After 10 solid years of commuting roundtrip from Decatur to Midtown using MARTA ( Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) I am calling it quits or rather I am retiring from my daily commute. So as I make my final regular trips on the train, I will share some random thoughts in a series of postings.
I am a little bit of a data guy so I logged most of my trips on Georgia Commute Options, and I even won a few gift certificates and a gorgeous commuter participation trophy for blogging. But it has been more rewarding than that. As the numbers show, in a small way I saved money, put thousands of less miles on my car, and kept 7 TONS of pollution out the air.
What the numbers don't show is that my employer paid for a partial monthly pass and by walking to and from the stations, I have probably kept more tonnage from accumulating around my waist. One of the main factors, is that I am not a big fan of sitting in traffic and much prefer reading on a train. (I am the lame duck President of the MARTA Book Club - another posting to follow). For the most part I avoided MARTA buses as the sitting in traffic with automobiles for an hour on those hard, hard seats made my back sore.
My quick summary of the MARTA experience is when I started riding in 2009 it was okay, then it got worse, then Keith Parker took over as CEO and it got better (and more solid financially) to about the same level as it is today. Safety-wise it's okay, but Atlanta is a big city and you have to be aware of your surroundings and the electrical system is aging, and things catch fire from time to time.
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