Bill Carter is a 53-year-old analyst for a transportation company who loves designer clothes, sporty cars and numbers.
As a trained CPA, he’s pretty good at getting the numbers right, but not even Carter has been able to figure out metro Atlanta’s parking situation, particularly around Colony Square.
If he could, there would be no need for the 3x5 index cards with train schedules he uses to map his daily commute from his Lawrenceville home to the Doraville MARTA station and back.
If you know anything about intown parking, and Carter knows a lot, that’s not about to happen. At least for another eight months or so, Carter, who works in Colony Square, expects to be on the waiting list for parking at the nearby Promenade.
All of it got Carter to wondering what other people go through just to get to work in the city..
If they drive into work, they're probably circling the city looking for a place to park. In many ways, metro Atlanta is an endless concrete jungle of parking lots and parking decks but they're all full. It's so bad DeKalb County school playgrounds are covered with parked cars.
Still, you have to wonder if the lack of parking is just a figment of our collective imagination. A colleague last month cited a study by that looked at parking at 27 mixed-use districts and determined that on average, parking supply exceeded demand by 65 percent.
Tell that to Carter. Not having a parking place is frustrating for him, but he takes it in stride.
“I am sure I could find work closer to home, but that would be admitting failure and I am committed to making this work,” he said.
We get used to waiting for help from the cable guy. We even get used to waiting in traffic. My own 19-mile commute to work takes an hour, two if it rains or there’s an accident. But at least at the end of it, I can count on pulling into a parking space.
I never considered what it must be like trying to find a parking place. Carter hadn’t either. Until now.
Until about a year ago, he could drive into work and park, too. No problem. No fees.
“It never occurred to me how much of an issue parking could be,” Carter said.
But isn’t that like human nature. We don’t give much thought to the trials of life, major or minor, until they happen to us, lack of parking, included.
It happened to Carter in June 2014, when he left his job at Lanier Parking – yes, that’s right – for his current workplace in midtown.
From the beginning, there was no parking at Colony Square where his office is located, so Carter does the next best thing. He drives to the Doraville MARTA station, parks his Mini Cooper and waits for the 4:45 a.m. train.
He essentially works backwards. He knows that if the train leaves at 4:45 a.m. he needs to leave home about 45 minutes prior.
“I’ve timed how long it takes to shower, shave and get dressed,” Carter said. “I know I need to leave the house no later than 4 a.m. so I arrive at the train station on time.”
It sounds simple enough, but Carter says the volume of traffic and the ever present 18-wheelers down I-85 is nerve wracking even in the wee hours.
“It’s hard to arrive at MARTA consistently within two to three minutes,” he said. “You could have a swing in either direction.”
And we all know what that means. Waiting.
When Carter arrives at the Arts Center station about 17 minutes later, he then walks the 2.5 blocks to his office.
He stops for a diet Coke at the Colony Square mall and checks his email before heading to the fifth floor to begin his work day.
After about eight hours, he’ll repeat his morning routine but in reverse.
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