海角大神

Atlanta, where cars are king, considers a new transit future

Time and again, Atlanta has resisted a less-car-centric vision of the future. But that could change Nov. 8 鈥� perhaps as part of a larger generational shift nationwide.

When Simon Berrebi came to Atlanta from Paris four years ago, the Georgia Tech doctoral student quickly realized that, when it comes to public transportation, Atlanta is not Paris.

So he did something about it. Today, he is leading what he calls the largest crowdfunded transit project in the world: Placing trash cans and easy-to-read laminated maps of the MARTA transit system at all of the city鈥檚 10,000 bus stops.

Not only have authorities blessed the efforts of Mr. Berrebi鈥檚 鈥淢ARTA Army,鈥� the state is putting $3.8 million toward making the maps ubiquitous.

It is a portrait of how, perhaps, Atlanta is changing.

The city has long been one of America鈥檚 top poster children for the gridlock of a car-centered culture. Just four years ago, a transportation referendum for the metro area failed when suburbanites worried they were being asked to subsidize hipster transit in the city. Further back, efforts to expand MARTA were blocked by suburbs that worried rapid transit would bring the inner city鈥檚 problems to their doorstep.

Now, there are new signposts. On Nov. 8, Atlantans will be asked whether to support what one former city planning consultant called 鈥渢he most aggressive transportation system in America鈥�: A $379 million referendum that spans bike paths to street light synchronization, more bus service to new sidewalks.

Combined with a separate $3 billion project to extend and improve light rail, the referendum plan would put 97 percent of Atlantans within a half mile of a major new project. To pay for the plan, the city sales tax would increase from 8 to 9 percent, meaning that suburban residents wouldn鈥檛 have to pay anything.

Thought appears to have been shifting there, too, as suburban enclaves like Clayton County 鈥� once opposed to new mass-transit stations 鈥撀燼re now open to them.

Yet perhaps the biggest change is in the perception of who benefits from investing in mass transit. Once seen primarily as a matter of social justice 鈥� offering inexpensive transport to poor residents 鈥� a much broader swath of Atlantans are now pushing for a different vision of the city.

Millennials for MARTA

The push for auto alternatives shows 鈥渢here鈥檚 growing interest not just in transit alone, but in this sort of whole package of alternatives to driving 鈥� walking, biking, transit, carpooling, car-sharing,鈥� says Asha Weinstein Agrawal, a transit historian and planning professor at San Jose State University in California.

鈥淏ut that鈥檚 also becoming the challenge: If you want to have fewer people on the road and more people using alternative modes, you can鈥檛 just build a shiny new rail line and suddenly expect everybody to use it,鈥� she says. 鈥淎 much bigger shift can come if we can create communities where it makes sense either to not have a car or, more realistically, for families to have fewer cars.鈥�

Much of this new push is coming from Millennials. They make up the core of Berrebi鈥檚 MARTA Army, and data show that the Millennial generation is leading a .

鈥淚 think I can speak for not just Atlanta when I say that people are tired of just building roads and parking and adding lanes, because we鈥檝e come to the realization that [such projects] will only bring more traffic,鈥� says Berrebi.

Different regions across the country are trying different approaches. Dozens of referendum-funded transportation projects are on the ballot from Tulsa, Okla., to Monongalia County, W. Va. Gov. Jerry Brown (D) of California is considering a 鈥渞oad diet鈥� that would constrict roadbuilding in order to force Californians out of their cars and into trains.

Some critics see the moves as pie-in-the-sky.

鈥淓nsuring that California's freeways were all six lanes, well-lit and safe would have been a gargantuan but practical task that could have been completed long ago and would have saved thousands of lives (though it would have required the admission that the mundane modern automobile was here to stay),鈥� , a former classics professor at California State University, Fresno, in The Jewish World Review. 鈥淚nstead, cool bureaucrats and hip politicians preferred to blow money on visions of grandiose space-age rail.鈥�

More than a 'glorified sidewalk'

For his part, Atlanta resident Chris Wyczalkowski sees the issue more intimately.

鈥淭he real question is: What does transit do to our community?鈥� asks Mr. Wyczalkowski, a founder of Citizens for Progressive Transit, and a doctoral candidate at Georgia State University. 鈥淗ow do you measure the quality of a neighborhood and how does it change in the presence or absence of [public] transit?鈥�

He points to Atlanta鈥檚 Beltline 鈥� an old rail bed that has been turned into a paved urban cut-through. The parts of the loop that are finished are now crammed with bicyclists and walkers.

The Beltline 鈥渉as been called a glorified sidewalk, but I鈥檝e never seen a sidewalk where I have to wait for people to get by so I can get a turn to walk on it,鈥� says Tim Welch, a transportation policy professor at Georgia Tech.

Atlanta鈥檚 referendum takes that spirit a step further.

鈥淭hough [the self-taxing transit referendum] is sort of new in Atlanta, there鈥檚 actually a whole track record, especially in California, that suggests that [such ballot questions have] led to much more balanced transportation spending,鈥� says Eric Sundquist, managing director of the State Smart Transportation Initiative in Madison, Wis.

But such initiatives don鈥檛 come without risk. Many city planners bemoan referendums as a tool to set transit policy, given that the results can end up as a grab bag of projects. The whole Atlanta project could be moot within decades if driverless car technology takes off, putting the flow back into highway commutes, notes Mr. Sundquist.

But for the MARTA Army, cities need to be reshaped to the demands and desires of today.

鈥淲e quickly came to the realization that Atlanta needed world-class transit, but that the traditional model of advocacy wasn鈥檛 going to cut it,鈥� says Berrebi. 鈥淏ecause our political institutions are so fragmented, there needed to be a real demonstration of need and desire, and, for that, the citizens were going to have to take the first step.鈥�