Newfound Faith

Looks like MARTA doesn't *kill* the pigeons, I was wrong.  Sorry for conspiring to hold a pigeon rally, MARTA.  I'll also ax that petition and Facebook group to save Atlanta's pigeons.  Guess I need to get back in touch with PETA, too, call them off.

Maybe my feathery commuter is out there, somewhere, eating another poptart and waiting for his big break on Mike Tyson's new show after all.

I miss you, little pigeon dude.

CCTgirl?

Someone who shall remain nameless said I need to be writing about CCT more, since that is my namesake.  When I started this blog I lived in Cobb County, along Cobb Parkway, and rode the CCT more.  Part of the name and the initial purpose of this blog came from all the blunders I was experiencing on CCT, like missing the bus because it was early, loosing money in the Breeze machine, learning the hard way that it doesn't run on Sundays, and craziness in general.

Since then I have moved ITP, to East Point to be exact.  However, my job is still in Cobb County, so I'm still getting on that CCT express bus *hopefully* in the mornings and evenings.  And while I still love my bus and the folks on it, the blog has taken on much more of a MARTA slant.  Frankly, I'm on MARTA more now.  And also the new bus driver on the 10b in the mornings is awesome.  I need to get his name and write CCT about how cool he is.  After I had to call him out that one time for not going to my office because, "No one there rides this bus," he and I get along well now.  And if I catch him on the evenings on the 50, I'm happy to see him.  He is by far one of the most efficient drivers I've met, but I'm not sure I like the fact that he gets me to the office ten minutes early.  That's loss of sleep for me.  But I'm not getting any good CCT stories because my commutes have been nothing if not perfectly smooth.  And right now, I feel like MARTA needs me more to raise awareness of it's funding issues.

We'll have to see what happens to CCT when Sam Olens leaves to pursue his race for Attorney General.  I kinda hate to see him leave Cobb County, because frankly, he's been damn good at his job of County Commissioner, and from what I've heard, I'm not too sure how his chances of winning this election are.  It seems like he has some good competition.  So if CCTgirl seems a little MARTAgirl, I'm sorry, CCT is just kicking my butt.  I can't poke fun at a system that runs beautifully (at least when I'm on it), and, as far as I can tell, doesn't seem to have a mission against pigeons.

A memorial to my feathery commuting friend

Dear pigeon friend, I am so sorry I could not save you (and yes, I did run around Five Points chasing pigeons to check out their feet).  But I fear that MARTA has already killed you with some tasty poisoned treat and now we will never commute together again.  And I had high hopes for us, that we could be famous and beat Mike Tyson.

I will miss you.

Weekly Transit Photos

Pretend this was posted Friday, on the normal photo op day for me, will ya?  I appreciate it!

Dum dum dum - time for your weekly photos!  What crazy crap did I see this week?  For starters, I have seen some questionably dressed women and a gentleman who apparently couldn't hold it on the train any longer.  Someone should tell him the stations have restrooms, and they're actually pretty clean (go MARTA!). But I have decided that I'm not mean, so I'm not taking pictures of people to poke fun of.  Only crazies.  Or crazy signage, like today's images:

See, this is how the warnings on MARTA trains used to look.  Small, concise, don't smoke, or play your radio, or talk to the operator, or bring an uncaged, non-seeing eye dog pet on MARTA.  And no train hopping.  However, they've gone to sticking big ole sticker up there:

So leave your guns at home, plus all your food, and don't attack a MARTA employee.  I guess you can assault other passengers all you want.  PS - RADIOS ARE STILL UNLAWFUL.  Buy some headphones.

C-TRAN is probably dead because the County Commission doesn't want to save it.  They were given options, they didn't care.  They suck.  But service stops on March 31st, and I feel bad for the people who depend on C-TRAN.  Foreshadowing of MARTA's future?  Maybe....

A few posts ago I talked about the Number Two, and how along its route is the last remaining street car shelter.  The other day I was on the two and attempted to take a picture of said shelter.  This is a hard task from a moving bus.  However, if you look to the far right, you can see the wooden shelter.  This summer, when those bushes are blooming, I will take a real photo.  Hopefully before the route disappears.

This morning I commuted with this fellow, who had a poptart for breakfast.  Spotted on the North bound platform.

He is not shy, but people scurried from him like he would attack.  On the other hand, if you look closely, you will see that his little feet are badly mangled so that he's basically walking on the tops of his claws.  There were also a lot of feather lying around, so this little commuter is not doing well.  If you see him, trap him, stick him in a box, and call/message me or call Michael at AWAREone.org.