This document discusses improving public transit in Atlanta. It provides background on Atlanta's history, growth, transportation infrastructure and challenges. Ideas are proposed to make transit more attractive and easier to use, such as mobile apps that provide real-time transit information and payment options. Behavioral economics concepts are discussed to understand how to change public perceptions and encourage greater transit use.
4. Disclaimer
Follow your passion
Societal Impact category entries are not limited to this topic
Google Community Affairs is passionate about
Atlanta
Fostering local innovation
Improving transit in our city
We think new technologies can transform transit
source: Brenda Pierce
Google confidential
5. My Experience
Living, Commuting in Atlanta
Grew up in suburbs
Came into the city bi-weekly
Went to Georgia Tech
Moved to apartment
Moved to a house in in north suburbs
Commuted across top-end,
and into city
Google confidential
7. But for $18K/mile... a 3 mile commute
1792: Indian village "Standing Peachtree"
Peachtree Creek + Chatahoochee
1813: "Fort Peachtree"
1817: Land where my home is built purchased from Cherokee Nation
1831-1838: Forced migration on Native Americans: Trail of Tears
1837: Rail lines slated to end in Norcross re-routed
"Terminus" 3 railroads meet further south at Fort Peachtree
Saves $18K/mile due to terrain, land rights
Population: Trees, cows and chickens
source: Brenda Pierce
Google confidential
8. “Terminus will be a good location for one
tavern, a blacksmith shop, a grocery store,
and nothing else.”
Chief Engineer, Western & Atlantic Railroad
After declining share in 200 acres of property along
present day Marietta Street
Google confidential
9. Rapid Growth of Terminus
Atlanta's history
1843: Renamed "Marthasville" after the governor's daughter
1844: Plan to expand past 7 streets fails vote
1847: Renamed "Atlanta"
1860-1864: War
1864: City systematically burned
1865: Resurgens - a city "rises from the ashes" - rebuilt quickly
source: Brenda Pierce
Google confidential
13. Atlanta Today: Transportation Hub
Freight rail nexus
World's busiest airport:
89M passengers
950K takeoffs/landings
Convergence of three interstates
Excellent road conditions
Bus, Heavy rail transit system
source: Airports Council International, Georgia DOT
Google confidential
18. Population Density Then
1924
1924 Population of 200,000
City limits included 11 mi2
= 18,200 per mi2
source: Brenda Pierce, Wolphram Alpha
Google confidential
19. Population Density Today
Other cities circa 2010
New York City population 8.1M (five boroughs)
26,900 per mi2 (Manhattan 71,000 per mi2)
London population 7.7M
12,800 per mi2
Los Angeles population 14M
8,100 per mi2 (urban)
Portland population city/urban 583k/1.4M
4,300 per mi2 (urban)
Atlanta population city/urban 475K/4.7M
4,020 per mi2 (city)
2,420 per mi2 (urban)
source: wikipeda city page entries, ARC, oregonmetro.gov
warning: suspect computations by presenter
Google confidential
20. 132 mi2 0 1 2
miles
source: gis.atlantaga.gov, author
Google confidential
22. Race/Ethnicity/Class
Influence on Transportation Infrastructure
Migration from the city to inner suburbs to outer suburbs.
Years ago, suburban counties opt-out of MARTA,
eventually use federal money to build separate bus
systems
Future allocations for transportation:
Follow the money?
Social Justice?
Google confidential
23. Demographic Map 2011
20 county metro region
source: Atlanta Regional Commission State of the Atlanta Region: 2011
Google confidential
25. Immigrants
New transportation demands
Latino, Korean, other immigrants settle come to ATL in large numbers
Buford Highway, Roswell Road not designed for pedestrian lifestyle of
immigrants
Sub-population that does not understand English
Shadow transportation infrastructure private buses catering to Latino
community
Top reason Latino arrest in Gwinnett County: No driver's license*
*Based on anectodal evidence, scangwinnett.com
Google confidential
26. Hot Topics in Atlanta Transportation
MARTA budget
TSPLOST 1% sales tax, 10 years up for vote in Summer 2012
Atlanta Beltline
Congestion priced lanes on Interstates
Air Quality - one month a year of unsafe air
Google confidential
28. Atlanta's Car Culture
Suburban living called the "American Dream"
Many of us drive before
High School graduation
Voting age
Legally drinking alcohol
You cannot easily get around the Metro Atlanta area without access to
a car
Parking is free in most places in the city
Google confidential
29. Traffic: Why we drive the way we do
Tom Vanderbilt
TLDR; interview with the author on Amazon.com
Counter-intuitive insights on driving
You are the above-average driver; everyone else is an idiot, right?
Drivers get no feedback on their driving
Is having a passenger safer?
When to merge into exit lane?
Roads and cars designed to be safer, but feeling of safety leads to
more dangerous driving
Roads with fewer or no signs, 'natural cues' safer
Google confidential
30. The High Cost of Free Parking
Donald Shoup
TLDR; http://www.streetfilms.org/dr-shoup-parking-guru/
Why are free parking spaces are mandated by ordinances?
● Someone is paying for all those free parking spaces around
businesses, many of which go unused
● Looking for free curb parking adds to traffic downtown
● Use market economics to maximize use of curb parking, use
money for civic projects
● Remove minimum parking requirements, use market forces to right-
size parking/usable building ratio.
Google confidential
31. Land Dedicated to Cars
Office in Midtown
14 story
office tower
Google confidential
34. No Easy Relief for Highways in Sight
Our roadways are built up in much of our urban area:
On-ramp metering: +9% capacity
Difficult to add lanes, expensive right-of way
Difficult to add new roads in urban area: See Boston Big Dig
Extra lane != linear increase in road capacity
Carpool lane: ~80% same family members
Capital funds needed for maintenance: Bridges getting old
Our best bets for improving road capacity: fine tune, improve
interchanges and intersections
source: Georgia DOT, Wikipedia
Google confidential
36. Societal Benefits of Shared Transit
Congestion reduction
Reduced gasoline consumption
Reduced emissions
Mobility to non-drivers
Compact sustainable communities
BUT
Asking sacrifices for public good is not enough
Transit must be fast, comfortable and reliable
source: Dr. Kari Edison Watkins
Google confidential
37. Controversy
Who pays? Who benefits?
Is it efficient use of taxpayer funds?
Ideological issue?
source: Dr. Kari Edison Watkins
Google confidential
38. ARC Plan 2040: Highlights
atlantaregional.com/plan2040
Population growth from 3.4m in 2000 to 6.0 in 2040
scenario: greenfield growth - More people, more trips
source: Regional Transportation Plan 2040, ARC
Google confidential
39. Commute Times 2010 vs. 2040
from Downtown: no change in growth patterns
2010 2040
source: Regional Transportation Plan 2040, ARC
Google confidential
40. Commute Times 2010 vs. 2040
from Perimeter Mall: No change in growth patterns
2010 2040
source: Regional Transportation Plan 2040, ARC
Google confidential
42. MARTA Stats
Bus and Heavy Rail transit system
91 bus routes
554 buses
38 train stations
48 miles of heavy rail
338 rail cars
450,000 passengers a day
9 restrooms
Directly serves 2 of 10
counties in ARC region
source: Wikipedia
Google confidential
43. MARTA Budget
Breakouts
One-way fare: $2.50
50/50 mandated capital/operational expenditure
75% of current operating expense is labor
$331M revenues from tax + fares
$41M income from federal funds
$0 funding from the State Budget
source: Wikipedia, MARTA Reports
Google confidential
44. More MARTA Statistics
Impacts
1/3 attendees to stadium events use MARTA
46% of riders commute to work that have no other commute option
Displaces 185,000 cars/day
Paratransit for disabled citizens
Estimated $2.1B annual impact on economy
Contributes to disposable income per resident
$70/yr for Fulton & Dekalb
$104 for other Metro Atlanta
$113/yr other GA resident
source: MARTA Annual Report
Google confidential
45. Who Pays for Transportation?
Google confidential
50. Georgia Regional Transit Authority
GRTA
Circa 1998 Atlanta consistently fails federal Air Quality standards
Threat of losing federal funds for roads
GRTA formed by State government
Ability to issue bonds
Aids local governments (bond issues) to implement a regional
transporation plan:
Mobility
Air-Quality
Land Use
source: GRTA website
Google confidential
54. I-285 Top End
Busiest traffic artery in the 10-county region
Not directly served by public transit
Commuters from Kennesaw to Duluth up to 4 transit systems.
source: GRTA website
Google confidential
55. Something is wrong
my GRTA to MARTA commute
One option
for an ~8 hour
workday
Doraville 20 mins
from Midtown
20% of population
lives in Gwinnett
source: GRTA website
Google confidential
60. “ We need to make it so easy that there is no
other reasonable choice but to take transit...
it’s not reasonable to expect people to do
something that they consider a sacrifice, so
let’s take away the sacrifice. Transit service
has to improve, but with better information,
we can make the system already in place
much more usable.”
Dr. Kari Edison Watkins, CE
co-creator of OneBusAway
Google confidential
63. Current Alternatives to Car Ownership
MARTA train and bus
Private Bus (Georgia Bus Lines)
County bus Clayton, Cobb, Gwinnett
Regional Bus (GRTA)
Carpools & Vanpools
Public and Private Shuttles
Taxi
Rental car, ZipCar
Bicycle
Walking
Bum a ride
Google confidential
64. Proposed Atlanta public transit projects
● Streetcar
● Commuter Rail
● Light Rail
● Rapid Bus
Google confidential
65. Demand Management
Livable Centers Initiative (LCI)
Concentrate investments
Move the people closer to
jobs and transit
source: ARC LIC Implementation Plan 2011
Google confidential
68. How to get Atlantans out of their cars?
Fabio Pozzato
Luxury? Speed? Price? Work while you ride? Karma?
source: พระมหาดร.คมสรณ์ คุตตธมฺโม
Google confidential
71. Concerns of a Suburban Mom
Hassle with Kids
Crowds
Privacy
Fear
Unfamiliar
No control
Strange People
Strange Behavior
source: unscientifc poll, sample size: 1, wikimedia commons
Google confidential
72. Can an app help a Soccer Mom?
Google confidential
74. Behavioral Economics
"Study of the effects of social, cognitive and emotional factors on the
economic decisions of individuals and institutions and the
consequences for market prices, returns and the resource allocation."
- Wikipedia
Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely
Explores why people repeatedly make the same kinds of 'mistakes' that
seem to defy logic.
Why it helps to have a wingman
Google confidential
77. Mobile with a Mission
How can modern convergent technology make public transit more
attractive to a smart phone user?
Real-time route information
Android devices can be WiFi hot spot
QR codes (buses, trains, bus stops)
Smart routing of buses
Payment
Entertainment
Feedback to transit operators
Build networks, sense of community among users
Google confidential
78. Finding a Niche
What problems do users have?
current Transit users
potential Transit users
former Transit users
Research them, ask them, study them.
Caution!
Behavior does not always match survey answers
Surveys good indicator of user experience
Users not so good at speculation, "What if?" scenarios.
Google confidential
79. A-Train Trip Planner
atltransit.org
Citizens for Progressive
Transit
Atlanta grassroots effort to
make car-free commuting in
Atlanta easier.
Built with Google Maps in
2007
Transit directions are now
integrated into maps.google.
com
source: Citizens for Public Transit
Google confidential
82. Harness the Power of Commuter's Clicks
apps.facebook.com/cowclicker
Ian Bogost, LCC Georgia Tech
We love to hate these kinds of
social networking games, but...
Easy adoption
Casual gameplay
Appeals to our compulsive
nature
Plus, the potential to go viral!
source: www.bogost.vom
Google confidential
88. Select Resources
City of Atlanta Website, entry on Wikipedia
History of Atlanta, site compilation
Citizens for Progressive Transit
Atlanta Regional Commission website
Traffic: Why we drive the way we do, Tom Vanderbilt
The High Cost of Free Parking, Donald Shoup
MARTA website, entry on Wikipedia
Atlanta Bicycle Coalition
Georgia DOT
Google confidential