Seriously. Who’s In Charge Here?
Despite my earnest desire for real, viable, “sell your car and be done with it” mass transit in metro Atlanta, I realize that it will - no matter what - take some time for MARTA to reach that point. As such, I try to keep my expectations of the little transit system that we love to hate within the realm of reality. So instead of, “I want a rail line that goes up I-75, and another one that goes to the Emory area, and more stops along the Northeast line - and I want it now!“, I opt for, “In lieu of more densely packed rail access, I would like bus service to be more frequent.” Or, “I would like turnstiles that actually work.” Come on now, MARTA; that’s not too much to ask for, is it?
Here’s the thing: MARTA turnstiles will, without reason or warning, sometimes just not let you through. It doesn’t matter if you have a monthly card. It doesn’t matter if you purchased and properly deposited a token. Their moods are as fickle as that of a 14-year-old girl. “Frustrating” would be an understatement to describe this situation; it’s downright stupid. I should not have to be writing a ranty blog post about wanting functional turnstiles.
The Arts Center Station is particularly notorious for turnstile treachery. This especially pisses me off in light of the renovations to the escalators taking place in that station - which seem to consist mainly of putting new tile on the walls. People! Hello!! They’re called priorities - and escalator wall tile shouldn’t be at the top of the list! Eager, law-abiding MARTA patrons shouldn’t have to jump the turnstiles (and subsequently injure themselves) to enter the station.
The boyfriend and I went through this little dance at Arts Center yesterday (as detailed in his post, linked above), and again at the Decatur station. The Decatur incident demonstrated the inanity of the situation; I went through without a problem, and said something like, “See, the turnstiles actually work at this station”; then I hear from behind, “Don’t speak so soon.” It let me through but it wouldn’t let him through.
MARTA, if you’re wondering why more people aren’t riding your trains, here’s a possible reason: they can’t get in. Get your priorities straight and quit tiling the walls.
[Cross-posted, with more profanity, at Being Amber Rhea]
October 3rd, 2005 at 5:58 am
Good news is that by this time next year, all the turnstiles will be replaced by a new system.
October 3rd, 2005 at 6:51 am
That doesn’t make my shin any less injured today.
October 3rd, 2005 at 8:06 am
Sounds like those cards will replace tokens (finally!) - but I imagine turnstiles will still be needed, like in every other subway system that takes cards. Right?
October 3rd, 2005 at 10:32 am
Wrong - they won’t be turnstiles any more but gates. You swipe your card & the gate opens.
At least it should operate like that, but supposedly this is a more fail-safe entry system. At least it appeared to operate nicely in NYC & Washington.
October 3rd, 2005 at 5:44 pm
What are you talking about? They have turnstiles in NYC and DC. Yeah you swipe a card, but it’s still a turnstile you go through.
October 3rd, 2005 at 7:59 pm
CfPT posted more info to check out. This is from the opening of the Armour Yard facility.
October 3rd, 2005 at 8:06 pm
Auuuugh! I know. I really wish I’d had my camera the day the STAIRS at Arts Center were blocked off for re-tiling (or whatever they were doing). I would have captioned it, “MARTA, where even the stairs are out of order.”
If you can’t get through the turnstile, just go over to the gate for people with luggage/disabled persons and reach over and press the bar on the back. It’s what the station attendant does if they happen to be standing there when your token or card doesn’t work.
October 3rd, 2005 at 9:34 pm
Interesting. Thanks for the link, Joe.
And, I thought the Armour Yard facility had been open for a while. Shows how much (or little!) I know!
October 4th, 2005 at 12:03 pm
Amber - this is what I’m talking about:
http://170.121.15.3/metrorail/faregates.cfm
Ok - I suppose in the broader sense they are still turnstiles, but they are not the same type of turnstiles found in MARTA.
October 4th, 2005 at 7:34 pm
Ooo, are we going to be able to buy/recharge those cards at any station? Because I never remember to buy my monthly transcard at Five Points before the end of the month, so I always have to buy a token to get to work on the first workday of the month (put the dollar in, watch the machine spit the dollar out and suck it back in - pull the dollar out, repeat until someone takes pity on me and hands me a better dollar bill) and then buy my transcard when I get there. This could easily be fixed with a little forethought, but the convenience of being able to get a card at Avondale would be great.
October 5th, 2005 at 12:12 pm
Not only that, but you’ll also be able to put money on your card online.
October 6th, 2005 at 2:44 pm
Marta is the most horrible transit system in the US. Why are they
replacing the turnstiles when they don’t even maintain the ones they
currently have? The new turnstiles are jump-proof. This means once the new
ones start to break and aren’t maintained; nobody will be able to get
into the stations. Nobody will be riding. Does this make sense? Remember
how Marta rolled out the “onboard entertainment systems” on the trains
and buses with great hoorah? (an obvious attempt to distract us from
the horrible service)Well does anyone notice how these have not been
maintained and the majority are now broken. Even the semi-useful next train
arrival, and status announcement on the boards in the stations are
broken. Where the announcement used to be on the bottom of the screen, is
an announcement that the former arrival announcement is broken. Next
point: does anyone at Marta understand or care that some of us use the
system to actually get to destinations; and need to be at these
destinations at given times? The bus that “services” the office park I work in
only runs 6 times daily-3 morning times and 3 evening times. On Tuesday
the 5:30pm bus did not show up until 6:30pm. The bus that did show then
proceeded to pick up passengers for the 6:40pm time. I did not get
home-12 miles away until 8:00 pm. At other times the 5:30 bus has
completely failed to appear. There has also been instances where the driver
assigned did not know the route, and has asked passengers for directions.
In one of these instances I and my fellow passengers ended up in Cobb
County up near the Galleria. How about the service times with the trains?
30 Minutes between trains at rush hour during the week? This happens
frequently-it happened to me last night at Lindbergh. No apology, nor
anyone from Marta explaining how long it would take for a Doraville train
to arrive. Just constant announcements that there was a service
delay-DUH! What a waste of intercom airtime. I have used public transit in
D.C., Chicago, San Fran, San Jose, none are run with the incompetence that
Marta is.
October 6th, 2005 at 3:07 pm
Now THAT should be made into an AJC letter.