Mass Transit Can and Should Be SO Much More…
Ideas on how to improve MARTA
The mass transit system is tragically limited and inefficient in Atlanta. It takes me 2.5 to 3 hours to get to or from work… Yes, that's each way…. Simply going from one side of Atlanta to the other. From the suburbs South of the airport, to the suburbs North of the city.
Much of the time I’m waiting for 10, 20, even 40 minutes per bus. I take 3 and a train. Buses are often late, sometimes don’t show up, and aren’t exactly the most sanitary of places.
I still rather take trains and busses rather than drive in Atlanta traffic everyday… and I greatly applaud MARTA for what they do and have accomplished…
But I still have many issues.
Like, why in the world is the train limited to only inside the city? And only 2 lines basically… North and South or East and West. Why leave SO many areas of this ever growing city bereft of train access, dependent on these often inconsistent schedules…
Most of the time Marta-goers are often left in the elements… not even the modern convenience of sidewalks or benches for comfort.
Its tragic, because infrastructure like an expansive mass transit system is indicative of a successfully growing and stable community.
Wifi-enabled bus stops with smart screens that can hail busses,or at least accurately track them. Sure,this can be done with an app… but in that case at least ensure the app is more dynamic and reactive in design and use.
Why not have little roombas or similar robots to more regularly clean the busses and trains, and maybe even serve as deterrents to those who would litter or at least able to catch them in the act and deduct infractions on their Marta cards.
Oh and Marta cards should be more easily loaded! Either on buses or at bus stops or at the very least ensure the app isn't so painful to use.
They should also have more options for deals with businesses, even if the company is a small one, they should have the ability to help offset costs since they can consistently increase traffic throughput if their employees actually see mass transit as a viable option.
Furthermore, being a public service, they should offer trade-style schooling apprenticeships to allow local schools a chance to teach their students such technology. Having more projects and a serious software dev department, hardware and robotics department, as well as civil engineering projects would greatly help the entire community!
With such a strong talent pool, community support, and demonstrable economic impact, they could work on more advanced concepts like heated sidewalks, in which draw the excess heat from buildings and funnels it unto the pedestrian walkways… or free, secure internet.... or augmented reality windows and virtual reality capsules or headsets to turn travel into productive or fun experiences!!
