How Did This Happen ?
This being my first post about Atlanta, I thought I would take the time to start some bitching about my birthplace. I was born in this city, yes I am a “Grady Baby”, and I am proud of that. They did a good job with me but I think I was switched at birth. I could’ve sworn that I was Ted Turner’s son. Oh well, that’s life. Back to the bitching. What tickes me off at this time is Marta. I take Marta to GSU all the time. Most of the time it is ultra depressing. When you get on at Avondale, the trouble begins.
At most Marta stations, you have to walk up a mountain of steps because the escalator is only working one day out of the week. Don’t even think about putting your hands or article of clothing on the pads because when you get to the top you are covered in some unidentifiable black smudge. You then curse Marta under your breath and proceed to the next problem.
Marta does not make it easy by having the fares be even. They make it the ultra odd, time consuming fee of $1.75. What gives I say ? What gives ? If it was $2.00 that would be fine with me ? Who wants an extra quarter in their pocket ? It also makes it difficult if you are in a group and want to buy tokens in bulk. Noone ever puts in $20.00 in the machines, because that makes things way too complicated.
Well once that is through, you have to navigate your way through the turnbuckels but then you are stopped. Why ? Because only one of the three gates is accepting change right now. The other two have been sealed shut with unsanitary band-aids.
Once you do get your token through the gate, you walk down short, slippery stairs. I have busted my but, many a time. Everytime the response is the same. Laughter and chuckles by some teenage punk. I give them the bird and walk on.
Waiting for the Marta train is an especially boring event. They recently installed LCD screens that only show one thing. The same iPod ad over and over. At first this had the wow factor and then you think to yourself, where is Marta getting all of this money for these screens ? Is this why the rate is expected to rise within the year ? Oh well… It is the city of Atlanta.
When the train finally arrives. You walk on two tacky carpeting from the 70’s. No music is playing, no one is saying anything. Everyone changes into ZOMBIE mode. I call it the Marta game. If you make eye contact with a fellow Marta rider ,you fail. If you talk out loud, you fail. If you stare at the carpet, you pass. If you have headphones on, listening to bad music, you pass. And finally, if you sit in a seat that drips water on your head, you get the grand prize !!
The marta game is not for everyone, only the bored, unassuming riders, who expected public transportation to be half-way decent.
Am I buggin ya ? I didn’t mean to bug ya !! —BONO
August 11th, 2005 at 6:00 pm
Just FYI - MARTA didn’t spend any money on the tv’s in the stations or bus’s.
But otherwise I understand your pains, I think most do. But I am also not a fan of the style of infrastructure MARTA uses, the stations were designed as uselss marvels of modernism - as large as possible it seems.
Then I visit Dallas & their light rail - it takes just a short minute to get to the platform rather than the maze of stairs & walkways (my station is MLK).
August 11th, 2005 at 11:17 pm
This will all be a moot point soon, anyway. MARTA will move away from the flat-rate model & start charging more or less based on where you get on/off. That makes more sense to me (although it will probably mean that I’ll end up paying more when I actually do ride).
August 13th, 2005 at 12:47 pm
I totally agree with you on the fare thing - if you don’t regularly travel to one of the stations with a Ridestore, you’re pretty much stuck buying your tokens a few at a time (except that, as a GSU student, you COULD go buy bulk tokens or farecards at the Auxiliary Services Office at GSU, unless they’ve changed that). The only think I like about those new displays in the station is that it tells me how long I’m going to have to wait and how many cars the train will be (so that I can get far enough down the platform to get in the first car, which is usually less crowded).
August 14th, 2005 at 12:16 am
Or even better, if you go to GSU, you can buy a monthly pass for $26. Its amazing isnt it?
I hate to say this, but the north line is much easier to use. the stations are newer, and seem to be easier to use. The North Springs and Sandy Springs stations both have ridestores. Usually the trains are nicer, but recently we have been getting the tacky 70’s carpet again. Oh well. I think MARTA ignores the east-west line because most of the people in the north are marto-phobic.
August 14th, 2005 at 9:00 am
Thankfully, they’re rehabilitating all the old trains, ripping out the carpets, installing rubberized flooring. Bad news is it’s getting done two cars at a time, so it’ll be a little while before we start seeing the real results of the “Getting as Good as New” program.
August 14th, 2005 at 11:25 pm
Brad - that’s true about most of the DART stations, but DART is even worse than MARTA in terms of actually going places. but, granted, it’s a lot newer too. It has potential to be good - but last I checked, they weren’t really working much on expanding it. When I lived in Dallas (Aug. 2003-March 2004) I took DART to work… the ride was about an hour, almost the entire length of the Red line… I lived in Plano and worked in Oak Cliff. It was definitely better than driving. However, one thing that annoyed the crap out of me was the fact that DART didn’t go to the airport. To get there, you had to transfer to the TRE and pay an additional fare. It was just too big of a pain in the ass. I think for any new transit system to get ridership, the airport needs to be one of the first places it goes.