Author: 图拉

Once you’re here in the States, one major difference from Hong Kong would be the transportation system. Few American cities have sound public transportation—New York, Boston, you can count them with your 10 fingers. The main reason for that is people get used to going around by their own cars. Without enough passengers, a mature public transportation system cannot develop, thus a lame public transportation system pushing potential passengers back to their own cars.

          Take Atlanta as an example, as one of the largest cities in the south, it has a public transportation system called MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transportation Authority), including buses as well as trains, which covers most of the Metropolitan Atlanta area as the name suggests. It only becomes a problem in terms of “Rapidness”.           During peak hours, the trains may come every 5 or 10 minutes and every 10 or 15 minutes for a bus. But during non-peak hours, you might have to bless yourself with a schedule book—if you don’t want to wait for an hour to get a bus. Actually if you check Google map for directions on public transportation, it will provide you with a time schedule of when to start your trip according to the bus schedule. People here don’t wait for the bus—the literally “catch” the bus since they often know when to catch one before heading out.

          To make getting around more easily for students, both Emory University and Georgia Tech have their own shuttle services. Checking web pages and familiarizing with those schedules can be very helpful. Taking my own example, today I went to midtown from Emory riding Georgia Tech’s Emory shuttle. After taking a walk around the area, I rode the Tech Trolley to the Recreational Center of Georgia Tech to ride the Emory shuttle back to Emory. It was a very green trip by foot and shuttle. More importantly, it was totally free! However, The Emory Cliff shuttles often run empty on non-peak hours. So I highly recommend people to utilize this service fully rather than drive their own cars for a positive environmental-friendly purpose.

          As for longer distance travelling, airplanes are not much different from Hong Kong. However, you might have to pay extra fees for each of your checked bags, depending on specific terms of each airline and flight, and the domestic flight may not include any meals. Here I recommend train service for those who are not that time-sensitive. Atlanta has only one passenger train route, heading up north to New York City and down south to New Orleans. Tickets can be booked on Amtrak website or bought with cash at the station near Art Center, 1688 Peachtree. One good thing about Amtrak is that it offers 15% discount for International Student Identity Card (ISIC) holders, and last semester they had promotion at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, where I come from, offering ISIC cards for 80 HKD. The train seats are comfortable. Personally speaking, I just love travelling on the ground with so much to see outside the window. Plus the price is competitive with the 15% discount.

          Enjoy Travelling around!

 

Written in February 2011

 

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The link of this article: Exploring the Transportation in Atlanta