Quote:
Originally Posted by shivtim
Simms3, you live across the street from one MARTA Station, and work across the street from another MARTA station a few stops away, both of which are in heavily urban areas, yet you still drive? No offense, but it sounds to me like you're part of the problem.
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I actually take MARTA very frequently relative to the typical Atlantan, but nowadays I walk in Midtown, even occasionally from downtown to Midtown and vice versa, thus eliminating that trip, and I mostly drive to work, thus mostly eliminating that trip. I might ride the train 10 times in a month, sometimes more, sometimes less.
I drive for several good reasons. With MARTA fares the way they are, especially now, and given the gas mileage on my brand new car, it is cheaper for me to drive. Two, given the longgg headways for MARTA even during the short rush "hour" during 7-9AM and 4-6PM, it is much quicker for me to drive as I face no traffic on my 5-6 mile commute. Three, often I have to run errands where MARTA does not go, and it obviously does not go most places. Four, parking in my condo building is free and parking in my office building is paid for by my employer. Five, the walk from the Buckhead Station to my office building is half a mile, which to me is not a long walk, but I hate walking in Buckhead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RobMidtowner
There are plenty of pedestrians walking along Peachtree through Buckhead. The bridge makes sense because it improves MARTA access to the majority of the business district. You would be surprised how quickly ridership drops as walking distance to and from the station rises.
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There is a small lunch hour "rush" to get to Bistro Niko and F2O and a small rush at 5-6, especially of BCBS GA employees leaving their building to get to the MARTA station, which is right next door. There is not a lot of pedestrian activity, and no matter how hard they try, the area will always be suited much more for the car. Really nobody north of the station takes MARTA...it's all Atlanta Financial Center, Tower Place, BCBS GA, and some Terminus, and a *very* small percentage of each with the exception of BCBS GA.
Workers in my building will walk to Bistro Niko for lunch, maybe Chipotle on Piedmont at furthest, but you can forget about convincing most to ditch their cars. The major lunch destinations outside of specific office buildings are to the south/west in the new Buckhead Village where Souper Jenny's is and towards Pharr where Fido's is. Trust me, nobody is walking to those areas and parking there is as impossible sometimes as it is to park in Chicago or New York.
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Just because an upgrade was made that doesn't fit your needs doesn't mean that it isn't needed. The above rant is a very personal one and doesn't apply to everyone - even if you believe that is does.
Can you just imagaine a bunch of tuxedos and ballroom dresses riding MARTA to a concert at the Symphony Center?? 
. Art Center Station is just a massive, ugly, leaking, smelly structure and it's hard to say it really adds value to the area (even though it does to a degree). I was beat up there once actually, so in my biased opinion security is not as high as it should be, either. Of course this was at 11:30PM and apparently because I was white, alone, and dressed to go out I was "asking" for it.
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