Carl Dagher0:00 What's up y'all?0:01 Um today I want to talk about Marta, um the public transportation system we have here in Atlanta.0:08 Um I'm a not so frequent user, but I I use Marta um a couple times a year.0:15 Uh I I found it to be convenient, but only for specific reasons like going to a Falcons game from from here from campus or or going back to Sandy Springs where near my uh my dad's office to get picked up from school.0:31 However, I just don't think Marta is necessarily an effective rail system.0:39 And I don't necessarily believe there's a better way to go about it.0:45 I think just the the spread of of a city like Atlanta is so kind of unpredictable.0:52 And you know, most of these rail lines in Europe, these are ancient cities or they've been around for a long time.0:58 So they're well-established rail lines.1:01 And I think here in Atlanta with with the expansion of a Metro Atlanta, like it's spread all the way up to Cumming and Gainesville, like that's a far ways away.1:10 And and and to have a transportation system that caters to all these people's needs, I personally think is unrealistic.1:18 Um I think the lines we have in place are are good.1:23 Um for for what they are, but I don't necessarily believe it's possible for us to kind of expand on top of that and make um you know a public transportation system that mimics like a European cities.1:38 And and you know, it's it's been a big debate.1:41 Public transportation here in Atlanta.1:43 Um unfortunately, I don't think there's much we can do about that.1:47 I really want to hear y'all's opinions.1:49 Um if y'all think there is a viable solution for this issue.1:53 But um yeah, for me, I just don't really see a solution in the near future.2:00 Um that involves rail lines.2:02 Um and the bus system, I'm sure I I know a lot of people use that, and and to be completely honest, I don't have much knowledge on the bus system, so I don't know how effective it is.2:10 But uh specifically talking about the rail system here in Atlanta, I'd I think we've maxed it out.2:17 Um I'm sure there's some stops here and there we can add, but but as overall picture, I think it's uh it's a tough topic.2:25 Um and yeah, I like to hear you guys' opinions.
Wesley Joyce0:00 Carl, I completely agree with you.0:02 I I think we've maxed out our infrastructure for Marta.0:09 I mean, we've spent so much money on it to get it to where it is now.0:14 And public faith in it is still you know low.0:20 Like there's a lot of people who encourage, yeah, we need to ride Marta, traffic's bad, like do your part and ride Marta.0:27 Then they don't go and do that.0:28 And I'm one of those people, you know, like it's easy to wish that we had a train system that functioned like Europe.0:35 But I mean, I would rather wait in traffic for maybe 15 minutes longer just to be able to sit in my own vehicle and listen to my own music.0:46 Um so I mean they could throw a few billion more dollars at it, but me personally, and I think a lot of other people's share this sentiment.0:56 It's just not that practical.0:58 Like it and you know, if my friend needed to go to the airport and it was me driving him or him taking the Marta, like I'm gonna drive him.1:06 I wouldn't want my friend to take the Marta.1:08 It's not it's not an enjoyable experience, and um I don't know, it it seems like every one of those projects that they propose is so expensive, and it's good for what it's good for now, like you can get to the airport on it, but I just don't see how multiple billions of more dollars of new rail lines is gonna change the public perception on it.1:37 So, you know, I don't know what else you spend that money on.1:41 Um, but I don't think they could do a whole lot to change me and a lot of other people's mentalities on Marta, especially being from out of the city and you know, always driving around, and that's just the way things were.1:58 Like it's a very rare occasion that I consider the Marta as even a possibility.
Casey Comerford0:00 Yeah, Carl, that's it's very interesting.0:02 I was actually recently in Europe as well, um, and just got fully exposed to how that rail system works over there.0:08 And I mean, it is completely different, and it does make you think about not only in Atlanta what we have for public transportation, but also just in the country as a whole.0:16 Um, in Atlanta, you know, the MARTA system is fine.0:20 I mean, it works.0:21 Um, you know, I think it's nowhere near as as efficient as a system like the subway and in New York.0:27 Um if possible, I mean, I do think a MARTA system uh expanded in Atlanta would be great, maybe underground, but that would be a huge project that I don't know if we have the space or resources to do.0:39 Um but you know, Atlanta, especially, um, but also the United States is just such a car.0:44 Um, you know, cars the car is the main means of transportation.0:48 It's just such a highway dependent system.0:50 And I think it is important to remember that you know the cities and and the US and also just the US as a whole, is the same size as as Europe, if not bigger.1:00 Um so it's not gonna be fully practical to just build this whole new rail system that travels continentally from one end to the other.1:07 I did hear news that Trump was considering, you know, a uh building a railway for the upcoming, I was either the Olympics or the World Cup that could span that could go straight from LA to New York, and things like that would be insane.1:21 But I think the first steps that could be maybe feasible that would be effective is say a railway that is for travelers, not for just you know shipments and stuff like that.1:32 It goes up maybe the east coast, um, or you know, up kind of in the north.1:36 Um, just so you can make travel a little more efficient where maybe you don't want to ride in a car, you want to go overnight, then you could take the train.1:43 Um, and maybe it's a little cheaper than flying.1:46 But at the end of the day, is pumping all those resources into expansion of transportation really worth it when people are so dependent and reliant on cars and planes nowadays in the in the US, as that's just the culture we have here.1:58 Um so I agree you I agree with you.2:00 I don't think expansion is necessarily feasible in Atlanta.2:03 Um just because of the the system we have in place.
Vansh Patel0:00 Carl, I think you brought up a valid point of the infrastructure and the issues with metro uh in Atlanta.0:08 And I think it's something that really stems back to how Atlanta was built at the start, the infrastructure of Atlanta.0:16 I think Atlanta is the highway or is the center of all highways in Georgia.0:24 All of our highways derive from Atlanta as its central location.0:29 And I'm sure I can imagine at the start of Atlanta.0:33 It was envisioned to be a blooming city, but one that's also based on these roads because of how extensively they were built.0:45 I mean, the spaghetti junction, all these uh how the perimeter works.0:50 Uh it was really built to be a network of roads and highways rather than rail systems.0:58 Uh you look at New York or LA or such cities like those, they really aren't designed how uh Atlanta is.1:11 There New York, for example, is not the most road dependent.1:17 It's it's far more walkable.1:19 It's uh it's it has a better ability of a true rail system to be used for its citizens uh rather than Atlanta.1:31 We really don't have a walkable city in the sense that you can get almost all your needs in one place.1:39 Uh I think that's something we lack and definitely would need to work on, but I reasonably not see it happening because that would need a total change in our infrastructure.1:52 And unfortunately, like you mentioned, I just don't think that's possible anymore.1:57 And yeah, I think Marta is our best bet.2:01 And there's definitely definitely some benefits of Marta.2:05 I mean, I can get from here as a Georgia Tech student to the airport in about two and a half dollars.2:11 Uh I think that's unheard of in most places, uh of how far I am.2:17 But yeah, I think Marta's the best we're gonna get, and I think that's just something we're gonna have to live with.