Despite opposition, MARTA grows (slowly), but we can do more to support ridership
Protesters failed to stop North Fulton MARTA, but elsewhere opposition has succeeded. Growth happens in fits & starts, but we can still gain ground with ridership.
Posted by Darin Givens
30 years ago this month, in December of 1988, a group of angry white people (judging from the above photo) in North Fulton protested the planned extension of MARTA rail near their homes – trying to to halt what ended up becoming the North Springs Station.
Fear of crime was one of the big topics. People didn’t want urban transportation near suburban homes and schools, as you can see in the snippet from the above news article.
It’s possible that these protests may have played a small part in the exact position of the final station (there were multiple alternatives in play). But they didn’t stop rail from coming.
The same can’t be said of the proposed heavy rail line to Emory University in DeKalb County, which was successfully scuttled many years ago, at least in part, by resident protest. That’s what I’ve heard from multiple sources, though I have no documented evidence to support it. Here’s an early map of the proposed MARTA rail system showing an Emory line.
The map above also shows rail stretching into Gwinnett, Cobb, and Clayton counties – all of which rejected MARTA by vote, though Clayton has joined in more recent years. Gwinnett will vote in March, 2019 on joining MARTA, though Cobb has no plans to put it to a vote.
The North Fulton transit line has been a quantifiable success
That extension in the northern suburbs of Fulton County that protesters tried to halt has been a quantifiable success for the transit system: data published by the Atlanta Regional Commission shows that the North Springs Station is MARTA’s 9th busiest, handling more boardings than even the Midtown Station. North Springs handles over 6,000 average weekday boardings. That means thousands of people have the option to not bring their cars into jobs centers and more, to the south towards the City of Atlanta.
Imagine how many daily boardings we might have seen all these decades if the Emory line had been built in the 1970s, 80s, or 90s along with the rest of the rail lines. Imagine all the car trips that would have not been on Atlanta roads daily if that line existed. Instead, we’re left trying to find matching funding today (in a transit-hostile federal administration) for a rail line to Emory that would have local-match funding from the City of Atlanta More MARTA tax.
What we can do today, beyond building new rail
The actions of the past, in terms of transit infrastructure, have affected us in big ways today, and MARTA’s growth has ended up happening very slowly, in fits and starts. While that slow expansion happens, though, there is plenty we can do to support ridership in the short term.
What kinds of actions are we taking today to put more people on transit? Are we making good decisions for a sustainable future, for removing car trips and creating less car-oriented places? Are we doing enough to encourage transit ridership in the suburbs – with both park-and-ride rail and the various commuter bus lines? For instance: do we have inviting, safe sidewalks and crosswalks near transit stations? The prices that commuters pay for parking and the amount of parking available at jobs near transit stations both play a role. Studies show that low-priced, abundant parking near destinations discourages transit ridership. The transit-rider subsidies we offer to commuters also make a difference. Is it cheaper to ride transit than to drive and park at your workplace? Expanding transit is important for sure, and it will happen (slowly). But while we wait, there are things we can do beyond building new transit infrastructure that make transit a competitive choice and reduce car trips in Atlanta.
Photo & article source: Atlanta Journal Constitution, via GSU Digital Collections.
