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Some time back I had written a piece about my experience with Atlanta’s transit system – Marta. Recently I had an opportunity (or should I say, misfortune) of travelling on Marta again. Because of current economic conditions Marta had decided to make some changes in its fare structure. And guess what, in my opinion, they took the wrong step. The fare has been increased from $1.75 to $2.00 and if you don’t have a breeze card (that costs $5.00) then you don’t get a transfer. C’mon!!!

But instead of complaining again, I want to look at Marta’s fare structure from a different viewpoint – fairness.

As I had spoken in my last writing, I do not find it correct that Marta charges everyone the same fare. If I have to travel 1.5 miles to school, I pay the same amount as someone who has to travel 15 miles to the other end of the town. It seems that because of simplicity of operational implementation, Marta decided to adopt this fare structure. But I feel that I am actually subsidizing the passenger who wants to travel longer distances. This assessment can be done by looking at some principles of fairness. Is the fair equitable or proportional? Definitely not. Is it efficient? Possible and will require further analysis. Is it envy-free? H**l no! So why does Marta have to adopt such a pricing structure?

Are there other solutions to this problem? Check out fare structure of Singapore’s transit system, one of the best in the world. It has a tiered pricing scheme that works well and hopefully caters to all the fairness requirements much more than that of Marta’s. It is important that Marta plays around with the supply demand curve much more intimately than just moving up the curves.

My experience with MARTA – Metropolitan Rapid Transport Authority has been as difficult as trying to remember what its acronym stands for.

For the past few days, I have been taking Marta for my transit. I have to say, this system has not been built with an intention of luring car drivers to use public transportation. Following are some of the many problems that plague this system in Atlanta:

1. The network is poor. It does not cover many Atlanta areas in the best possible manner, or at all. To reach my place of internship I need to change my transport 3 (I repeat, 3) times. Total distance covered – 12 miles.

2. The scheduling is pathetic. Congestion in Atlanta is not news to these folks. Nor is the number of commuters during peak hours. Then why do buses still run late. Then why do buses are always full. Then why are people made to suffer the heat and slow movement.

3. The frequency is minimal. As said earlier, some buses are teeming with people (wouldn’t additional buses help) and some buses are half empty (and even then there are two buses waiting back to back at the stop to pick up passengers). With so many wonderful tools for optimization in use today, I wonder what political barrier is motivating such ignorance and stubbornness towards their usage.

4. The price is prohibitive. If public transportation usage has to be advocated, the price per trip should, at the minimum, be less than the cost of gas used in a car per trip. I pay $1.75 for one way. Gas purchased at this cost will give me at least 20 miles (normal usage, I am not taking into consideration a Hybrid). As said earlier, my trip is just 12 miles and so how can I justify the ticket price. You may quote insurance, maintenance, et all but note that I will still pay a chunk of these anyways.

The size of Atlanta is 131.8 sq. miles and that of Singapore is 274.2 sq. miles. But Singapore’s transit systems (SMRT, MRT, and etc.) is fantastic and it enables people to use it instead of buying cars. The effect is cyclical – Less cars, Less traffic, Faster commute on public transit, Less cars. Atlanta – LEARN SOMETHING!!! Have pity on those who have to wait for your buses in 95 degree F, for 45 minutes, waiting to reach home and meet their kids.