The new general manager of MARTA vows to win public trust
Yeah, good luck there chief. I have to say, this article was a pretty great source of some inadvertent, ironic humor. And I feel like deconstructing a lot of the false truths published to hide the obvious ones.
The poll (that the AJC conducted) found the public’s biggest beef with MARTA was that it was inconvenient because it too often didn’t go to their destination and they didn’t need it because they had a car.
Despite the fact that this statement is true, I vehemently deny the claim that it was the public’s biggest beef. Although I unofficially and likely inappropriately speak on behalf of everyone, the biggest beef that people have with MARTA is the simple fact that it doesn’t feel clean or safe, on top of the fact that it rarely goes to anyone’s destination.
The last time I was on MARTA, there was a man and an elderly woman having a very animated argument, that escalated into the man repeatedly and publicly declaring that physical violence was on the horizon for her. Something about how she threw his cell phone away in a fit of rage from an earlier spat, and how he was going to whoop her ass when they got home. Naturally nobody did anything, including myself while this was going on, but one patron did inform a MARTA “officer” when they got off, prompting the arguing parties to escape amidst a crowd.
With regularity, there are hoods on the train that are always taking up space in the most unsightly, unsanitary and inconsiderate ways possible. I’ve declared that I will give $100 to anyone’s charity if I could ever get on a MARTA train and not have to hear some shithead’s snake charmer rap beats, through ineffective, loosely-worn headphones or earbuds, and I’m fairly confident that I’ll never have to because MARTA is the way it is today.
One instance, a gross-looking old guy got on the train, and I cringed knowing that I had an available seat next to me that he was going to end up sitting next to me. Naturally, he did, and aside from the fact that he looked like he didn’t know what a bathtub looked like, he so happened to be eating from a bag of fried chicken. Propagating stereotypes all the way to the bank. Of course, he would simply drop the bones on the ground and my stomach turned at the sight of him gripping handlebars and touching things with his unwiped, greasy dirty hands. And to no surprise, there was absolutely no sight of enforcement anywhere, on or immediately off the train, where I would have liked to have informed someone of such gross transgressions, not like they would have done anything, anyway.
As a general manager in Charlotte and San Antonio — two areas similar to metro Atlanta in politics — he said the agencies improved ridership by making bus seating more comfortable and adding wi-fi service.
Charlotte and San Antonio may be similar to Atlanta in politics, but they’re certainly not similar to Atlanta when it comes to demographics of public transportation riders. Adding wi-fi to MARTA sounds like a disaster that I couldn’t possibly wait to laugh at when it inevitably goes horrifically bad. I foresee people leeching off of the wi-fi all day long, or as long as their devices can handle, going so far as to simply pay once to get on in the morning, and use a system of riding, re-charging at stations, and riding some more in order to usurp off of the free wi-fi. I foresee people abusing the wi-fi to where they try to conduct business and try to do actual money-making schemes from trains and buses. I foresee the technologically savvier try to capitalize on all the data being funneled through MARTA wi-fi, and find those people stupid enough to be transmitting valuable personal information through a public network, causing an epidemic of identity theft, courtesy of MARTA.
Instead of the likely inflated cost of millions it would take to integrate wi-fi into all the buses and trains with the requisite convenient overage to pad pockets with, hire some actual fucking MARTA rent-a-cops to go about the trains and buses to enforce the rules, and lead to cleaner and safer trains and buses?
In the past he has made patrons more comfortable by not tolerating “knucklehead” behavior such as foul language or other rude acts and banning offenders.
Knucklehead behavior? Is that what the AJC’s calling ghetto thug behavior now? Foul language doesn’t bother me; blacks calling other blacks “niggas” doesn’t bother me. I’d prefer them not be using it in front of children, as futile of a gesture it is, but I adhere to it, but foul language is a minor problem.
“Rude acts” is a little more along the lines of what I’d hope MARTA actually enforces, because it’s probably the real biggest beef people have with riding MARTA. Not too many people like having to hear some little thug’s wannabe hard thug rap blasting through earphones strategically misplaced so that everyone can hear it. Not too many people like when there’s urine soaked copies of the AJC metro section sitting on the seat, or when there are Church’s Chicken cups rolling around hitting your feet underneath the seats. Non-black and even some black women don’t appreciate getting eyed and sized up like a piece of meat, and the ensuing obnoxious come-ons that some hoods exhibit.
But most importantly, MARTA just plain doesn’t ever feel safe. If I’m every rider, I don’t ever feel like anyone is going to come to my assistance if anything were ever to happen. Much like the futile hopes that there actually be cops monitoring the HOV lanes in Atlanta to bust the 80% of solo commuters using them, hoping that MARTA actually improves any bit is grasping for the stars. Aside from the annoyances that I’ve mentioned, let’s not ignore the obvious fact that MARTA still has an absurdly high crime rate, with station muggings, and the actual violence that occasionally does erupt aboard the trains.
I give a half-hearted salute to this Keith Parker guy for wanting to improve MARTA, but if I’m a betting man, I’m banking on him eventually growing exasperated with this insurmountable task, and eventually giving up and twisting MARTA to pad his pockets or advance his personal agendas.
It’s not like he wouldn’t have been the only one to maintain the status quo of suck.
