According to the Friday 12/18/09 Atlanta Journal Constitution, MARTA anniversary celerations continue with an event downtown today at the Five Points Station. The first train rolled from the Avondale Station to Georgia State University on June 30, 1979.
MARTA,Atlanta's subway
- Thread starter Bill Haithcoat
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Phila 30th St
Service Attendant
Hooray for MARTA! I salute it as being a really good way to avoid Atlanta traffic when going to the airport. Wish it went closer to Turner Field though.
Linked by AlanB above:
Isn't MARTA the name of both the train and bus system in Atlanta? According to Wikipedia, MARTA came into existence in 1972, when it bought out the existing bus system, years before the rail system opened. So, if the statement quoted is referring to the train system, it's false. If it's referring to the entire system, it's confusing, and possibly false as well.
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MrEd
Conductor
I know you can see the marta rail from the crescent, but is it possible to walk to a station and take it downtown from the amtrak location ?
It is all good.
The name MARTA does refer both to the trains and the buses.
The newspaper article noted in the first sentence that it referred to the train service.
The wikipedia artilce agreed that June 30 1979 is when the trains started.It is in that sidebar on the right hand side.
I moved to Atlanta in 1977 and two years sounds about right to me for when the train began.
The newspaper article originally cited has itself been updated to show a time line. If you want to see that it is in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Bill would know better, but I believe that it's a rather hefty walk from Amtrak to the nearest MARTA station. However, unless there have been some recent changes, one can catch a bus right by Amtrak that will actually take you right into A MARTA station (the Arts Station IIRC) where a free transfer to the trains is available.
MikefromCrete
Engineer
If the first trains rolled in June, why are they celebrating now?
The way they word it is "anniversary celebrations continue" so I guess there was an earlier one as well though I do not remember it.
I'm surprised that it's survived so long. MARTA seemed like a real joke when I visited a few years ago; it's a shadow of the system that moved so many people during the Olympics.
When I was waiting at a bus stop downtown (uptown?) a couple of years ago, I had several people ask me if I was lost or trying to hail a taxi. I think that tells you how much many Atlanta residents think of their transit system.
When I was waiting at a bus stop downtown (uptown?) a couple of years ago, I had several people ask me if I was lost or trying to hail a taxi. I think that tells you how much many Atlanta residents think of their transit system.
How's that?
Annual unlinked passenger trips for MARTA:
1996: 144,804,547
1997: 170,380,432
1998: 158,263,988
1999: 163,801,369
2000: 167,067,140
2001: 164,077,582
2002: 159,357,652
2003: 142,762,444
2004: 136,157,132
2005: 142,385,899
2006: 138,403,312
2007: 147,523,544
Remember that the Olympics took place in 1996, so other than 2002, 2004, 2005, and 2006, where slight dips of between 2 million to as much as 8 million, ridership hasn't really dropped off all that much. And many years it was higher than 1996. Hardly a shadow of what it was.
All I can say to that is that I moved to ATL 32 years ago. Have ridden MARTA bus and or train an average of about one round trip a day seven days a week, even in retirement. On and off bus and train stops all over the area, not just my immediate neighborhood. That is thousands of trips.
Not once has anybody asked if I was lost or trying to hail a cab.
Closest I ever came to looking lost was looking drunk. That was in the Amtrak station, I stopped in to use the restroom, was dressed shabbily as usual, lilly white cheeks were extra red from the cold. Somebody said something that made me know they thought I was "somebody like that". But even then, not "lost".
Come to think of it one night somebody questioned me as to why I was in my own church. And I belong to a denomination where churches are usually open and more or less anybody wonders in.
Just keeping up tradition by running a little late?
A trick they learned from Amtrak, maybe? :lol:Just keeping up tradition by running a little late?
battalion51
Engineer
A celebration at Five Points!?! What could be grander than getting shot!?!
TVRM610
Conductor
I agree that many MANY people have a very bad perception of MARTA. Just the other day I was talking to a man who lives in Atlanta and is a rail fan and he told me he has never ridden MARTA "Because of all the crime."
I've never ridden it either, although I would like to, it seems like a rather nice system.
I've never ridden it either, although I would like to, it seems like a rather nice system.
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