Comments on: Flyer Smears Jason Carter; Tom Stubbs Condemns It

By: Paula

Paula — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:37:34 +0000

The CLIFF buses also run behind schedule from time to time, have their share of breakdowns, and certainly many have broken air conditioners. They are most certainly not “free”. They perhaps do not charge the riders for the service, but Emory still has to pay for drivers, maintenance, new equipment, etc. Part of the funding for this came from almost doubling the parking permit fees. Unless you are suggesting that all private entities raise fees on their employees in order to provide free services to any and all comers, I don’t see how pointing to the Emory buses proves anything. Also, although Emory kindly allows everyone to ride the CLIFF busses, they may becoming a victim of their own popularity. Rumor on the street has it that Emory may have to start restricting ridership to Emory-only folks.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:34:38 +0000

I think your ASC friends may have been catering to your tastes. MARTA generally runs at the correct frequency of trains; buses can be delayed by traffic conditions. Security has never been an issue – look at their crime stats. A little research among other large transit systems will show that MARTA is as well run as any and better than most. You just don’t like it because it has that “government” flavor.

As I said, privatizing a) is impractical, b) wouldn’t necessarily make it any better and c) wouldn’t allow it to turn an operating profit. Maybe you should quit driving on all the government provided roads and flying on planes that use government provided facilities. Walking would help, but you’d have to use the government provided sidewalks.

As for CLIFF, I daresay that some capital grants were used to purchase equipment, although Emory, as a good citizen, absorbs the operating cost.

By: David Montane

David Montane — Tue, 11 May 2010 15:06:51 +0000

According to my Agnes Scott College friends who frequently ride the trains and buses, MARTA is often behind schedule, has frequent breakdowns and is well-known for lack of security. They contrasted this with the CLIFF buses, which are clean and comfortable, well-maintained, run on alternative fuels and best of all are FREE. They are not only free to the riders, but free to the taxpayers, since they are provided by Emory University to benefit the private school’s students and faculty.

By: Don’t forget to vote for your next state senator, District 42 residents | Fresh Loaf

Tue, 11 May 2010 11:01:51 +0000

[...] Has lived in California, Texas and Toronto. Might have ticked off transit advocates when he knocked opponent’s views on MARTA on Decatur Metro. Released a last-minute robo-call calling his three opponents [...]

By: Paula

Paula — Mon, 10 May 2010 22:57:17 +0000

Somewhat off-topic, but here’s a snippet of history about the Interstate system (from Wikipedia):

“The Interstate Highway System was authorized by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956[8] – popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956 – on June 29. It had been lobbied for by major U.S. automobile manufacturers and championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was influenced by his experiences as a young Army officer crossing the country in the 1919 Army Convoy on the Lincoln Highway, the first road across America. Eisenhower also had gained an appreciation of the German Autobahn network as a necessary component of a national defense system while he was serving as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II. In addition to facilitating private and commercial transportation, it would provide key ground transport routes for military supplies and troop deployments in case of an emergency or foreign invasion.”