Tag: marta
Eyes that have seen a lot of stuff in Downtown Atlanta. From the Eiseman Building to the Five Points MARTA station.
A MARTA story in tweets from @lainshakespeare
So jealous of Lain Shakespeare’s Atlanta moment:
Dude on MARTA dances alone in the center of the car. He’s good! An onlooker criticizes, says he’s not dancing “ATL enough” & challenges him.
— Lain Shakespeare (@lainshakespeare) November 16, 2013
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The onlooker gets up and dances to show how it’s done. He’s good too! They dance battle. Everyone else is half-delighted, half-uneasy.
— Lain Shakespeare (@lainshakespeare) November 16, 2013
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We pull into a station, they stop. Meanwhile, a woman gets caught moving between cars. The door jams! Moment of panic, then she tumbles out.
— Lain Shakespeare (@lainshakespeare) November 16, 2013
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She nearly falls over, regains footing by momentum-dancing up the aisle. She’s embarrassed but rolling with it, right toward battle dudes.
— Lain Shakespeare (@lainshakespeare) November 16, 2013
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Battle dudes recognize her embarrassment & dance-beckon. They all dance together until the next stop. Everyone is delighted! Cheers erupt.
— Lain Shakespeare (@lainshakespeare) November 16, 2013
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We arrive at the next stop. Everyone sits, the crowd elated. The moment passes with delighted hush. As if on beat, the second dancer says:
— Lain Shakespeare (@lainshakespeare) November 16, 2013
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“Yo, who wants to buy some liquor?!” He opens a backpack revealing like twenty mini vodka bottles. And right then, the door opened: my stop.
— Lain Shakespeare (@lainshakespeare) November 16, 2013
MARTA could reduce average wait times and improve customer satisfaction by extending the Blue Line Train’s final eastbound destination from Candler Park to Indian Creek during rush hour.
As a frequent rider on the eastbound Blue Line train, I often wonder why MARTA runs a short train that terminates service at Candler Park instead of continuing on to East Lake, Decatur, Avondale, Kensington, and Indian Creek stations. This odd routing decision adds up to 7 minutes—not an insignificant amount of waiting time—to each one-way trip for riders traveling eastbound from Five Points to stations beyond Candler Park.
I’m often struck by how few people get on the “mini” train, but I figured I was missing something because surely MARTA would only do this extra level of service to customers headed to heavily used stations.
However, I took a look at the station ridership data…
Yep, the short route is kinda ridiculously empty in the mornings.
Waiting for a MARTA bus in 1974
Cool dude waiting for a MARTA bus in Atlanta, 1974. This photo comes from Wiki Commons, with a note that there was a spike in ridership at this time because the fare was reduced from 40 cents to 15 cents. Also, new routes and buses had been recently added.
Current MARTA fare for buses and trains is $2.50, with an increase possible later this year if budgeting measures (and proposed privatization) are unsuccessful at alleviating financial woes at the agency.
I really like these old bus stop obelisks.
Mark Larson 
