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!