The Atlanta Streetcar might be stuck on the drawing board for a while yet. The U.S. Department of Transportation announced the recipients of federal TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants on February 17 and the streetcar project wasn’t on the list. The city of Atlanta, MARTA, Central Atlanta Progress and Midtown Alliance partnered to apply for TIGER funds for the transit project, which is projected to cost $298.3 million.

[youtube]”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygXEqWoedEQ”[/youtube]

Atlanta wasn’t the only city that TIGER got away from. None of the other 32 Georgia communities that applied for grants received funding either.

If built as planned, the Atlanta Streetcar project would include a route on Peachtree from Five Points station to Savannah College of Art and Design and an east-west loop from the Centennial Olympic Park/Georgia Aquarium area to the King Center. An alternative plan, also included in the partnership’s application, proposes options for building the streetcar in phases if it can’t be funded all at once.

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MARTA CEO Beverly Scott announced Thursday that the transit agency’s Yellow Line will be renamed the Gold Line. MARTA is making the switch in response to complaints from some Asian-American advocacy groups who said that the word “yellow” still carries the connotation of a racial epithet.

The route was known as the Doraville Line until October 2009, when MARTA changed its rail line names to colors to make them easier for riders to navigate. 2000 Census data put the percentage of residents of Doraville and neighboring Chamblee who identified themselves as “Asian” at 12.7 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Scott told the AJC that the re-renaming will be phased in over an as-yet-unspecified time period. Electronic train arrival boards in stations already reflected the change Friday while the agency’s Web site still refers to the “Yellow Line.”

When I can, I take MARTA a few days a week into work. It’s a fun ride. Here are a few observations I’d like to share.

1. MARTA is an art gallery for graffiti. East, west, north or south, you’ll see a collection of Atlanta’s finest taggings. It’s all on display for you. Enjoy.

2. MARTA time is faster than normal time. Today my commute took about an hour and it went by quickly. It didn’t feel like an hour. 20 minutes in my car can feel like an hour. An hour of MARTA time feels like 20 minutes in a car.

3. MARTA is good for you. Most, if not all, of the escalators are out of service forcing you to take the stairs. That is good for you. It’s good for your heart and body. Taking the stairs gets your blood pumping and energized as you start the day. Not only that, you have to walk to get where you’re going. MARTA is a good health alternative to driving.

4. MARTA gives perspective. You will see beautiful views of Atlanta you will never ever see driving.

5. MARTA saves money. Sure driving is way more convenient but it’s way more expensive. You can make a tank of gas last many days longer.

Try it out and see for yourself.

as all of you know, i am just about a daily marta commuter. and a few weeks ago, i started noticing that more and more escalators were going offline. now, just about every marta escalator is out. the reason: apparently marta was the victim of fraud and mismanagement perpetrated by a contractor.

i am sure this will do wonders for ridership. i know how it goes, someone will ride marta for the first time, have to climb some stairs and say “f it” my car is better than this exercise thing.

poor marta, it seems they just can’t win for losing.

it’s easy to just point the finger and marta, shake your head and say, “man, they can’t run anything.”

the real problem with marta, of course, is not bad management or waste. it is politics. everything about marta, from it’s board, to it’s absurd state oversight committee to it’s funding structure is political. people in atlanta complain all the time about not having a world-class transit system like dc or boston.

we really only have to look at ourselves.

longer waits during non-peak times on trains. service modifications to bus routes. whole bus routes cancelled. for me that is the legacy of the 2009 georgia legislative session.

failing to secure an alternate funding measure to ensure marta’s operations glenn richardson and jerry keen let the legislature leave town with a big f-you to atlanta commuters. keen was rumored to have quipped that he was closer to disney world than the city of atlanta (my own feelings on the majority leader can be found here.) in fairness the casey cagle-led georgia senate did pass a bill that would have sustained marta’s operations by removing the onerous reserve restriction on marta’s sales tax funding.

well glenn is gone, although jerry keen is still hanging around, and the reprehensible jill chambers, who actually seems to be anti-public transit is still leading the state marta oversight committee (ask yourself, btw, if the state contributes ZERO dollars to marta’s budget why they have any oversight) but one can hope that the new leadership in the house might consider actually trying to do something to fix marta’s funding.

let’s hope.

the people i ride with every day deserve a world class transit systems from their leaders. at the very least they deserve one not tottering on the brink of bankruptcy every six months. and before you give me the “marta is just run poorly” tripe consider two things; first, marta makes cuts all the time, spends little money on marketing or other bottom line expenses and second, reliably transports a whole lot of commuters with absolutely zero funding from the state.

look i am a libertarian, but this is one thing the government SHOULD do.

so fix it, david ralston. this is your chance to make a break with the past and show us that georgia republicans care about the city of atlanta and its residents.

begging you.

dammit.

it’s finally here. the consequences of the state legislature’s failure to act to secure additional funding from marta are finally here. i do very much hope this is not the beginning of a death-spiral where decreased service leads to decreased ridership leading to decreased revenue and repeat.

also, i dream of a day when our leaders realize vibrant public transportation is a key component of a truly world class city, and by extension a prosperous georgia, and that is should exist as a public good not a money-making endeavor and fund it appropriately.

sigh, okay /soapbox.

anyway, marta service cuts are scheduled to begin this saturday, tomorrow, including the elmination of a the #23 and #182 bus routes and cuts in frequency to many bus routes and train service. especially hit will be off-peak train service.

you can check here to see what routes are affected and how.

fortunately for me at least, both of my main bus routes have survived intact for now.

in an effort to show support for atlanta’s beleaguere but absolutely vital public transit system, a grassroots movement has organized around the idea of having a “ride marta day” tomorrow.

it’s really easy to participate. you just ride marta. that’s it. nothing more.

seriously, just plan one trip on marta that you might have normally taken in a car. a strong turnout will show out “leaders” that we atlantans care about having a vital public transportation system.

this issue is of course deeply personal to me as someone who rides on marta every day and loves the system, the people that operate it and ride on it. so i am personally asking for you to support ride marta day.

and one other thought – try riding a bus if you never have. i know many people really dislike the idea of riding a bus, but give it a whirl. you might be surprised.

you can find more information on the ride marta day web site including a list of supporting organizations.

also the citizens for progressive transit’s a-train trip planner is a great resource for planning your marta trip tomorrow.

happy riding. if you see me on the #9, the north-south line, or the #140 say hello.

i have a message for georgia house majority leader jerry “disney world” keen:

if you feel like calling majority leader keen and asking him if he might just like to move to orlando, you can find his contact details here.

the ajc reports on the response of yours an my elected leaders on the financial crisis at marta.

for his part the governor just seems torqued that nobody asked for his help, which makes sense seeing as he and his staff are so effective at getting legislation passed (sarcasm intended.) he then said, “It’s always unfortunate when people who depend on MARTA have their service cut, and I hope they (MARTA) can find a way …. to make it through the end of the year.”

translation – sorry, losers without cars. hope someone figures this out, but don’t ask me. not my gig.

thanks sonny. we appreciate your concern.

the lite governor, well he is a little more concerned.

cagle, pressed about marta cutting a day of service apparently said, “that could be hurtful.”

really?

he went on to add, “MARTA is a vital part of what gets done in metro Atlanta, particularly with tourism and the convention business.”

no word on whether the lieutenant governor thinks the 100,000 plus people that ride marta to work every day are a vital part of what gets done in metro atlanta or not.

still no word from the dunce from dallas.

clowns. all of you.

keep up the phone calls.

governor perdue – 404-656-1776
lieutenant governor cagle – 404-656-5030
speaker richardson – 404-don’t-waste-your-breath.

marta is calling today for the governor, the lieutenant governor and the speaker of the house to convene a special session of the legislature to deal with the marta funding issue.

according to the marta release:

MARTA Board of Directors today urged Governor Sonny Perdue, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and House Speaker Glenn Richardson to call a special session to deal with transportation and MARTA funding issues. During their 2009 General Assembly, state legislators failed to pass critical legislation providing regional or state transportation funding and lifting restrictions on the use of MARTA’s capital reserve funds. The Georgia General Assembly ended last Friday, April 3. During the 2009 legislative session, MARTA petitioned state lawmakers to grant the authority access to $65 million in its capital reserve account to fund a significant gap in its operating budget.

“I can’t emphasize enough how critical it is that MARTA be allowed flexibility to use its reserve account to fund operation of the system. I commit to you that the MARTA Board is looking for all ways to cut expenses and run this system as efficiently and effectively as possible,” said MARTA Board Chairman Michael Walls. “We implore the state to please reconsider this issue so that during this difficult economic time we can keep this essential transportation service running, which acts as a lifeline for so many people.”

(full press release here)

please help with this. please.

take 30 seconds and call the governor at 404-656-1776 and ask him to convene a special session of the legislature.

then take 30 seconds and call the lieutenant governor at 404-656-5030.

by the way, i just did this. the governor’s office told me to call my legislator, so i am not expecting a ton of leadership from him on this.

at casey cagle’s office they did discuss the issue with me and get my contact information. then again casey wants to be governor so he has some incentive.

please flood our elected leaders. let them know that you want to see some leadership on this.