DEL.ICIO.USAtlanta watches with envy as Phoenix light rail debuts
Local leaders say metro Atlanta’s poor mass transit hinders business growth
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Phoenix — A train seems about as normal as a water buffalo on Phoenix’s Central Avenue, but here one comes, gliding along what used to be the center lane. Excited would-be passengers chatter under an artsy awning as it approaches their platform. The word “Disneyland” keeps popping up — the train’s sleek shape prompts thoughts of Tomorrowland.
As of this week, Phoenix has light rail, and metro Atlanta mass transit boosters are jealous.
Matt York/AP
A Metro train runs down Washington Street in Phoenix. City residents have flocked to the light-rail system since it debuted Saturday, offering free rides; passengers will pay $1.25 starting Thursday.
“I continue to be frustrated that we can’t seem to move in that direction,” said Sam Olens, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Cobb County commission. “We’re losing our competitive advantage.”
Two years ago, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce invited reporters to hear officials from Phoenix and other cities talk about their new transportation initiatives. The message was clear: Atlanta and Georgia could be left in the dust.
On Wednesday, Sam Williams, president of the chamber, said in a statement that “cities that have made transportation a priority, like Phoenix, Dallas and Charlotte, continue to leapfrog Atlanta with respect to regional mobility. … While these areas make progress, we seem choked in congestion with little leadership to get us out.”
As another legislative session begins, Atlanta remains the second-most-congested urban area in the nation. The Georgia Legislature has tried and failed to pass a transportation funding measure and is preparing for another go in the 2009 session.
Olens said plum employers with skilled jobs are slipping away. “In the last two years, I’ve had two major corporations tell me they would not move their headquarters to the Cobb Galleria area because all we had are buses,” Olens said this week.
Rail transit opponents in Georgia agree that congestion must be addressed. But they say rail isn’t an effective way to do it, especially in a spread-out area like Atlanta.
Both Phoenix and Charlotte got nearly half of their rail money from federal funds. City and special regional taxes paid the rest of the $1.4 billion cost of the line that runs 20 miles through Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa.
Phoenix, like Atlanta, is a sprawling collection of communities. Life without a car there is challenging.
While the Phoenix line met its share of controversy in getting approved, this week that seemed forgotten for many of the 150,000 to 200,000 who tried it out for free on its grand opening.
Families and groups of friends crowded station stops to gawk and ride between public parties and pub crawls.
On train platforms, local businesses passed out coupons and fliers.
There was at least one protest sign — complaining that the last train would run three hours before bars’ 2 a.m. last call.
Outside a standing-room-only train car Saturday morning, Central Avenue was nearly deserted. Tracks sit flush with the street, and trains travel alongside car traffic.
They stop at red lights, although they can sometimes make them go green.
The fun will subside Thursday when the line starts charging — $1.25 for a single ride — and finds out how many riders are in for the long haul.
• For more on the Phoenix rail: www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/
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Comments
By rodney
Mar 22, 2009 8:14 PM | Link to this
America as a country is car-centric. Meaning that if I can't take my car then I can't get there.
Hope for Change and all that blah-blah means nothing until this country gets off its laurels and either removes or reduces the car-centric mentality. Don't expect anything to get better until then.
Does light rail work? Only if we use it. I work near the airport in Orlando, so I get a ride from a co-worker (going home) to the airport. When I visit family in the Atlanta area, I take the MARTA rail to Arts Center and the take the express bus to either the Acworth or the Busbee Park/Ride. The ability to use the HOV lane on I-75 makes the trip much smoother, even in RUSH HOUR.
Lemme see, as far as costs go, $1.75 to take Marta to Arts Center, $3.00 for express bus to Park/ride lots, $3.00 to Civic Center w/ FREE rail transfer, then $2.00 from Orlando airport to home. $9.75 round trip and no scheduling hassles for friends/family.
Light rail is the start of the beginning. Communities MUST be designed for density and other modes of transport OTHER than the auto.
Get off your butt and get on the train!
By Charles Pugh
Mar 15, 2009 12:16 AM | Link to this
I think that all of METRO ATLANTA... the 13 or 28 county region they say it is needs Marta or light rail.
Just like New York City has all of those burroughs with the subway running through all of them.
I live here in Paulding County between Dallas and Rockmart, and the traffic out here is terrible. There's alot of people in my neighborhood that works in Atlanta, and Alpharetta who said that they would take a train if it ran out this way.
The goverment need to get on the ball, and get mass transit asap. Not 10 or 20 years from now. I'm talking about right now.
Construction needs to start now.
By DougJ
Jan 6, 2009 12:13 PM | Link to this
WOW, Atlanta has MARTA!!! Are you kidding me? Why don't you make better use of the multi-billion dollar system you have by locating housing, jobs, and services immediately adjacent to stations?
Too much spread out development and a largely missed opportunity so far...
By CliffATL
Jan 3, 2009 11:03 PM | Link to this
Right now is the opportunity for GA to make the "right" decision on RAIL TRANSIT.
With the OBAMA administration, the State of Georgia should be ready to seek Federal funds for the following transit RAIL projects:
1. FINALLY - Build the Multi-model train station downtown Atlanta
2. EXTEND MARTA Heavy rail up to Alpharetta to the North and Six Flags to the West.
3. Connect Atlanta with AMTRAK service to GRIFFIN, MACON and to SAVANNAH (the beach).
4. Build the Belt-line with heavy rail technology EXACTLY the same as the transit system we currently use.
5. Build the Atlanta Street Car up Peachtree Street from Brookwood Amtrak station to Mercer College with a branch running up Roswell Road to Sandy Springs
6. They have talked about Rail to Cobb county for the last 10 years. If that is not a "shovel" ready project - I do not know if it ever will be. Light rail will not work for Cobb. The LRT travel times are too great. MARTA rail the only system that should be considered/used to connect Cobbb to Arts Center Station up to Kennesaw.
7. Bring the "Brain Train" to reality finally linking Atlanta and communities along the route to Athens, GA.
These all should be "shovel" ready plans.
HOWEVER, what I fully expecct to come from this GA State govement is the "NORTHERN ARC" REBORN!!!!!!!!!!
The Northern Arch which I have fault to kill since day one will be the "shovel ready" project the State of Georgia leaders seek funding for.
The State of Georgia is an incredibly poorly governed State.
By Atlantaguy
Jan 3, 2009 12:31 AM | Link to this
Between Shirley Franklin's "lost" City budget money, and Sonny Perdue's "do nothing" campaign strategy, Atlanta and Georgia in general is falling years behind areas that once envied us. Atlanta is a sinking ship and will one day become the Detroit of the South if competent leadership doesn't take over from the City to the State level.
Maybe we should all write letters to the White House once Obama takes over, and ask him to step in and take control of Atlanta. Make it a Federally-run City. We sure don't stand a chance on our own.
By packin heat on marta
Jan 2, 2009 3:09 PM | Link to this
Denvers light rail has been running since November 2006. They are steadily building new lines. Not only is that a nice plus of Denver,.... but it is also a beautiful city you can feel comfortable walking around in, enjoying the shops & good resturants, w/out the fear of being shot or stepping in vomit. And you can also jump on & off the free trolley all through town...(just a nice convienence)-- something else Atlanta will never have. But it comes from leadership, pride & wanting your city to be the very best it can be! We won't see that happen here, w/ all the ignorance that keeps voting for crooks & criminals! Atlanta has a bad reputation throughout the U.S.,... & only attracts hip-hop & thugs! Its too late to revive it!
By Concerned Citizen
Jan 2, 2009 1:37 PM | Link to this
To Trainer: What MARTA system are you talking about???? MARTA is no where near the level of accessability it needs to be at. Some of the major areas in the Metro region have no connection to a rail system. Cobb Galleria, Gwinnett Place, and anything southeast or southwest are very inaccessable from a MARTA rail.
We really need to get our heads out of the sand. Metro areas have multi-county rail systems mixed with heavy, light, and commuter rail. We have a system that hits only fulton and dekalb; and there are even areas in those counties that are untouched by MARTA rail (mostly southern Dekalb; Stonecrest Mall). Metro Atlanta is considered to be 13 counties and our CSA is 26 counties. We need to have a more expansive system. We deserve it.
Its our time to vote for a system that we deserve. Denver passed an initiative that pools taxes from 8 counties that will create an 8 county rail system. They will go from no system to one that far surpasses anything we have in a few years. WAKE UP METRO ATLANTA!!!
By Trainer
Jan 2, 2009 1:13 PM | Link to this
Well, I don't have children but my taxes support schools. I don't have a car, but my taxes support highway-building. I've never had to go to Grady, but I don't mind that my taxes go there. It's okay to invest in something that doesn't only benefit you directly.
A lot of problems could probably be addressed by first making changes to where our transportation budget is coming from and who makes the decisions about how it gets spent.
By Pierce Randall
Jan 2, 2009 12:03 PM | Link to this
Envious of Charlotte's and Phoenix's light rail systems? Baloney! Cobb county might be envious, but the MARTA rapid transit system is much larger and has greater coverage.
Atlantan's are too down on their transit system. We need to press for better infrastructure and more money for operations, but MARTA is as it stands today a powerful force for quality-of-life for residents inside and even outside the urban core.
By churnin' butter in Cobb
Jan 2, 2009 10:54 AM | Link to this
Atlanta leaders are heading up its own demise! When I'm in California or Colorado, it's so hard to come back here! There are no real visionaries here! Our elected officials are not willing to think 'outside the box'. Everything looks the same! Where's the "wow" factor every city should have? They seem to run from unconventioal thought process. When you have a city w/out the quality of life in line w/ other parts of the country, you tend invite a less educated class of people that don't really contribute to a sound future.
If I can ever sell my house & leave this cesspool, I will never look back! Atlanta is a nothing town,... going absolutely NOWHERE, but down! Sam Olens & Shirely Franklin don't deserve a paycheck!
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