Daniel Urshansky0:00 So I just wanted to hop on here and talk about something that's been on my mind a lot recently since I got back from traveling in Europe this summer, and that is public transportation.0:09 Right now I'm taking a city planning and urban transportation course, and it's really crazy for me to see how far behind Atlanta, especially is behind cities in Europe like Paris, Brussels, London, and even smaller towns in Switzerland and Germany.0:26 In Europe, you can literally just hop on a train or a tram and it can get you anywhere.0:30 It's fast, it's clean, and it's cheap.0:32 In Atlanta, though, if you don't have a car, you're basically just stuck.0:35 Marta can get you downtown or maybe to the airport, but that's about it.0:40 In my class, we've been learning a lot about concepts like transit-oriented development and first and last mile connectivity.0:46 And it's wild to think about how much of a difference that can make in our city.0:50 Imagine if we had better bike lanes to connect neighborhoods to transit stops or mixed use developments built around stations so people actually wanted to live near and use safe and clean public transport.1:01 Atlanta's really growing fast, and we have this chance to kind of rethink about how everybody moves around the city.1:07 It's not just about convenience though, it's also about sustainability, reducing car traffic, and making the city more accessible to everyone, to both tourists and people that live here.1:16 Honestly, seeing what works in Europe makes me realize that we don't need to reinvent the wheel.1:21 We just need to actually invest in ideas that have been working everywhere else for decades, even in other cities in America, like New York, Boston, and Chicago.
Connor Mcilhinney0:00 I agree that Atlanta is super far behind um when compared to other popular European cities in regards to public transportation.0:08 And I think really the entire US is super far behind.0:11 And it's pretty clear to see uh whenever you're traveling throughout the US.0:15 Um while we do in Georgia have things to kind of incentivize uh sustainable transportation like the HOV lane, kind of encouraging people to drive um together, kind of a carpool, uh, or things like the Peach Pass where people are spending less time on the roads.0:30 It's more efficient for cars uh to be going at a regular pace than it is for cars to be starting and stopping 24-7 just because it uses less energy.0:38 But I agree that um there doesn't need to be a huge change uh specifically in Atlanta just because of how many people m migrate from inside the city to outside the city every single day just for work.0:50 Um and it causes insane amount of traffic sometimes where it'll take about ten minutes to even go a mile.0:58 Um I do think this is a huge issue and and Georgia really needs to invest a lot of money into new transportation systems.1:04 So
Walt Brunson0:00 I think these are some great points about about the public transportation in Georgia and and even in the United States as a whole.0:06 Um I think, you know, obviously Europe is is miles ahead of us in terms of their public transportation with their trains and buses, but they're also so much more densely packed that it's a it's a geographic challenge for us as well.0:17 I mean, you get anywhere outside of Atlanta and Georgia is is farmland for the most part, um, which is not easy to connect by public transport.0:25 Um, but even those short commutes from inside the city to outside where where a lot of people are are traveling daily and where a lot of traffic is created, uh, you know, I think there's a big incentive there to put a lot of money into this public transport uh because even aside from from the emissions of of the cars sitting there and the traffic, you have to think about the further economic implications of that.0:47 Like how many people are not gonna go uh drive anywhere between the hours of three and you know six o'clock just because of traffic, uh, who may be, you know, uh consumers and and people going to shop, go to restaurants, you know, go enjoy, uh enjoy what the city has to offer um and you know, kind of provide that economic activity.1:06 Uh but I also think it needs to be a cultural approach.1:09 Um what I mean by that is cars and kind of the independence of having a car in the States is is just so deeply ingrained in culture.1:19 I think we need to find ways to kind of have a culture shift uh from the kind of you know ideals that you might have of public transportation of of, you know, m whether it be Marto or or any other public transport of being kind of, you know, uh uh not so clean, maybe not so safe um mode of transportation, and also moving away from the dependence on on cars and automobiles uh as as as a must-have for for freedom and independence.
Graham Forgey0:00 I agree.0:00 Atlanta's public transit is awful right now.0:03 You look at major cities and Europe as a whole, it is completely revolutionized.0:08 America is stuck in the 20th century.0:11 America, I mean America and Atlanta specifically, are ruined by one person, one car.0:18 This causes immense backups on interstates like I-75, I-85, and State Route 400, which run through the heart of the city.0:28 Many of these solo commuters are the reason why Atlanta has such bad traffic.0:33 This could all be smoothed over if Mayor Andre Dickens or Governor Brian Kemp initialize a plan for mass public transit, which we need.0:48 The systems like Marta do not satisfy what Atlanta needs.0:52 It doesn't go Metro Atlanta has grown immensely in the past 20 years since Marta was created.0:58 Marta needs to be expanded and revolutionized and made safe for all people so that all people feel comfortable to go where from work to home, from home to go out, from anywhere.1:15 Public transport could be a huge fix to Atlanta's traffic problem and crisis, quite frankly.1:21 All they need to do is take action.