Does the title indicate that this might be a rant?
Sunday night was the Rush concert I had been waiting for. I had already seen them in St. Louis, but I was really jazzed to see them in Atlanta. Unfortunately I decided to take MARTA to the show. Phillips Arena is right on top of a train station, so you would think this is a good idea. You might even think that MARTA would plan for extra riders heading to a concert, after all, they advertise like crazy to get you take the train to shows and sporting events.
For anybody not familiar with Atlanta, MARTA stands for Metro Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority. It is our train and bus system. MARTA jokingly stands for Moving Atlantans Rapidly Through Atlanta, which is like saying Senate Intelligence.
To drive to Phillips Arena from where I live just outside the northern perimeter takes about 30-40 minutes on a Sunday. Since we were taking MARTA we decided to get to the station about one hour and fifteen minutes before the show- MARTA is nothing if not slower than driving.
We boarded the train at the North Springs Station, which is the first, or last station, on the north line. We were lucky, other people had arrived at the station 20 plus minutes before we did, and were on the same train that we got on. As it turns out, this train would not be going all the way to the central Five Points station, just to Lindenberg. We would have to catch another train to go further south.
Just short of Lindenberg station the train stops dead on the tracks. Turns out there is some construction going on, and they are '"single tracking" this part of the tracks. That means we have to wait until no north bound trains are coming by before we can get to the station. We wait for a lengthy time, and finally start making our way slowly forward.
We arrive at the station and are unceremoniously booted from the train, "get off the train now!" A large number of Rush fans, and a few others are stranded on the cramped station- one track and that whole side are blocked off. We are told a train will be there shortly to pick us up. Five minutes later a rent-a-cop with a bullhorn starts screaming at us to back away from the tracks. The next train is out of service and we need to back up. We wait. About five minutes after that another train comes by, northbound this time. Some people are getting worried about making the concert. They go ask the MARTA employees with the radios when the southbound train to Five Points will be here. These employees with the radios, who seem to know what trains are coming since they are announcing that to us, say, "That is a good question!" So much for customer service. People start leaving the station to get cabs to the show. We wait. Another "out of service" northbound train noisily rolls by. We wait.
I am looking at my watch, it is 7:10 and we have 20 minutes to make the show. Finally a southbound trains comes to a shuddering halt in front of us. Rent-a-cop yells through his bullhorn that this train is out of service. It has also come from North Springs and is carrying more Rush fans. We are now packed like sardines waiting for a train. The MARTA employees are not nice, do not care, and would rather we did not keep asking them questions. They have important thing to chit chat about with themselves. At 7:15 our train arrives. There are some pissed off people getting on that train. That we travel one quarter mile to only stop again does not help.
At 7:25 we hit the Five Points station and luckily make a quick transfer. Some people, not trusting MARTA, decide to leave the station and jog the 3 blocks to Phillips Arena. I am a big Rush fan, but there are few sights funnier than a bunch of Rush geeks running down a train platform. At 7:30 we arrive at the CNN station under Phillips Arena. The show starts at 7:30 and there is no opening act. Rush is notorious for starting on time. I don't have Geddy's cell phone number handy. We are all running up the escalator. I am asking everyone if this is the way to the N'Sync concert. One long haired Rush freak gets a standing ovation as he makes a heroic effort to run up the long down escalator. He almost didn't make it. My girlfriend and I run into the arena, grab a Coke and a hotdog, run to our section, and just as we a sitting down the lights go down and the show starts. Its a miracle! Rush actually starts a little late.
The show is freaking incredible! 'Nuff said! Well, maybe I will say more in another entry.
After the show, instead of lounging around while the crowd clears out, my girlfriend and I decide to get our asses out of there. We hit the train station quick, figuring to get the first train out before the crowd. You would think that MARTA would plan on a huge crowd hitting the station all at once, and plan accordingly. Well they did, but now how you would suspect. Evidently, instead of putting a few extra trains on the track to expedite service and make riders happy, what they do is hire a few more people to force riders onto the few trains they have running. We waited at least 15 minutes for a train, as Rush fans packed the platform. When the train arrived they kept it there for almost ten minutes packing riders on. Our car was so packed (how packed was it?), that people were being pushed into the sliding doors as we left the station. If you push on the sliding doors on a MARTA train, the train stops. We stopped many times. People were not in a good mood. We had run into people from the train ride down, and we were all badmouthing MARTA already.
At Five Points we made another transfer and got on a northbound train. Again with the stopping before Lindenberg station. This time the motor was turned off. We sat and watched as out driver went scurrying by. A little while later he came scurrying back by. Then we finally got resume for the Lindenberg station. I am assuming he had to go pull the little rope to restart the motor.
Not only did we get to hang out at the Lindenberg station for a while again, but we got to hang out smelling some type of construction adhesive or other noxious fumes. Now on the way to the concert, getting high on fumes could have been cool to some people, but after the show was a little late. Eventually the right train came, and we made it back to North Springs and our car.
What a disaster the MARTA ride was. Easily over one hour and fifteen minutes each way. No visible planning for extra traffic, horrible customer service, and frequent delays. They advertise for riders, and specifically to get riders going to special events- "Take MARTA, its smarta!" One would think they would try to make it a pleasant experience in hope of attracting daily riders. Nobody I talked with had plans to ever use the train for another event much less on a daily basis. There was a big story in Friday's AJC about MARTA making train upgrades a priority. I have a better idea, how about making customer service a priority?
your note []Copyright 2002 Tim
Theme Design by Bryan Bell
