Fake MARTA Survey

AJC 11/2/18 page A1 article “Strong support for transit across metro Atlanta survey shows” touts that of the 5,450 people surveyed in the “quality of life” survey from the 13 metro counties, 80% said that mass transit was “very important”. But the survey should have covered those who use mass transit to commute to work and on a regular basis, not people in other counties who don’t need to use public transit. The article was written to promote MARTA expansion, but didn’t mention the costs or the limited ridership. The MARTA train operates in DeKalb and Fulton, but less than 10% of the 1.9 million combined population of these two counties ever uses MARTA trains and buses. We have 5.8 million people in Atlanta Metro. Clayton County also uses MARTA buses,

Only 28% of those surveyed said “transportation” is Atlanta’s biggest problem. I believe that most of the people who were surveyed don’t ever use MARTA. 

Atlanta residents need to consider the cost of subsidizing public transit and should be reluctant to expand it. The cost of expanding the MARTA train is unsustainable and would saddle taxpayers with $billions more in taxes.

MARTA annual revenue is $422.8 million and annual expenses are $1.046 billion.  MARTA has overpaid union drivers with a pension plan and low ridership. There are cheaper ways to mitigate Atlanta traffic than sending more empty MARTA trains and buses across Atlanta.

MARTA is trying to sell its $2.7 billion expansion plan. It’s political allies include the AJC, ARC and GSU. Bus service is cheaper to add than trains unless you want to build dedicated bus lanes, but Liberals want trains and Atlanta has a fair number of Liberals.

The solution to Atlanta traffic gridlock is to expand the roads and highways to correct the pinch-points. That is expansive enough, because we’ve waited 30 years to do this. Public transit in Georgia needs to be privatized not subsidized.

https://www.itsmarta.com/uploadedFiles/More/About_MARTA/FY19BoardResolution.pdf

The Median Household Income in Fulton and DeKalb Counties is $62.613 and is higher than the average annual income in the US.

DeKalb’s average household income is $56.109, lower than US average.  Fulton’s average household income is $63,510, higher than US average.  Of the 1.9 million people who live in these counties, 

Income distribution in Atlanta shows that the bottom 26.1% earn an average of $8,000 per year. The next 13.7% earn $25,000 per year. These are the two groups of people we need to hear from.

The next group is 3.4% who earn $49,500. The next group is 6.9% who earn an average of $87,100 per year. The other 50% earn over $100,000 per year.

Politicians are pitted between a large wealthy group and a large poorer group, but it’s time to fix the leaky sewers and water distribution pipes and expand the roads and highways.

https://statisticalatlas.com/place/Georgia/Atlanta/Household-Income

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader