Better Atlanta Transit

“It’s a 100-year thing…For Beltline rail, it would be 100 years or more.” Forget impact duration. It will be 100 years before the whole thing could possibly be built given cost inflation…and it will cost billion$. Expand the path. Put #BRT on surrounding streets. https://lnkd.in/eU4Rh2pN

The Atlanta Beltline is getting too crowded to pack people of varying abilities together on a single, narrow strip of concrete. The path must be expanded.

Atlanta is supposedly the 3rd ranking American city for Lime scooter rides. A new report below shows 175 million trips were taken worldwide on Lime devices in 2024, replacing over 43 million car trips with two-wheeled, emissions-free rides, and saving approximately 20,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions. This is by far the fastest growing transportation trend for last-mile connectivity and is a clear winner on the Atlanta Beltline today verses proposed and shockingly expensive, inflexible fixed-rail solutions. Combined with on-demand service options already being tested by MARTA during system disruptions and the expansion of Waymo's robotaxi program (I just rode one in San Francisco!) soon to Atlanta, you can begin to see the pieces of comprehensive system coming together. And MARTA is already planning to reprogram its bus services to include on-demand options for inefficient bus routes. This new system will feature a growing list of BRT "express" routes and improved rail station access and bus schedule frequency. And the new MARTA trains (arriving in just under 2 years) will feature enhanced micromobility "on-train" storage options for combining e-bike/scooter rides with train travel. All-in-all a positive progression toward a less car-dependent set of options to move around the city, without replacing our linear park system with trail killing rail. https://lnkd.in/epUw5wRG

🚲= 13 minutes 🚶🏼♀️= 27 minutes 🚙= 60 minutes 🚋= 79 minutes 🤯 Tell us again how the #Atlanta Beltline streetcar is going to boost #transit ridership. Remind us as to why #infrastructure for #bikes continues to get such a low priority. https://lnkd.in/eNZ2jwBk

When space is shifted from one mode to another, good things happen: “The reduction in the width of the roadway will let DCR create two new riverfront paths: a new 5-foot-wide stone-dust pathway designed for slower pedestrian traffic, and a paved 11-foot-wide path designed to be shared by faster-moving traffic, including bikes, pedestrians, runners, and rollerbladers.” We could do something similar on the Atlanta Beltline, if the billion-dollar streetcar scheme is derailed. https://lnkd.in/gw-kfKzt

#Streetcar construction can be deadly for existing businesses. That’s why it’s best to build it on streets where redevelopment hasn’t yet taken place. It holds down the damage. That’s why it’s far too late to put a tram on the booming #Atlanta Beltline. https://lnkd.in/ema8hVJ4

If Atlanta Magazine readers—many of whom likely vote in #Atlanta elections—value the Beltline #bike path this much, how smart will it be for local politicians to ruin it with a streetcar, especially given the massive tree removal, trail closures, and elaborate fencing it will bring to the corridor?

In #KansasCity, #streetcar work resulted in closed businesses. But, there’s still hope once it ends. It will run in the street, so its presence won’t be any more of a barrier to corridor crossings than existing car traffic. The #Atlanta Beltline tram creates a barrier where none previously existed. https://lnkd.in/e2ScUnBQ

Giving credit to MARTA for really changing the way bus transit in Atlanta could work in the near future with a service model better suited to a post-Covid world. Together with the new fare-box "Apple Pay, click and go" system being launched soon, we will begin to touch a level of service offered in Europe. https://lnkd.in/esP_JssP

Instead of ruining the Atlanta Beltline’s path, arboretum, and businesses with a streetcar, #Atlanta could duplicate #Bogota’s #BRT system on the nearby multilane streets and roads. It would be far cheaper per mile, so it could be finished in our lifetimes.