Atlanta's Mayoral Forum on Transportation


Last night was the Mayoral Forum on Transportation, led by the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and co-hosted by a number of transportation and environmental organizations such as Sierra Club, PEDs, Advance Atlanta, or MARTA Army.

I took some tabulated notes and impressions of all the candidates for Atlanta Mayor. Most of them gave solid answers to questions by moderator journalist Rose Scott.

The questions were as follows:
  1. Introductions
  2. Is the Atlanta Streetcar a good idea?
  3. Should the city be responsible for repairing sidewalks?
  4. How to connect transportation equity and affordable housing?
  5. Do you support facilitating bike access to all?
  6. How would you influence MARTA to improve transit?
  7. How would you balance building bike projects vs. community opposition?
  8. Dealing with Uber/Lyft?
  9. What do you propose to curb greenhouse gas emissions? 
  10. Closing statements.
Here is how I perceived the candidates responded for each question. Y is yes, N is no. Answers are ranked in 3 levels, 1 is weak, 3 is strong. A response that outlines a way to address a particular issue gets high marks. A plausible vision gets lower marks, and do-nothing responses and off-topic responses get lowest score.


Candidate 2346789
Peter Aman 32222
Rohit Ammanamanchi N32233
Keisha Lance Bottoms31133
John Eaves 31112
Kwanza Hall 332312
Laban King 221312
Vincent Fort 311222
Ceasar Mitchell 323333
Mary Norwood 33333
Michael Sterling 1222
Cathy Woolard N2332
Glen Wrightson N21111

There was unanimous consent for providing access to bike infrastructure.
The question that candidates answered best was on the sidewalks. Responses were least elaborate on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Racial issues came up on numerous issues, namely in biking environments.

In my opinion, Norwood and Mitchell spoke the strongest answers, not surprisingly from their time at City Council, with solid challengers in Woolard, Ammanamanchi, Hall, Lance-Bottoms. But that's just on transportation issues, let's see how the candidates play out in other topics.


Also, as a joke, I came up with a list of adjectives for candidates. Can you find out which match whose?

  • Dreamer
  • Five Points
  • Energized
  • Teacher
  • Regionalizer
  • Entertainer
  • Methodical
  • Basics
  • Very Cautious
  • Inquirer
  • Playboy
  • Fortune Teller
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#I85BridgeCollapse: What I have seen so far

On Thursday night (March 30) just before 7pm, a segment of the I-85 bridge in Atlanta near Buckhead collapsed due to a fire. Below is a recap of what I have seen. It will take several months for the bridge to be rebuilt.

I left work late on Thursday, going home using MARTA as usual. MARTA trains were not affected by the event. I did not see the fire, but I was able to catch evacuations on camera from the train.

On Friday, March 31, I decide to buy a monthly pass, which I loaded on one of my blue Breeze Cards. I used a separate card from the silver card I normally use because I knew I would start using the pass a few days later. Friday was the last day to reload blue Breeze Cards as MARTA is phasing them out. (You cannot reload or check balance on Blue cards anymore, and blue cards will not be accepted as of July 9, 2017.)

I was able to catch on camera the emptiness of I-85 from the train on Friday morning. The sight was literally unreal, some friends referring to a 'Walking Dead' scene!

On Saturday, I traveled on Piedmont Rd near the I-85 bridge. Piedmont Rd was closed over the weekend for crews to clean the debris. Piedmont Rd is now partially reopen.

On Monday and Tuesday during the rush hour, MARTA and MARTA Army deployed volunteers to handle the influx of new passengers. MARTA reported as much as 25% increase in ridership from the loss of the bridge. Around 40 volunteers were stationed throughout MARTA stations!

On Monday afternoon, MARTA Arts Center Station was noticeably more crowded. I worked remotely on Monday to avoid storms.

What's next? Bridge reopening was announced for June 15. Meanwhile, commuters will have to do with delays, long detours, and low parking availability at MARTA stations and park-and-ride lots. Some hope that new transit users will find it worthwhile stick with it. What are your hopes?
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Lookback: Transportation Camp DC and TRB Preview

A few Saturdays ago, I attended Transportation Camp DC for the first time. It was held at the George Mason University campus in Arlington, VA. (I have been to Transportation Camp South before.) The next day, I did a quick excursion in the nation's capital and previewed a few meetings that were in conjunction with the Transportation Research Board conference.

Travel to DC could have been an issue, with snow storms arriving in Atlanta on Friday, however, I was able to leave work early and switch to an earlier flight. I took WMATA Metrorail from the DCA airport and arrived at the Hyatt Place Arlington Courthouse. Evening was spent working on the MARTA Army presentation that was pre-selected for the first session at Transportation Camp.

Transportation Camp

MARTA Army Session

George Mason University was just a 20-minute walk in the cold from the hotel. I entered Founder's Hall where I picked up registration, got breakfast, and caught up with MARTA Army co-founders Simon and Bakari and other acquaintances.

Transportation is an un-conference, where topics are submitted by the audience during introductions, and sessions are arranged by late morning. We rehearsed for the session during the intro section.

Pic: selfie





We caught the attention of a few folks who were interested in starting their own "Transit Army." In the presentation of MARTA Army's initiatives, we emphasized the need for good relationships with the transit agencies, plus some software geeks who can put data and scripts together. At MARTA Army, we think this is an exciting time to get involved in transit advocacy.

Mobile Ticketing and Other Stuff

Other sessions I attended were around:

  • Defining success metrics for transit, presented by Transit Center.
  • Mobile ticketing
  • Transportation "Shark Tank"
Although I missed half of the Mobile Ticketing session, discussions were quite passionate. I think most people want to see transit mobile app reach the level of experience brought by Uber or Lyft, or by airlines. Such apps are very well designed to guide the user from booking to passes to arrival. The apps also handle payments, and there is very little setup to do.

Transit, a Canada-based company, offers a regional, multi-modal payment solution for bike sharing, etc.
Cubic, one of the conference sponsors, was in attendance, and mentioned that transit cards would be phased out in favor of more universal media such as barcodes or credit cards. Simplifying fares might help the user, however in the end, fare calculation is implemented in the backend and is completely custom to each transit agency.




Transit advocacy groups exist in NYC (40 years of operation!), 



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