Comments on: MARTA to Gov. Perdue: Call special session for funding crisis

By: james

james — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:52:16 +0000

oh and as for knowing how you vote, find me one democrat that has ever said about public transportation, “I say sell it and privatize,” and i will take that comment back.

By: james

james — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:47:45 +0000

“The biggest problem is that MARTA isn’t convenient unless you live and work near a station. Taking a bus (near Northlake mall) to get to a train to get downtown would take twice as long as just driving. It would take almost as much time to drive to the station, so what’s the point? Design something great and people will use it.”

actually i take two buses every day. all the way from downtown to alpharetta. and i love it. so who has it all figured out.

more than 100,000 people use marta trains and buses every day to get to work. they obviously find value in it.

by the way, ever looked up how much funding the dc metro gets from government sources. also go research whether they have to put 50 percent of their public funding in a capital reserve account.

research an issue next time before you have a knee-jerk, free market solves everything response.

and by the way, what planet do you live on where you think the main purpose of public transit is to GET PEOPLE TO BASEBALL GAMES?

By: Joeventures

Joeventures — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:25:04 +0000

… and DC’s system is not privatized.

By: MARTA - A thriving business

MARTA - A thriving business — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:10:19 +0000

James, I’m glad you’ve got it all figured out. And I’m glad you know how I vote.

Where do you draw the line for public transportation? Roads? Light rail? Interstate rail? AMTRAK’s pretty good, too, eh? Roads are a massive entity and need government funding, control, etc., so I’m not going to disagree with you there. But light rail? I’m not so sure. MARTA isn’t nearly as complex or large as NYC’s or DC’s transit systems. But hey, there will be a new station in Alpharetta in about 10 more years.

The biggest problem is that MARTA isn’t convenient unless you live and work near a station. Taking a bus (near Northlake mall) to get to a train to get downtown would take twice as long as just driving. It would take almost as much time to drive to the station, so what’s the point? Design something great and people will use it.

MARTA was flawed from the beginning when it didn’t have a station at Fulton County Stadium. I’m obviously dumb, but even I know that’s crazy. I know Atlanta is a sprawling mess, but so is DC, and they managed to setup a system that works pretty well there…

By: james

james — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:17:11 +0000

privatize mass transit. nice. please point me to a municipality that has done this sucessfuly anywhere in the US?

idiot. i am registered republican and people like you are the one i cringe at when i realize we vote the same.

i have an idea genius. how ’bout we privatize 285, 75, 85 and all the surface streets you travel on to get to work and charge you to drive on them.

public transportation is something the government should fund, just like roads.

fyi – i just called the governor and lt. governor to ask them to convene a special session of the legislature.

unless you want my car on the roads clogging up your commute on fridays again, i suggest you do the same.

By: MARTA - A thriving business

MARTA - A thriving business — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:08:08 +0000

Remember when MARTA used to make money hand over fist? Can’t they use some of those reserves to get by in this economic slowdown? Oh wait, they never have. “Without the ability to access the capital funds…” It’s always been subsidized by taxpayers, not the state. I say sell it and privatize. Throw in the airport, too.

By: s. dekalb voter

s. dekalb voter — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:58:33 +0000

Again, how much are their lobbyists being paid? Either way, they failed.

By: Joeventures

Joeventures — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:37:20 +0000

Actually, SDV, that was the legislators who decided to attach the MARTA bill to the broader legislation.

By: s. dekalb voter

s. dekalb voter — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 02:05:35 +0000

MARTA deserves part of the blame on this one. They decided to play politics and have their bill attached to the transportation bill thinking that would ensure it passed. They should have had the courage to let their bill stand alone and gets the votes to pass it. I wonder how much their lobbyists got paid?

By: Please Sonny Don't Hurt Us

Please Sonny Don't Hurt Us — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:25:20 +0000

Sonny should do a quick poll of his staff at the Governor’s mansion and see how many would no longer be able to make it to work on Fridays without MARTA. I’m holding out hope that common sense might still prevail on this sad state of affairs.