Transit beckons in far-flung metro Atlanta

By Ariel Hart

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

More than 1.3 million times every five-day workweek, people in metro Atlanta get to their destinations by using mass transit. And now the region has a better idea why.

After a major study, the Atlanta Regional Commission knows a lot more about who takes transit in the area and why. But the numbers, released Thursday, also beg the question: As the Atlanta region prepares for a referendum on funding regional transportation projects, is there really demand for regional mass transit?

The ARC has conducted what it calls one of the largest and most comprehensive surveys in the U.S. of passengers on board seven Atlanta-area mass transit systems.

Some of the findings were predictable: Home, work and education were the top destinations. A large chunk of riders -- 40 percent -- needed transit because they had no access to a car that day. And transit is important to the economy, with 45 percent of trips shuttling between the passenger's job and home.

Yet one of the findings raises questions of its own. MARTA was the place where the vast majority of transit riders surveyed bought their initial ticket, no matter where they transferred. It was so big that it dwarfed suburban ridership. Where 86 percent of passengers started their trips in Fulton or DeKalb counties, just 3.8 percent started in Cobb, and 2.7 percent started in Gwinnett.

So what does that mean for suburban demand?

Demand is there, said Richard Oden, chairman of the commission in Rockdale County, where 0.2 percent of the surveyed riders started their trips.  The problem is, the supply isn't.

“We have basically three park and rides [lots for commuter buses], and those park and rides are full,” Oden said. “That traffic is coming from Newton County, Oconee, Walton, Morgan. All those individuals are coming into Atlanta to work, and they’re stopping and it’s creating a congestion issue.” It's not about agencies, he added: “Let’s take MARTA out of the equation and deal with the word ‘transit,' ” he said. "Light rail, commuter rail. In order to move people from point A to point B, we’ve got to think more regionally and more state.”

Oden echoed the position of mass transit stalwarts like MARTA CEO Beverly Scott, who said that the MARTA tax had allowed Fulton and DeKalb to invest more, and suburban systems were not only Balkanized with separate routes, but didn't have the same investment.

Saying that suburban demand was there but unmet, she pointed out that when MARTA surveyed use of its parking lots, they found that a fifth of the drivers had come to ride MARTA from a county outside Fulton or DeKalb.

"Part of the problem you’re looking at now is chicken and an egg," she said. With service that is more frequent, faster, more integrated and more convenient, "those numbers absolutely would go up."

Maybe. Darla Bennett has lived in the region since 1976, and like the vast majority of Atlantans, she travels mostly by car.  She was using MARTA on Thursday to get from the airport to her home in Roswell, in Fulton County. She used it because in Atlanta's congestion, it was the fastest and most convenient way. But during her trip to Washington, D.C., she used mass transit, as did "everybody," she said.

She likes the convenience of stepping from her car into an air-conditioned building, and she said that for metro Atlantans, there may be a psychological shift required to push them to a life on mass transit. However, the limited options matter, she said.

"Here in Atlanta, it’s not as extensive as it could be," she said. "There’s not even anything going to the northwest, like to the Galleria [area in Cobb County]. It just has to be a lot more widespread."

For the survey, ARC's study interviewed 50,000 passengers on MARTA, GRTA express buses, Cobb Community Transit, Gwinnett County Transit, Hall Area Transit, Cherokee Area Transit, and before the county eliminated it, Clayton County Transit. The main purpose for ARC was to beef up its computer models, which predict the consequences of new transportation projects.

This year, the Legislature passed a bill allowing voters in regions like metro Atlanta to choose whether to levy themselves a 1 percent sales tax for transportation projects within the region. Atlanta's vote will likely come in 2012, and regional officials hope mass transit projects will be on the list that voters consider.

The issue is a critical one, said Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, who also chairs the Regional Transit Committee, because to some extent, Atlanta's transit problem and its traffic problem are the same.

"We have a massive congestion issue that is damaging our competitiveness," he said. A broad range for the rail and bus system is important. "You can’t have a transit model that says in order for you to have a high quality of life, you’re going to make enough money to live in the most convenient places in cities. That’s not the Atlanta we want."

THE FINDINGS

• Income:

10 percent of transit riders have a household income of more than $75,000 per year. About 73 percent said they were employed.

• Destination

Nearly half -- 45 percent -- of trips were between home and work. On a typical weekday, people took more than 40,000 between home and school.

• Although ARC surveyed riders on seven public transit systems, most started their trips in Fulton and DeKalb counties. Advocates insist that the demand for regional transit is there: MARTA CEO Beverly Scott pointed out that a fifth of MARTA's parking lot users drove there from outside Fulton and DeKalb to start their MARTA trip.

Origin county of trip

Fulton 60.6%

DeKalb 25.2%

Clayton 5.3%

Cobb 3.8%

Gwinnett 2.7%

Henry 0.4%

Douglas 0.3%

Fayette 0.3%

Forsyth 0.3%

Rockdale 0.2%

Newton 0.1%

Cherokee 0.1%

Coweta 0.1%

Paulding 0.1%

Hall 0.1%

Spalding 0.1%

Outside region 0.2%

• Most people using transit are heading home. Next comes work, then education.

Destinations

Home 37.1%

Work 28.3%

Store/retail 6.5%

Other 5.8%

College/university 5.6%

School/day care 4.8%

Another home 3.8%

Medical 2.5%

Airport 1.4%

Bank/other office 1.3%

Restaurant 1.3%

Recreation 0.7%

Hotel 0.4%

Place of worship 0.4%

• Who takes transit? Some choose it; some have no other choice.

Over 40% did not have access to a car for that day's trip

30% had no driver's license

10% had a household income of at least $75,000

45% used transit to go to work at some point