Attitudes about Mass Transit

This came from an online story that discusses the future of Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit  Authority in nearby Gwinett county:

 http://atlantaprogressivenews.com/2015/08/17/organizing-begins-to-bring-marta-to-gwinnett-county/

“People are coming from other parts of the country where riding transit is not a big deal.  We are trending toward younger people riding transit, so we have to prepare for that future,” Sheldon told Atlanta Progressive News in a phone interview.

Gwinnett has seen rapid growth and changing demographics that has made it more diverse, with a twenty percent Latino, 26 percent Black, and eleven percent Asian population that is more accepting of mass transit.

On the other hand, there are some older, more conservative, and White voters, who do not believe rail is an efficient use of tax money, and who are not comfortable riding MARTA.

“People are coming from other parts of the country where riding transit is not a big deal.  We are trending toward younger people riding transit, so we have to prepare for that future,” Sheldon told Atlanta Progressive News in a phone interview.

 Mother Blames MARTA For Son's Stupidity

 

 In this series of newspaper articles the mother of a Georgia Tech student claimed that her son, James Hubert had been riding on MARTA shortly before he was beaten up and robbed on a late Saturday night (A plausible story, no?) . Later it was found out that he had not been riding on MARTA (surveillance cameras can be good.) but was joy riding on a freight train, which resulted in serious but not fatal injury.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3286456/Student-went-missing-sorority-party-train-tracks-two-days-later-NOT-riding-public-transportation-attack-despite-claims.html

 

I think the interesting aspect is that any crime near a MARTA station is considered typical or how often people will assume that is true before even checking the facts.