I just emailed our lady at the office that gives out the Marta monthly passes ($25, such a steal for unlimited, all you want to ride all month). As long as I ride Marta 8 days a month it pays for itself. She just informed me that she was out of the passes because since the gas prices have gone crazy everyone wants one. I was sad. Then I was glad. I hate that gas prices are so high but I do love that it is forcing people to use public transportation. As all of you who live in Atlanta (or ever have) know, our public transportation SUCKS. I use it because it is cheaper and I live really close to my station, but once I get to my stop it takes almost as long to get from the Marta station to work as it did from my house when I drove, but I do enjoy not having to sit in traffic in the afternoon. It is more relaxing to just sit on a train and crochet and listen to my iPod (yes, crochet). Honestly, if I could give up my car and never use it, I would. I am very jealous of people who can do that. I do try to walk most places since I can walk to the grocery, post office, bank, park, and restaurants from my house. I just hate having to drive everywhere. It is funny to me that I will tell people that I am going to walk to Target (25 min walk) and they think that I am nuts, yet people in NYC and other "walking" cities will walk that to work everyday.
I guess that I just hope that if more people use public transportation here in Atlanta it will improve. Makes logical sense, right? More money means they can build more stations and stuff? Or is it just a pipe dream? It sort of makes me wonder what other sorts of things will change with the gas prices up so high. I haven't even bought gas for my own car in 2 weeks so I am a little out of touch with what the price even is....
7 months ago
3 comments:
OH MY GOD - $25? When I rode the train to work, it cost $125 a month! Then I moved to the city and it cost only $105 a month! You're SO lucky. I picked up public transit out of being forced to - Boston sucks for parking. While it's a little difficult to get used to being on transit's timetable, I really find it SO worth it. It's cheaper, it's better for the environment, it creates LESS demand for oil (making the price go DOWN), and you get your COMMUTE back. I got to read a new book every week, got work done on the train and got interesting conversations with all kinds of people. I know it's not very Southern to say this, but we've GOT to make it work in Atlanta...I just can't believe that so many people want to just be stubborn about it and let a modern, efficient mass transit system go to waste because people insist on sitting by themselves in gridlock for three hours a day. I went car-less last year and it's seriously the most liberating thing ever, I walk everywhere, use a car-share when I absolutely need it and I don't have to worry one ounce about the price of gas!
And one more thing...I think that you can make a distance walkable if you just walk it...I used to drive TWO blocks to the grocery store in Atlanta. Now if I don't walk all the way to Rittenhouse (about 15 blocks away) and back, I feel like I'm getting lazy.
I'm still working on something about "going green", I'd be curious to know what y'all Atlantans think about it - I think that they should do studies on what kinds of things are actually "do-able" based on using Atlantans as a focus group...they want the benefits of the big city but love having the convenience of a small town, it'd be interesting to see what habits people are willing to change.
One problem with Atlanta is that it is all sprawled out....most people don't live in the city, but they work in the city. They have started a couple of things like bus service from the suburbs into the city...apparently they are hooked up with wireless internet and all kinds of stuff...pretty cool, but it creates a longer commute and some people are not willing to give that up. You also have to factor in picking up Suzie and Johnny. That gets more difficult when you ride a bus to work...what happens when the daycare calls and you have to pick them up? My company is really good about "going green". They even provide cars at work that you can "check out" to run errands. That way you can ride to work and then use a car to run errands. There are plenty of things that people could do and don't (hence why the South has some of the highest number of fat people in the nation). It is hard to change habits though...if people did they might see the benefit...I always feel so good when I take the train and don't drive...just more relaxed and calm and other people might feel that way if they gave it a chance...but something has to force them to give it a chance...you know! And, more companies need to get shuttles from Marta stations...some companies are just not close enough to one for people to use it.
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