MARTA is trying to be "SMARTA"

You may have heard lately that MARTA has gotten serious about persuing a "Northern Expansion"... The plan is being called Connect400 (learn more). Other than a very small minority that seems to have forgotten that they live near a City and not in the middle of Montana, the support is overwhelmingly positive for SOMETHING to be done.

There are a few options on the table: (this list is not all encompassing, but does cover the most popular)

1. Run a "Bus Rapid Transit" (or BRT) Line north from the North Springs Station up to Alpharetta and potentially further north to Cumming. This is an interesting proposal because it does help with having the buses avoid 400 traffic when making their way South to North Springs. However, that is ALL that this plan really does. It still forces those of us that live North of the River to change modes of transportation. We still would take a "bus-to-a-train". This would, at best, reduce our travel time by 5-10 minutes. Not exactly a great use of capital.

2. Extend "Light Rail" in a very similar fashion to the BRT plan (see above). Unfortunately, this idea is even worse as it is more expensive than Option 1 and would provide the exact same result.

3. Extend "Heavy Rail" North from North Springs up to Windward Parkway (and potentially further in the future). This is a plan to extend the current "Red" line that stops at North Springs further North to Windward Parkway with stops being added at Northridge, Holcomb Bridge, Mansell, North Point Mall, and Windward Parkway. This is a plan that has some real excitement and purpose. For those currently commuting from "North Fulton" (And I include anyone north of the River for this discussion), this would mean no longer having to cram onto 400 (or Roswell Road) with everyone else, in order to get over one of the two existing river crossings. (See previous post about that trainwreck...) You could drive (on surface streets) to the nearest MARTA station. Park your car and take ONE mode of transportation into Atlanta.

As an example, for those currently living in North Roswell/South Alpharetta and commuting to Buckhead: today's commute (if you try to take as much mass transit as possible) takes you 15 minutes (via car) to get to Mansell Park-And-Ride, 5 minutes to wait for the bus (if you're lucky), 20 minutes (via bus) to get to North Springs, 10 minutes to wait for the next train since you missed your regular one (usually), 15 minute train ride to Buckhead. Even if your office is only 5 minutes from the Buckhead Station that is 1 hour and 10 minutes to get to work, door-to-door. (Lots of empirical data here...)

If Option 3 was implemented, you'd drive 15 minutes to Old Milton Station (near 400), potentially wait 5 minutes for the next train, and then 20 minutes later you're in Buckhead, and 5 minutes after that, you're at work. That is a total of 45 minutes to work: Saving you 25 minutes EACH WAY. Plus, the fact that this commute is a single-mode-of-travel takes out all the stress involved in running from the bus to the train and hoping you make your connection... which you rarely make.

Extending Heavy Rail northward would lower commute times, take more cars off the road, and make commuting (heaven forbid) less stressful. Sounds like a good investment to me! ..But I ride MARTA from Holcomb Bridge on a regular basis.  What say you?

Here's a map of the proposed allignments.

They forgot about the buses...

When the state of Georgia thought about how to ease congestion on Georgia 400, they did what most people would think of: just make the highway wider. As we all know, they converted the southbound, right shoulder lane from a lane that only buses could use (or regular cars in an emergency) to a lane that all cars can use between the hours of 6:30am and 10am Monday through Friday.

Has this alleviated the traffic problem? Has it even made it any better? Not by much...

And, what was the one thing that everyone forgot about? The buses... or more accurately, the bus schedules.

Before the change in lane use, the bus schedule gave 15 minutes for the 140 bus to get from Mansell Park-and-Ride to the North Springs Train Station. Assuming the bus would make the trip in 15 minutes, there is a 3 minute cushion between the bus arrival and the train departure. In a perfect world (i.e. Not Atlanta on a Monday morning), that gives you plenty of time to make the connection from bus-to-train.

However, now there is no dedicated bus lane on 400. The 140 bus has to drive (or, more accurately, idle) with all the other private and commercial traffic on the highway. That means the ride from Mansell to North Springs, on a typical traffic day, now takes longer than 15 minutes. If there is an accident, the ride can take as long as 25 minutes. On average, the 140 Bus misses the train about 50% of the time. That is a HORRIBLE ratio for a city that claims to be a "major metropolitan area".

There are several options for the City to consider as solutions to this problem:

1. Modify the bus schedules to account for the additional traffic. Change the time allotted to get from Mansell-to-North Springs, for example from 15 minutes to 20 minutes. Additionally, coordinate the new arrival times to leave 5-7 minutes between arrival and departure to allow for delays on bad traffic days. I am sure there are several other bus routes that could use this examination, but the 140 is the one most familiar to the writer.

2. Increase the frequency of trains during peak rush hour. I know people will scoff at this, but I am not asking for a lot here. The trains run every 15 minutes during PEAK time. That is 4 trains per hour. The suggestion I have it so make that one train every 10 minutes, or 6 trains per hour. And only for the 4 hours from 6am to 10am and then in the afternoon from 3pm to 7pm. This would be 8 hours a day with 2 additional trains per hour. Which would mean 16 additional trains per day. Doesn't sound like a big commitment. I'll openly admit that I am not aware of the capacity left in the MARTA train system, but I do ride past the train yards and see MANY cars sitting idle...

Without any changes to the MARTA system, people are arriving late to work because of late buses, missed trains, and an infrequent train schedule. In an economy that is just starting to get it's legs back, people can't afford to arrive late and face the possibility of losing their job. In a metropolitan area that desperately needs an improved mass transit system, the State has made it even less convenient to take your car off the highway and take mass transit.