Quote:
Originally Posted by SuperNice
Atlantans should be outraged. It is time to start construction and establish accoutability.
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I love how disconnected from reality people are. They only established the funding mechanism for new transit (‘more marta’) in November 2016, about a year and 5 months ago. They passed the original funding mechanism for MARTA in 1971, but construction didn’t start until 1975, and rail operations didn’t start until 1979. It takes a lot of planning and time to get these projects built, and they don’t have the money right away. (Unless they issue bonds to fund construction and planning). They started collecting the additional sales tax in early 2017, so they only have about a year of revenue from the new tax at this point. These are not shovel ready projects, it will take years for the engineering, planning, and especially the funding to be collected for this to happen. They have announced already the projects they are considering.
I generally agree that the BRT through midtown will be underutilized. Their BRT through east lake was dismantled only a few years after operation due to low ridership, and without a dedicated right of way, it will be almost as frustrating as riding the silver line to the Logan airport in Boston during rush hour. Since they already have federal funding, I can guarantee you they were planning this BRT line long before the November 2016 transit vote.
I think BRT would be a good option for Cobb once the new hot lanes are in operation; transit training wheels for Cobb until they get their act together and get commuter rail or HRT up 75 one day.