Talk:Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority/Archive 1

Suggested move
I think this should be moved back to MARTA. Mike H. That's hot 01:07, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Why? - SCEhard T 04:06, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Oppose; this is the official name and MARTA already redirects here. AU Tiger ʃ talk /work 04:29, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
 * Oppose? I didn't ask for a vote. I was just suggesting. Calm down. Mike H. That's hot 12:59, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
 * I'm calm, just wanted to get my vote in early before the rush. :-) AU Tiger ʃ talk /work 01:51, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

why? I still havn't heard a reason. earlopogous talk 6:26, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
 * It is the popular name, and even the logo says "MARTA." Aren't we supposed to name articles by their popular names, or does that only go for people? Mike H. That's hot 23:38, 16 January 2006 (UTC)
 * If it's only more popular because it's an abbreviation and so shorter to say and write, I don't think it would be in the same class as names of persons. We don't rename "United States" to "U.S." or "Playstation 2" to "PS2". -- Centrx 22:30, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

The Marta page was changed from redirecting to this article to a disambiguation page. The only other link on the disambiguation page was a link to a small town named Marta in Italy. I reverted Marta to redirect back to this article and created a sepearte Marta (disambiguation) page with a link to it on the top of this article. This made the most sense to me since this article is probably more popular than the Italy town. Biomedeng 03:10, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

MARTA and Race
I don't have documentation about the racial politics of rapid transit in Atlanta, though my recollection is that the main reason that Cobb and Gwinnett counties didn't want MARTA was to keep black people and criminals out. It sure is one odd system that goes to Lennox and the Airport, but can't get you home if you live where most people do. The racial politics of MARTA are important. Defenestrate talk 18:59, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
 * I'd contest the 'live where most people do' statement given that the City of Atlanta proper is still the largest in Georgia, but the racial politics was most certainly in play to my understanding. The 'criminals' part is a smokescreen and their codeword for black people as they couldn't actually say that. That being said, it really does need some documentation considering it could be considered a contentious and inflamatory statement. Btw, please sign your talk page posts. AU Tiger  ʃ talk /work 01:51, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

Race does play an important role, but I doubt I could find a citation, unless I went digging through the AJC archives, which does not look appealing. But, it does serve very few residential areas. earlopogous talk 22:54, 18 January 2006 (UTC)


 * Thus, the politics of urban sprawl in the Atlanta metropolitan area make it difficult for the system to thrive. Many people who own cars avoid using the system because it can be inconvenient. Racial politics also play a role. The acronym is sometimes referred to by whites as "Moving Africans Rapidly Through Atlanta". [4] Over 75% of its riders are African American.
 * Wow, I didn't know it was that bad. --Ted 13:29, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Ridership percentage
I would like to see a source other than "According to MARTA" on the statement that 85% of the riders are from Fulton and DeKalb. AubieTurtle 04:05, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I agree, but we also need a source for your recent addition - SCEhard T 04:23, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

I added citations, though I hate using the AJC as a source since it requires registration. I've searched for any supporting sources on the 85% ridership figure but can not find any. I did find a reference to a license plate survey conducted by MARTA that showed 45% of the cars parked in MARTA lots were from outside of Fulton and DeKalb. The survey predates the opening of the North Springs and Sandy Springs MARTA stations, which is likely to invalidate the results since those stations are likely to attract drivers from neighboring counties due to their geographic location. AubieTurtle 05:04, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
 * I've noted in my office (consulting firm in Atlanta) a larger number of employees who moved from other areas keep their cars registered in their home states, typically due to Fulton/Dekalbs high tax on registrations and Georgia's required emissions inspections. Speaking with friends at other firms I've found similar results.--mitrebox 01:08, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Ridership percentage and export percentage have been removed since they are not sourced despite a request here months ago. --38.116.2.4 18:28, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

Black market tokens?
I have no idea is its legal or not but the homeless people standing outside the station will sell you a token for a dollar. &mdash;The preceding unsigned comment was added by 128.61.68.116 (talk &bull; contribs).

It was recently in the news that MARTA police arrested a man for reselling a token. There is much talk outside of the press as to whether the guy was really just trying to help someone out or if this was something he did on a regular basis. Though the law was originally enacted to prevent profiteering from buying up large quantities of tokens before a fare increase, MARTA doesn't like people reselling tokens because it gives the sellers incentive to jam the faregates so they can get out free tokens to go sell. It will soon be a moot point since the new Breeze fare system does not use tokens and all of the faregates will be replaced. AubieTurtle 05:07, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

I do not think it should be added simply because it will soon be a moot point, as you said. Earlopogous 16:00, 4 March 2006 (UTC)
 * It could still be an important historical point. -- Centrx 22:31, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Broken Breeze
Should it be noted the failure of the breeze gates and vending machines? It has not been documented in the media or any other source to my knowledge. However if you have ever been to Five Points or some of the other stations there is always a gate or two that has some type of sign or barricade blocking one of the Breeze Gates. The info on the screen says barricade malfunction. Also at Five Points there always seems to be mechanics working on the Breeze Machines or taking the gates apart doing work on them. Did MARTA screw up?Amazingracer 01:08, 8 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Wikipedia policy prohibits original research so you need a news article documenting Breeze failures. Even if you were to take a photograph, there would be no way of knowing if the photgraph had been staged or if it was a one day situation or something that's going on continuously. Are you sure that the AJC hasn't done an article on it?  They're located right near Five Points so if there is a problem, they're likely to know about it.  They often do articles on MARTA problems so I suggest going to ajc.com or use Google to find a published reference if you wish to add this information to the article.  AubieTurtle 18:49, 14 September 2006 (UTC) My personal opinion is that Breeze is huge upgrade and there is bound to be problems.  Also since the gates are still mechanical in nature and used by the general public in large numbers, repairs are going to be an ongoing situation.  Perhaps the news media doesn't feel what is going on at Five Points is beyond the ordinary and thus not deserving of a story. AubieTurtle 19:08, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks for clearing that up. Breeze is a huge upgrade for Marta, but would have its setbacks. Im not trying to bash Marta but was trying to see if some one else had come across an article concerning the broken gates. Which seem to be fixed at Five Points, but several gates at the Arts Center station have been down for about a week now.Amazingracer 04:31, 15 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Just so everyone doesn't think Amazingracer is crazy, I too have seen gates broken very frequently at the Midtown station. Usually it is only one (sometimes two) so people can still use the other gates with minimal inconvenience. This is a big improvement over the old system in which frequently every turnstile at an entrance would be broken, but still one would hope MARTA could attend to the broken gates more quickly. Biomedeng 14:47, 7 October 2006 (UTC)

Seperate Breeze Card Article
Most of the Breeze information has been spun off into another article. I cleaned up this article and tried to better organize it, but I am still wondering if it is worthy of a seperate article. What do others think about keeping Breeze seperate from MARTA or merging it back into the MARTA article? Biomedeng 01:07, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Since other transit systems have seperate articles regardin their fare media, I think it's ok. It keeps the MARTA article cleared up, but the Breeze Card article should stay updated and in good shape. While I did not make the article, thanks for your work on it! Amazingracer 18:01, 5 October 2006 (UTC)