MARTA in action! (February 28, 2007)

Atlanta's public transportation system is called MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority). Since Fay and I are sharing a car, I ended up riding it home from a dentist appointment. Since most Atlantans have forgotten than MARTA even exists, I thought I would share a little about the experience.

On the whole the trip was okay but slow. Driving to the dentist in a car, during heavy traffic, took 30 minutes. Taking MARTA back, during light traffic, took 103 minutes.

time	event	time spent
		walking	waiting	riding
9:42	left dentist
9:51	arrived at station	9
9:52	boarded train 1		1
10:01	left train 1			9
10:17	boarded train 2		16
10:30	left train 2			13
10:58	boarded bus		28
11:15	left bus			17
11:25	arrived home	10
	total	19	45	39

MARTA cannot do very much about the walking and riding columns, given the existing layout of the city's road system. So even with a perfect MARTA, the trip would have taken a minimum of 58 minutes, which is about twice what it takes to drive.

Anyway, the system works okay on the whole. I really have just one wish: post some stupid maps and schedules!