Atlanta watches with envy as Phoenix light rail debuts
Local leaders say metro Atlanta’s poor mass transit hinders business growth
By ARIEL HART
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Phoenix — A train seems about as normal as a water buffalo on Phoenix’s Central Avenue, but here one comes, gliding along what used to be the center lane. Excited would-be passengers chatter under an artsy awning as it approaches their platform. The word “Disneyland” keeps popping up — the train’s sleek shape prompts thoughts of Tomorrowland.
As of this week, Phoenix has light rail, and metro Atlanta mass transit boosters are jealous.
“I continue to be frustrated that we can’t seem to move in that direction,” said Sam Olens, chairman of the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Cobb County commission. “We’re losing our competitive advantage.”
Two years ago, the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce invited reporters to hear officials from Phoenix and other cities talk about their new transportation initiatives. The message was clear: Atlanta and Georgia could be left in the dust.
On Wednesday, Sam Williams, president of the chamber, said in a statement that “cities that have made transportation a priority, like Phoenix, Dallas and Charlotte, continue to leapfrog Atlanta with respect to regional mobility. … While these areas make progress, we seem choked in congestion with little leadership to get us out.”
As another legislative session begins, Atlanta remains the second-most-congested urban area in the nation. The Georgia Legislature has tried and failed to pass a transportation funding measure and is preparing for another go in the 2009 session.
Olens said plum employers with skilled jobs are slipping away. “In the last two years, I’ve had two major corporations tell me they would not move their headquarters to the Cobb Galleria area because all we had are buses,” Olens said this week.
Rail transit opponents in Georgia agree that congestion must be addressed. But they say rail isn’t an effective way to do it, especially in a spread-out area like Atlanta.
Both Phoenix and Charlotte got nearly half of their rail money from federal funds. City and special regional taxes paid the rest of the $1.4 billion cost of the line that runs 20 miles through Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa.
Phoenix, like Atlanta, is a sprawling collection of communities. Life without a car there is challenging.
While the Phoenix line met its share of controversy in getting approved, this week that seemed forgotten for many of the 150,000 to 200,000 who tried it out for free on its grand opening.
Families and groups of friends crowded station stops to gawk and ride between public parties and pub crawls.
On train platforms, local businesses passed out coupons and fliers.
There was at least one protest sign — complaining that the last train would run three hours before bars’ 2 a.m. last call.
Outside a standing-room-only train car Saturday morning, Central Avenue was nearly deserted. Tracks sit flush with the street, and trains travel alongside car traffic.
They stop at red lights, although they can sometimes make them go green.
The fun will subside Thursday when the line starts charging — $1.25 for a single ride — and finds out how many riders are in for the long haul.
• For more on the Phoenix rail:
www.valleymetro.org/metro_light_rail/
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