Quote:
Originally Posted by ATLMidcity
Denver, Charlotte, Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, and even tiny metro Salt Lake City all have implemented more rail miles than booming Atlanta. What gives?
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Well for one, Atlanta had heavy rail before any of those cities even thought about their light rails systems. So those cities are still playing catch-up to us. I'll take Atlanta's 48 miles of grade-separated heavy rail any day over the light rail in the cities you mention.
Los Angeles isn't really in the conversation because it's just on a whole other level than Atlanta in terms of size, tax base, and state support. Seattle and Portland (and to some degree central Denver) have urban forms that are much more conducive to transit, walking, and biking.
Really you should be comparing Atlanta to peer cities like Houston, Nashville, Dallas, Miami, etc., and we blow them all out of the water in terms of rail transit ridership. In fact, depending on how you count, MARTA is in the top 10 most used transit systems in the country. MARTA weekday rail ridership is more than Dallas DART, Houston MetroRail, Charlotte Lynx, and the Portland streetcar
combined.