the center for neighborhood technology has released a new series of maps to showcase transportation and affordability in various cities.

the atlanta maps are interesting with lots of detail, but i think the most interesting ones are the transit ones. the map above is a zoom in on the area around my house showcasing how many transit lines are within walking distance. i am lucky to live in an area where i can walk to multiple bus routes, but what shocked even me, was how many wide swaths of the city have only one transit route within walking distance. and i am not talking about suburbia (alpharetta, duluth, etc.) i am talking about buckhead, vinings, druid hills, parts of east atlanta etc.

you can play around with the atlanta map here

i suppose this is probably another reason why so few people go the marta route. when there is only one bus route it takes an insane amount of planning to make your destination on-time and makes spur-of-the-moment trips difficult. it can be done, but it definitely is hard.

a call to you gwinettians though - you can begin to help improve this by voting yes to the transit option in your upcoming primary.

h/t to ben at the excellent blog terminal station for the find.

Random Atlanta has the details on the unintentionally ironic Marta bus ad.

[Via Rusty]

no news on the marta web site yet, but the austin business chronicle reported several days ago that cap metro (austin’s excellent transit service) would be losing their coo and evp, dwight ferrell, to atlanta.

from the article it seems that ferrell is highly regarded and this appointment is just the kind of proven executive that atlanta’s system may need.

as a public service i thought we would open up comments here on what you would like to see marta’s new coo focus on. i know i would like them to get the darn led displays working properly.

you?