arc of time

one thing i have noticed over the years about the five points marta station is during these humid atlanta summer months it seems to funnel humidity like a tropical rainforest island somewhere in the south pacific. normally this observation is moot since i am only in five points for a few minutes.

then there are mornings like this one. where i watched doraville train after doraville train go by (three in all) before a north springs train came by. for those of you who don’t know our train system here in atlanta we have to northern lines, one goes northeast to doraville and one goes straight north to north springs, which is the train i take each morning to my bus stop to work. on a typical morning these trains alternate, about 3 minutes apart. so the longest i ever wait is about 5-6 minutes.

today it was more than 20. at least three doraville trains went by before our north springs train finally arrived. and i realized, five points in summer is not a fun place to wait. by the time the train cam i was swimming in my own sweat.

well, no one, least of all me, ever claimed this was a glamorous way to commute.

it’s always difficult to get back to blogging when you have been basically taking a holiday from it. i am back from the amazing trip (work for me, play for megan) to prague and to london. i have quite a bit to write about from those trips, but i will start by ruminating once again on just how different the attitude toward public transportation is there than here.

we rode the trams and metros exclusively in prague and i did so as well in london. what strikes me is just how comprehensive the systems are. you really can go just about anywhere – easy. of course, believe it or not, you can on marta too, at least in dekalb and fulton, but it is the easy part that will get you.

two easy example will suffice. if you want to go to the prague castle there are about a million different street cars or subway trains you can take that will put you in close proximity to it. you will probably never wait more than 5 minutes to get on one. now contrast that with stone mountain – if you want to go there, you have two buses you can take, each that only run every thirty monutes. miss one and you are waiting. or after hours – never really a problem in london, but take marta home from alpharetta after 9:00 pm sometime and see how long it takes you (hint – it ain’t quick.)

of course, with usage come routing, and that is one thing that you can’t argue with here – we don’t have it. it strikes me in cities like prague and london that pubic transportation is used across the board – regardless of socioeconomic class. alternatively in atlanta, with the exception of a few bus routes, marta is used predominately by working class people. make of that what you will, but i think it matters.

it was good to be back on marta this week. i have been making the 7:00 am #140 out of north springs, which is what many of the people i ride home with ride in the morning. it’s generally a lot more ‘rocking’ bus, because they are always laughing about something, led by a guy i like to call ‘the boss,’ because he always seems to be in the middle of it.

of course, yesterday, the boss was asleep on the bus – both morning and evening. well, we all have our days, eh?

i was amsued to note i made creative loafing’s atlanta blogs today feature after a long absence for this rumination on the apd cleaning up barbara asher square. i am not sure scott completely got the point i was making, but c’est la vie. i was thinking about that though as i stood waiting on the #9 and broad and alabama last night.

i watched one man threaten to kill a homeless man if he ever snitched on him again – loudly and often (the threatening, not the snitching.) i watched another man wage an all out verbal and physical assualt on a mcdonalds cup that was on the ground.

i am not so sure i want that to go away.

then again, i am probably not doing a good job of selling marta to you with that am i?

remember that phrase?

we used to use it as kids to basically say to someone, “well of course. everyone knows that. how obvious can you be.’

well i have a great example and it deals pretty squarely with what thomas wheatley once described as ‘atlanta’s little transit agency that could.’

as i mentioned i haven’t blogged much at all on this trip, but i was reading ben’s blog this morning, and in particular his ajc recap, and it pointed me to an article that just had to be commented on.

the article deals with a police effort to actually *gasp* try to clean up barbara asher square at five points.

some comment on the whole thing, in a minute but first the ‘no duh’ quote from the ajc article”

“A normal person can walk through and get a negative impression of the city of Atlanta,” said Lt. Wayne Whitmire, assistant zone commander for the area.

HAH!

you think?

even funnier is councilman kwanza hall’s statement:

Said Kwanza Hall, the City Council member who represents the area, “This is our front doorstep to the world, and it should not look and feel like crap.”

wow. now that’s some bluntness. anyway, they are both right. barbara asher square is horrendous as is the default open air bus terminal at alabama and broad. but i am of a torn mind about this. i understand how the overwhelming blackness of these areas and the high degree of loitering, selling of pirated cds and individual cigarettes and homeless people milling around hurts both downtown and marta ridership. i once wrote about my own prejudices in this area and i know others like me feel similarly suited.

but day-in-day-out as i have walked through barbara asher square or stood waiting on a bus at alabama and broad, i have come to realize most of my fears are unfounded and often the carnival of life going on here has become an integral part of my daily experience.

so as a marta consumer who knows increased ridership would improve the service immensely, and as a city resident who knows a reviatlized downtown would do wonders for quality of life and the cities tax base, i hope the police are successful.

but as someone who enjoys the diversity and uniqueness of the experience and who has come to appreciate who dealing with it daily has forced me to confront, recognize and deal with inherent prejudice, i will be sad if they do…..

well i suppose one way to outsmart angry bus driver is just to get ahead of him. after monday’s debacle in the rain, chronicled in my last marta post, i decided to adjust my timing by ten minutes and get up at 5:00 am.

well by the time i had fed myself and the dogs and let everyone go outside i realized i had plenty of time to catch the 6:02 bus, and did i.

and i will just say that the 6:02 bus has a pleasant, friendly driver who responded to my greeting with a friendly one of his own.

the #9 is now dropping off at alabama and broad street and when we got there a nice man tapped me on the shoulder to remind me we were there. i was a bit perplexed and then it hit me that i had never been on the early bus and none of those riders knew me.

“wait,” i wanted to protest. “i am a marta veteran. i know what to do.”

but i decided there wasn’t really a point and just smiled and thanked him.

i also managed to catch the 7:00 out of north springs and made it to my office by 7:30; the 140 at 7:00 am stops about half of the time to appreciate the enormity of this you need to realize that 6 months ago i wouldn’t have been awake at 7:30.

one final note, the broad street bus unloading area is a whole world removed from pryor and wall where the bus used to drop off.

that, my friends, is a post for another day.

christian boone, who moonlights as the atlmalcontent, has a very good article up in the ajc about the panhandling situation downtown. go read it, but the gist is basically that despite the enactment of the begging ordinance the situation has gotten no better.

one of the things that has saddened me the most since i started going through five points on a regular basis when i made the switch to the #9 is just how bad the place really is. the begging is part of it, the lack of any decent retail or fun places to go is another.

every morning i walk up from pryor and wall to the peachtree entrance to the marta station and i just envision what could be. i walked up marietta street, a beautiful tree line throughfare, this evening and thought the same thing.

and then in the evening i come home and walk from the station to the bus and my face drops as i realize how downscale it has become.

i remember in 1998, when i was living in alpharetta on my first sojourn into atlanta, some friends came to visit and we took them to underground. i remember sitting out in the plaza in front of the world of coke and watching all the people – black, white, young, old. underground even had a WARNER BROTHERS STORE in those days.

i rode past it today on the #9 and the plaza was empty. empty. not a soul in it.

sad.

so anyone got any ideas on how to fix it. bk and i tossed around the usuals the other day – an underground bus terminal, aggresive enforcement of quality of life statues among others – but those don’t seem enough.

i am willing to get involved i just don’t know what to do.

oh and speaking of stereotypes on marta; the other day a woman sitting on the back row of the bus looked at me and then just spit right on the floor of the bus.

nice.