Julian Wright's Blog | Category | Built Environment Descriptions

Rolling through MARTA

Date April 18, 2016

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Throughout my research of the built environment this semester I have explored many different things that Atlanta has to offer. What I have focused on the most is transportation in Atlanta. That is why I chose the site itsmarta.com. Upon arriving at this site I first noticed that there was a lot of white space on the homepage. This gave me a very generic type of feeling. It felt like this would be the kind of site that would be seen in the early 2000s. I also noticed that there was a lot of links throughout the site especially on the homepage. This made it clear to me that this site was mean’t to be informative.

With there being a lot of information throughout the site there needed to be a lot of pictures and thats what I found while searching through the site. With there being many pictures to go along with the links, this told me that this site was meant to be used by people of all races, ages, and intellect. Plain and simple, this site is easy to use and navigate through. If a visitor wanted to find out how to use MARTA, see schedules and maps, look through the discounts, see whats going on in the MARTA world, and find information about MARTA, there are links for all of these.

http://www.itsmarta.com/using-marta.aspx

On this page it will take first time visitors on a step by step process on how to use Marta. This page teaches visitors how to get from point A to point B, enables visitors to plan their trip according to their time schedule, and it shows visitors popular destinations around the Atlanta area and how to get get there.

http://www.itsmarta.com/schedules-maps.aspx

This page gives visitors an overview over the Marta bus and train schedules. This page also provides a map of the routes that both the train and the bus travel on. At first glance the Marta bus and train maps will look confusing to first time visitors, but once you get onto the correct line thats going in the right direction then everything else will be a breeze.

http://www.itsmarta.com/fares-discounts.aspx

Visitors that visit this page will learn about the discount and payment system that MARTA has. On this page the visitor will find that there are many discounts for disabled people, students, teachers, and elderly people. MARTA also encourages their visitors to purchase a breeze card as it is a safe, fast, and reliable way to make MARTA payments.

http://www.itsmarta.com/news-and-events.aspx

Visitors that come across this page will be able to see what is happening in the Marta world. Visitors can come to this page if they want to find out when an event is happening, to read the newsletters, to see updates on schedule changes, and to voice their opinion on Marta’s public forum.

http://www.itsmarta.com/about-marta.aspx

This page gives visitors a brief overview of the history of Marta and what they are all about. This page could be used for people wanting to do research on Marta, find a job working for Marta, and people looking to get in contact with people that have a leadership role.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience traveling through itsmarta.com. This site helped to expand my knowledge over the transportation system in Atlanta. I found that it was beneficial that I was able to visit different MARTA locations and do research, as well as do research on what they were all about online. I love how easy the site is to use, but if I were the designer of itsmarta.com I would add more color to attract and entertain people in a better way. This site is a great tool for not only tourists, but also first time visitors to MARTA. I recommend that these people find their way to itsmarta.com because it is informative.

Road Trip Through The Heart Of Atlanta

Date March 9, 2016

Posted by jwright78@gsu.edu

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The piece of transportation that I chose to do my research on was the Atlanta Street Car which is located in downtown Atlanta. The designers of the Atlanta Street Car began construction for their new project February 1, 2012 and opened to the public December 30th, 2014. Upon moving to the city of Atlanta I had never seen the Atlanta Street Car before. I remember driving through the city one day and looking in my rear view mirror and seeing this gigantic dark blue train-looking object coming at me at a fast pace. Of course, I panicked a little bit and swerved out of the way. I did not realize until later on, that the Atlanta Street Car is meant to drive on the road with other cars.

To go along with my new experiences with the Atlanta Street Car, I wasn’t aware of where you had to go to get onto it. Later, I finally figured out that the Atlanta Street Car has 12 stops that it makes at different locations. I got onto the Atlanta Street Car at the Woodruff location which is located right beside the 25 park place building. As soon as i got on, the first thing I noticed was how plain the interior was. This plain interior reminded me of my experience with riding Marta. One thing that that separated riding the Marta train and riding the Atlanta Street Car is the fact that Marta has an old-fashioned type of feel to it and the Atlanta Street Car feels more modernized and new. The air that I experienced while riding Marta was a dingy/musty type of smell and the smell that I experienced while riding the Atlanta Street Car was the smell of newness.

The majority of people that I saw riding the Atlanta Street Car were mostly middle-aged lower class minorities. This makes sense though, because to ride the Atlanta Street Car it costs only one dollar and that just started January 1st, 2016. There was an interesting statistic that was reported by WSB-TV that said that since the one dollar price hike, ridership has fallen by almost two-thirds since last year. In January 2015, there were 64,448 riders and when the price went up in January 2016, only 21,818 riders rode the Atlanta Street Car.

The Polar Express or Atlanta Street Car

Overall, I enjoyed my experience riding the Atlanta Street Car. My advice to people reading this would be despite the perception that the Atlanta Street Car may give off, to not be afraid to ride on it. I was in that same boat when I was first thinking about getting onto the Atlanta Street Car and I ended up being just fine. Although I had a mainly positive experience, I would definitely recommend that the Atlanta Street Car try to be more inclusive to middle class people and younger people if they want to be more profitable. The Atlanta Street Car is a fantastic tool to navigate your way throughout the city and it should be beneficial to all people.

Road Trip To Lenox

Date February 13, 2016

Posted by jwright78@gsu.edu

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The place that I chose to do my research on was the Lenox Marta Station which is located on Paces Ferry Rd in Atlanta Georgia. The Lenox Marta Station was constructed in 1912, but opened for the public in 1984. In order for me to arrive at the Lenox Marta Station I had to hop on a Marta train and travel on the gold line until I reached the Lenox Station. The first thing that I noticed was the majority of the people on the train got off at the Lenox Station. I made the assumption that it was because a mall by the name of ‘Lenox’ was a popular attraction for many people of every race. Upon getting off the train I noticed that this particular station had an old fashioned type of feel to it. The station had dull colors and not many paintings so the vibe that I received was one where I wanted to leave as soon as possible.

That seemed to be how many other people felt as well because with the amount of young and old people there it felt very crowed, but it seemed like everyone was rushing to get out of there. I hopped onto the escalator and instead of people standing there waiting to get to the top, some people were running up it and bumping into everyone in their way.

Finally, when I reached the top of the escalator, I saw what looked to be the gates of Heaven letting me out of this dark, echoing, colossal underground hole. What I saw was the security gates that let people in and out of the Lenox Station. While I was there, I observed how some people bypass the security gate, and some of the techniques that were used were walking quickly behind someone while the gate was open, crawling underneath the gate, and having a friend swipe his card twice. I did some research on the penalty for if you were caught doing this and I read where one man had to pay a hefty fine and do community service.

Upon exiting the Lenox Marta Station, I noticed that this particular Marta Station was located in a beautiful area. If you look across the street, you will see many fancy restaurants to eat at such as Houston’s and if you look across the street from that you will see this grand Marriott Hotel. It was pretty obvious that this area pumped in a lot of money and, therefore, the atmosphere surrounding the Lenox Marta Station appeared to be thriving.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience at the Lenox Marta Station. If I were the person that was designing this exterior I would add more vibrant colors and paintings. I would also have soft elevator music playing in the background to make the tone of this place more welcoming. Yes, Marta has a reputation for being dirty and unsafe, but I believe that people of all races and all ages would appreciate this station.