Home > Opinion > Commutants! > Archives > 2005 > November > 08 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USThe crow can’t get there from here
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Plotting out my 20-mile commute set me to thinking of Billy in “The Family Circus.” His mom sends him on an errand, and the cartoon traces Billy’s steps with a dotted line that covers most of the panel before he’s finished.
That’s how I envisioned my trip downtown from the Stone Mountain area of Gwinnett, near U.S. 78. “Can’t get there from here” definitely applies. It’s as the crow flies, but only if the crow has avian flu.
Gwinnett County Transit does me no good, unless I want to leave home at 7:15 a.m. and drive to the Indian Trail Road pickup by 8 a.m. But I don’t. Too early.
So I left home at 9:50 a.m. Monday and drove the 12 miles to MARTA’s Avondale station in 20 minutes. Copy editors by nature are anal-retentive, so I worried all the way about finding a parking space for my aging sedan (no, intowners, it’s not an SUV). But there was plenty of room.
The MARTA trip itself was pretty uneventful and not unpleasant. It ended up taking me about 55 minutes from my house to my desk at the AJC, probably 15 minutes more than if I’d driven all the way. And the amount I saved on gas (I estimated that at $1.60) was more than offset by the $3.50 round-trip fare for one day.
My MARTA trip home Monday and trip in Tuesday went just as smoothly. I followed the other passengers’ lead and treated the train as a horizontal elevator, making sure to avoid eye contact.
All in all, I found two positives from my MARTA experience: I cleaned most of the quarters out of my change cup, and I was able to listen to my Brad Paisley country CD. The aforesaid aging sedan lacks a CD player, and my sons quickly object when I try to listen to country music at home.
Posted Tuesday night, based on Monday’s and Tuesday’s commutes.)
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Kevin Braun
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By Karama Neal
November 9, 2005 12:36 PM | Link to this
The AJC should offer free MARTA passes and other incentives like Emory, CDC, and other large organizations do. When people use transit these organizations save on parking lots and reduce pollution and employee stress. There are several transportation management associations in metro Atlanta that offer similar incentives.
By Lee
November 16, 2005 03:29 PM | Link to this
If only MARTA had a way to go online and give you a map of routes to your destination, it would make life easier on so many people. The project was on the website a while back, but I never saw it working. I believe it would look similar to the one I used in San Diego. (with mild embellishments) leg 1) Walk from your house a half mile to the corner. leg 2) turn the corner and walk another half mile to the bus stop. leg 3) Wait 20 minutes for the bus. leg 4) Take the bus to the train, it should only take 20 minutes, but could take an hour. leg 5) Take the train to the other bus, which runs every hour. leg 6) Take the bus to your busstop. leg 7) Walk another half mile to your destination. leg 8) now that you’re here, it’s time to go home again.
But now living in Gwinnett, I find MARTA doesn’t come here. I have to get on a Gwinnett Bus, which goes to some station in Atlanta, and get on MARTA from there. Atlanta REALLY should have a united transit system. The main problem is too many expletive deleted counties. You could put 20 counties around Atlanta into one county, and get rid of all the excess neighborhood politics into creating a true transit solution.
… Which is why I carpool.