People Can Make a Difference

Voters need to be educated on transportation issues. Talking to the average person on the Georgia Tech campus gives the overall impression that they simply do not know about transportation issues. Transit issues need to be made known to the people that can make a difference, the voters. By educating more people about transit issues, politicians can be elected who can make a difference in improving public transit.

Atlanta public transit may fall short in many aspects. In fact right now most people would say that is a flop compared to other systems, but one thing Atlanta is not short on is plans. According to Deanna Murphy, many different groups have devised many different plans. City planners have devised many complex improvement plans for public transit in Atlanta, but the problem is actually getting these plans into action. This is done by electing politicians who are for improving public transit.

An impressive example of this is found on the Citizens for Progressive Transit or CfPT website. CfPT outlines a system of transit and includes light rail, heavy rail, street cars and buses. It reaches all parts of Atlanta and has many stops (CfPT).

But the problem is not that the plans are not there, it is that they are not being put into action. Current transportation issues need to be more public. CfPT currently has some plans to educate people on transit issues, such as handing out pamphlets related to current issues, but this is not enough. They need to be more prominent in news and advertising. More people who know about it will cause more people who support it.

Advocators of public transportation are starting to gain more ground. Areas that have previously been anti-transit are now showing a majority for transportation. These are of course just polls, but it is a good sign for the next election (Torres). If more voters learn about these potential plans and how they can benefit them then more people will vote for politicians who will carry out these plans.

“Debbie Dooley, a Dacula resident and co-founder of the Atlanta Tea Party, disagrees, and thinks the poll numbers are ‘drastically off.’ She hopes supporters of the tax believe the poll, she said, ‘because they’re going to be in for a rude awakening on Election Day. We have not yet begun to educate voters’" (Torres). If Dooley is correct, then transit will continue to be stuck where it is now.

In addition to getting funding now, funding needs to be available in the future. With public transit receiving almost no state funding in Georgia, this is a very large issue. MARTA currently has a source of funds for the next five or so years, but what will happen once those funds run out? By electing politicians who can try to bring in more money or public transit, hopefully this will not be an issue (Murphy).

The future of public transit in Atlanta is starting to look better, but there needs to be more push for improvement by carrying out the transit plans. Creating these plans is not enough, public transit systems need funding to improve which should come largely from the state government but unfortunately does not. Informing the general public on current issues could help sway the votes for public transit advocates. By getting the word out there voters can cause actual action to be taken rather than just talking about it.

Works Cited

Murphy, Deanna. Lecture. ENGL 1101: Rhetoric of Mass Transportation. Georgia  Institute of Technology, 23 Sept. 2011.

Torres, Kristina, and Janel Davis. "Metro Atlanta Voters Warm to Mass Transit, Poll Shows" AJC.com. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. < http://www.ajc.com/news/georgia-politics-elections/metro-atlanta-voters-warm-1188799.html >.

"World Class Transit Vision." Citizens for Progressive Transit. Web. 05 Oct. 2011. < http://www.cfpt.org/projects/wctv >.