A couple of weeks back, Bryan sent in a note saying that during the November he had noticed that morning rush hour trains out of East Lake Station were “so crammed with passengers…that several people had great difficulty holding on, boarding and unboarding.”

He wrote an email to MARTA inquiring as to what was up and was told that data analysis has shown a decline in ridership and that the East/West line no longer required 8-car trains during the morning commute.  As such they had moved to sending out 4, 6-car trains each hour.  You can read the full letter HERE.

We contacted our friends at Decaturish about this development and they were good enough to follow up with MARTA to see if they had comment about this car reduction.  MARTA told Decaturish that this new plan would be in place for the foreseeable future, but that they would “continue to monitor ridership and make adjustments, as needed”.

From the Little Shop website…

Decatur Christmas Tree Lighting

Thursday, December 5th | 7pm (singing starts about 6:30)

It’s time for the 5th annual Decatur Christmas Tree! Thanks to all the local businesses who help make this possible each year! The tree will be up all holiday season, but the lighting is a fun event for the whole community. We block off East Court Square and have hot chocolate, treats, carols, snow, and a visit from Santa! Hope to see you there!

Special thanks to all the local businesses who help make this happen: Appolinsky & Associates, Café Alsace,Cakes & Ale, The Cooks Warehouse/Sherlock’s, Decatur Downtown Development Authority,  Fabu Spa, Harry Norman Realtors,Homegrown, King Tree Experts, Leon’s Full Service, McCurdy & Candler, My Parent’s Basement, Mudhouse Design, My Own Bookkeeper, Oakhurst Market, Private Bank of Decatur, Squash Blossom, Starbucks, Steinbeck’s Ale House, Universal Joint, Veritas Planning Group, Vivid Boutique, Wild Oats & Billy Goats, and Worthmore Jewelers.

Credit for this post goes to Margo, who wrote in a couple of days ago…

My contract is almost up with AT&T and we have unlocked phones.   I want to know who has the best priced /good coverage plans for smart phones.    Since we all have smart phones, I would love to know what other Decaturites are using.   How are AIO and some of the other discount plans?