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I'm not sure about DC, but for Atlanta at least it's really a question of density. Atlanta's one of the least dense major metros, so outside of the major corrid

I'm not sure about DC, but for Atlanta at least it's really a question of density. Atlanta's one of the least dense major metros, so outside of the major corridors that MARTA already runs on, there's not a lot of big wins to be had by adding more stations. In my opinion, Atlanta's actually pretty well-built in a lot of ways. While MARTA is awful for commuter/everyday use, MARTA is effective for a lot of other things like getting to major events downtown, or getting residents and tourists to/from the airport. I'm not sure you could really make it all that much better without some fairly insane investment.

smileysteve 8y ago
As a Marta daily commuter, it's all about where you choose to live and where your work is. Training from Midtown to Buckhead is easy, it's 5 miles (half the length of manhatten), getting to the airport is easy, exact times of 27 and 37 minutes, getting to Decatur for dinner is easy. Getting to Dunwoody and Sandy springs are easy, except when you get there everything except for State Farm is a long outdoor walk away though 4 lane car traffic and inadequate sidewalks. I used to even ride from Alpharetta to Buckhead when the buses had priority in the shoulder; it was much preferable to morning Rush hour(s) if you got on the highway after 7am
- noirbot 8y ago
  Oh, I definitely agree and Atlanta's generally done well recently at building more things nearer to the stations. That said, unless you live in one of the areas you just mentioned, there's not a lot you can do. There's a ton of Atlanta along 85/75 that's mostly unserved by MARTA, let alone a lot of stuff outside of 285. Atlanta has a pretty rough last-mile problem just due to its density. Outside of midtown/downtown, a lot of the stations are pretty far apart by NYC/Euro standards. You mention Midtown to Buckhead, which is 3 stops on MARTA, being half the length of Manhattan. That's more than the length of Battery Park to Penn Station, which is 12 stops on the 1/2/3 line. MARTA is fine if you're mostly going from major area to major area, but if you want to go to somewhere like Little 5, you're kinda out of options in a way that the MTA seldom has issues with. I don't so much see this as something MARTA could really fix, but more just innate to Atlanta's sprawling geography. It's getting better, but MARTA pretty much cannot be what people want it to be.
  - smileysteve 8y ago
    Some people don't think the beltline is a panacea; but that is the hope in the original plan and on the city planners; that by having a tighter perimeter that connects to the 4 spokes, we can focus the next 500k people in a smaller, denser area. Here's hoping.

smileysteve 8y ago

As a Marta daily commuter, it's all about where you choose to live and where your work is. Training from Midtown to Buckhead is easy, it's 5 miles (half the length of manhatten), getting to the airport is easy, exact times of 27 and 37 minutes, getting to Decatur for dinner is easy. Getting to Dunwoody and Sandy springs are easy, except when you get there everything except for State Farm is a long outdoor walk away though 4 lane car traffic and inadequate sidewalks. I used to even ride from Alpharetta to Buckhead when the buses had priority in the shoulder; it was much preferable to morning Rush hour(s) if you got on the highway after 7am

noirbot 8y ago
Oh, I definitely agree and Atlanta's generally done well recently at building more things nearer to the stations. That said, unless you live in one of the areas you just mentioned, there's not a lot you can do. There's a ton of Atlanta along 85/75 that's mostly unserved by MARTA, let alone a lot of stuff outside of 285. Atlanta has a pretty rough last-mile problem just due to its density. Outside of midtown/downtown, a lot of the stations are pretty far apart by NYC/Euro standards. You mention Midtown to Buckhead, which is 3 stops on MARTA, being half the length of Manhattan. That's more than the length of Battery Park to Penn Station, which is 12 stops on the 1/2/3 line. MARTA is fine if you're mostly going from major area to major area, but if you want to go to somewhere like Little 5, you're kinda out of options in a way that the MTA seldom has issues with. I don't so much see this as something MARTA could really fix, but more just innate to Atlanta's sprawling geography. It's getting better, but MARTA pretty much cannot be what people want it to be.
- smileysteve 8y ago
  Some people don't think the beltline is a panacea; but that is the hope in the original plan and on the city planners; that by having a tighter perimeter that connects to the 4 spokes, we can focus the next 500k people in a smaller, denser area. Here's hoping.