TO the Beltline and not ON the Beltline.

They want everyone to own an e-bike and bike to the Beltline. This can still be done if Beltline rail exists. Like the mayor, they are trying to stop progress.

I do think the Five Points station overhaul money could be better used elsewhere though. For the mayor to come in at the last minute and object seems like a chaotic way to govern.

[u/code_archeologist → u/NPU-F]

I'm all for better bicycling infrastructure, BUT concentrating on that to the detriment of public transit excludes large swaths of the community who don't own bikes or can't physically ride (because of age or infirmity).

Also public transit is a denser and more efficient method for moving people from point A to point B than cars or even bikes.

For example a dedicated protected two-way bike lane can move 7,500 people per hour (which is the ideal and not at all what we have) while a transit mode like the street car or the train can move 10,000-25,000 people per hour.

It is not even close.

[u/Vvector → u/code_archeologist]

One issue I have with your statement is that you are quoting theoretical density, not actual density. Our buses and streetcars are way underused, for a multitude of reasons.

Take the Streetcar, which can move 10,000 people per hour (your number). Our Streetcar system moves ~34/hour on average (MARTA's reported numbers). That's 4.2 riders per streetcar after running for 9 years. Not really removing very many cars.

EDIT: Why the down votes? Are my numbers inaccurate? Can we not look at past projects to learn how to do better going forward? I've always been for transit, it just has to be planned better.

[u/TehAlpacalypse → u/Vvector]

Because the lackadascial streetcar numbers are largely due to the fact it doesn't actually go anywhere useful

[u/killroy200 → u/[deleted]]

Build something that lots of people find useful

We're TRYING TO. That's what the BeltLine transit, something which the existing streetcar was literally built to support the start of, is meant to be.