Transit shopping Part Two

Yea, yea, it took a while for me to get back to this.  The holidays are a busy time for me, particularly this year.  Crazy weather, crazy great grandmother, new Aunt.  But I just realized the irony of that blog title, because part two of my adventures stars, that's right folks, Two!

Two and I both wanted to do a bit of Christmas shopping, so once the AC and I were done, I met back up with Two to hit *gasp* the suburbs!  Whoo!  We needed a particular store for a present from his lady friend ;)  I was looking forward to shopping on MARTA, I'd never tried it before, and like a glutton for punishment, was stoked about lugging my loot around on the train.  That's how real transit folks do it, right? 

Following a potty break and Camper stop-off at his place, Two and I hopped on the train at Midtown to head up to the Perimeter.  And we were promptly kicked off the train one stop up at Arts Center.  They never told us why, or how long the disruption would be for, just to get off the train, it was going back down the line.

Come to find out, there had been some sort of flood of epic Noah proportions (maybe I exaggerate) between Arts Center and Lindburgh so folks were being directed on to buses to be ferried between the stations.  Not knowing when the second great flood of 09 would subside, Two saved the day by getting a Zipcar.  

I did haul my goods back on MARTA to get home that evening, though.

Happy New Year!

First commute of the new year and man is it COLD.  17 degrees in the ATL, which is like -20 below here for us.  But the cold won't deter me, no sir.  On the other hand, it seemed to deter some folks, cause ridership on the train was down.  But I got my nice, new, super duper warm North Face coat from my Dad for Christmas and and my Smittens and was nice and warm.  I am from the north, I can prepare for the cold.

In other news, my normal bus driver, Denise, wasn't there today.  The replacement was super friendly, but I had to help him with the route.  I am so cool.  However, homeboy announced, on the PA, that he hopes God blessed us.  Do buses have to adhere to that whole separation of church and state thing?  O, nevermind, CCT isn't state funded.  Ha!

Speaking of which, did you know that the Georgia legislative session starts next Monday, the 11th?  Start harassing your representatives!  We need funding for transit like fish need water.  We need water, too, but this is a transit blog.  And I'm SO good to you, here's the address to find out who to contact and how:

http://www.legis.state.ga.us/

Come ride the Soul Train!

Sometimes MARTA decorates their trains, I assume for ad revenue. There's a Waffle House train, which is pretty cool, but I gotta say that my favorite one is the Soul Train, for the awards show in November.

Transit shopping & Smittens Part One

I was supposed to go home to Virginia for the holidays but given the weather, my butt is still in the Atl.  In order to entertain myself during my new found free time, I decided on a transit adventure - shopping on MARTA!  So I took the bus from my new house for the second time ever to the station.  MARTA buses are so much better than CCT, no lie. Folks who complain about MARTA need to take a trip to Cobb.

I started my day by hopping on the train to Midtown and had brunch with Two and the AC at J Christopher's.  After brunch, the AC and I headed to the Highlands for a little shopping. Yea, yea, we drove in her car cause it's not transit friendly at all.  But we found the most awesome transit gear at a little craft show.  So I introduce to you Smittens!

Smittens are these really cool scarves that have pockets for your hands. Jen, the creater of the Smittens, said that she had toyed with naming them Bus Stop Buddies, and its the perfect description for them.  Now you have warm hands without fiddling for gloves. And, its a great place to stash your Breeze card.

You can pick up some Smittens at mushbabygifts.etsy.com and support local artisans and public transit! And, most importantly, stay warm!

yet another reason to take MARTA

Because seeing a sign that reads "event route" on the GA 400 on ramp makes me want to take up smoking and learn how to play the drums like Meg White a la "Fell In Love With A Girl."

I really hate people like this

I mean seriously, you can't afford earphones for that psp? We don't want to hear your crappy song on repeat all the way from Kennsington to Five Points.  This also goes for those extra cool thugs who play that one snippet of a song on their cells to the whole train. Buy an ipod.

It was Kroger water, too

Later today (or sometime, let's be frank here) I will write a post about how my lovely room mate and I both ate MARTA floor this morning (and not together, mind you.  PS She's taking it way harder than me, I'm kinda like, o well.  She's kinda ticked.) but until then, have you heard of PeopleOfPublicTransit.com?  It's kinda like PeopleOfWalMart.com, but takes place on transit - imagine!  Anywho, the ATL is wonderfully represented:

At Least He's Honest

Which brings me to a story from last Thursday night on the train.  There was a dude, selling water.  I know, dudes sell stuff all the time, but he was the best darn salesman I've ever met.  I mean, if I owned a company that sold stuff, by golly, I would hire him.  I mean, that man could have talked me out of my last dollar for frozen bottled when it was 10 degrees outside (maybe I'm exaggerating on the temp, here, but I tell you what, I bought water just because he was SO good!).  Some of his awesome salesman tactics were:

"Buy my ice cold water, guaranteed to make you a billionaire!  And if it doesn't, then come back here and I will guarantee that you can buy another ice cold bottle of water!"

I should be in control

I like transit, really, I do.  And last night, when I got off the train to go to a campaign kickoff for a Jason Carter in Decatur, it was really awesome to see one of my clients from the shelter getting on the train.  It was a moment where I could relate to her more, since she had been really upset when her car had been repossessed and she had to start riding MARTA, there's this solidarity, "I'm on the train with you, too." 

But then mornings like this morning happen, and I'm not MARTA's biggest fan.  The train, the 105 eastbound, to be exact, was having technical difficulties.  They couldn't shut the door.  Every stop, the doors would bang and then open again.  Which, besides being annoying, made us late.  So late that we missed two northbound trains out of Five Points.  So late that I missed the 10b.

I love the 10b.  It's my favorite thing about this commute.  The bus is nice, the folks are nicer, we're like a community.  You get to know one another because  we're a regular crowd, all the office people going to work in the mornings and home in the evenings. 

But besides that, if I miss the bus, I am hosed.  I have to catch the 10 to CTC and then wait 15 minutes for the 50 when it's cold has heck this morning (37 degrees, to be exact, yay smartphones) and then take that bus to Powers Ferry and walk to my office, where as the 10b drops me off at the door.  And none of the cars stopped to let me cross the road.  What happened to pedestrians having the right of way?

Someone should make me the mayor, or govenor, or queen or something so I can make these people mind!

O well.  To make us all smile, here's a couple of wierd transit news stories:


Lawn mowers no longer qualify for the HOV lanes

Somebody needs to tell those horse buggie fellas downtown not to stop off at Elliot Street before their shift!

Day Tripper

I desperately want to shut down my computer. I have been working on a take-home final since 8:00 and I'm ready to call it a day. But I just remembered that in the aching, tedious, I'm-not-wearing-matching-socks-because-I-can't-find-any haze of finals I learned an important MARTA lesson that I need to share. People: Don't buy day passes. Because they are only good for the number of days that you pay for. Yeah, I know that this probably makes sense to the majority of you. But for the other kids out there who got moved to the front row of Mrs. Baldwin's first grade math class for never grasping the pie analogy, this is for you. For us.

Despite my obvious deficit of reason, I am a graduate student. I ride the train to school and usually buy a student pass from the University for $37/month. But I only have to go down to campus 4 days this month and even I know that purchasing a student pass doesn't make financial sense again until January. So on the morning of December 1st I bought a 4-day pass. To me, this equaled 4 round-trips. You get up, you go somewhere, you go home, it's a round trip and you start over again tomorrow. Not in MARTAville. My pass, which I swear was something like $22 because they included a charge for the plastic card on which my money was loaded, expired on December 4. After I had used it twice. Because it expired after 4 CALENDAR days, not 4 round-trip sensical days of logic. Unless you are a tourist or a participant in a corporate-sponsored scavenger hunt with some guy named Doopey (this happened) don't buy a day card. Buy a trip card. Or better yet send me one since I'm out fourteen bucks.

If I miss the bus today

I'm gonna kill somebody.