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-   -   Atlanta Marta safe at 8 PM on Friday? (https://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/atlanta-marta-safe-at-8-pm-on-friday-780619/)

AlessandraZoe Apr 22nd, 2009 10:01 AM

Atlanta Marta safe at 8 PM on Friday?
 
My teen daughter and I are coming into Atlanta airport around 7 pm on a Friday. Our hotel, Wingate by Wyndham, is in Buckhead. We can get a free hotel shuttle from the Buckhead Marta. It this worth it in terms of safety? Or should we get a taxi? I'd get a car, but we'll be in the city less than 48 hours, so it's not worth the hassle.

hoosierdaddy94 Apr 22nd, 2009 10:11 AM

Take a cab........everywhere.

cheryllj Apr 22nd, 2009 10:30 AM

MARTA is perfectly safe, particularly at that hour which is barely past rush hour. I take it all the time to/from the airport. Use the free hotel shuttle. A taxi would be pricey all the way to the Wingate.

MikeT Apr 22nd, 2009 10:43 AM

You'll be fine.

AlessandraZoe Apr 22nd, 2009 10:57 AM

Thank you. I'm feeling my way through this--I've never been on this specific system. I'm reading that after 7:30 pm or so on Fridays, we have to switch trains at Lindbergh Center (?)and I'm a little unclear about this, too!

Brian_in_Charlotte Apr 22nd, 2009 10:59 AM

You will not have any problems on the MARTA. I always took it to/from the airport when I lived in Atlanta, no matter what time it was.

ccolor Apr 22nd, 2009 10:59 AM

Depending on when you're going to Atlanta it might not even be dark by then so outside of not really worrying anyway, that's one less problem for you to concern yourself with - Actually, we thought Marta was kinda fun.

stumpworks73 Apr 22nd, 2009 11:51 AM

You will be safe and you will make it to Buckhead in a fraction of the time by car.

padams421 Apr 22nd, 2009 12:38 PM

If you have to switch at Lindbergh, it won't be a big deal. there station is clearly marked with maps. You'll only be a couple miles south of the Wingate at that point. Have fun!

AlessandraZoe Apr 22nd, 2009 01:40 PM

Most reassuring. Thank you!

starrs Apr 22nd, 2009 01:43 PM

Not a problem. Enjoy your trip!

hoosierdaddy94 Apr 22nd, 2009 09:22 PM

I guess the time I was on MARTA at midday with my wife and 9 year old son when a fist fight broke out between a man and his pregnant girlfriend/wife was the exception, but it scared the poodads out of us.

MikeT Apr 23rd, 2009 10:25 AM

"I guess the time I was on MARTA at midday with my wife and 9 year old son when a fist fight broke out between a man and his pregnant girlfriend/wife was the exception, but it scared the poodads out of us."

That could happen anywhere.

MARTA's reputation is tied into race in Atlanta and you really have to understand "MARTA is dangerous" is more about race than it is about actual safety.

vjpblovesitaly Apr 23rd, 2009 10:30 AM

I guess the time I was on MARTA at midday...

Hilarious. You are judging this on one situation? If the fight happened on the street, I guess you would never go back at all. And in your town, I guess you would move?

GoTravel Apr 23rd, 2009 11:10 AM

""MARTA's reputation is tied into race in Atlanta and you really have to understand "MARTA is dangerous" is more about race than it is about actual safety.""

Please.

I've ridden Marta from the airport by myself as late as 10PM and it was fine.

MikeT Apr 23rd, 2009 11:12 AM

I agree with you GoTravel. I'm trying to explain the "MARTA is dangerous" reputation.

Brian_in_Charlotte Apr 23rd, 2009 11:21 AM

hoosierdaddy got a ride and a show for $1.75. That's quite a bargain.

GoTravel Apr 23rd, 2009 11:44 AM

Gotcha.

hoosierdaddy94 Apr 24th, 2009 04:47 AM

"I guess the time I was on MARTA at midday with my wife and 9 year old son when a fist fight broke out between a man and his pregnant girlfriend/wife was the exception, but it scared the poodads out of us."

"That could happen anywhere. "

Yes it could happen anywhere, but it DID happen on a MARTA train and it has NEVER happened when I have been in a cab.

just answering a question posed by a woman traveling with a teenage daughter. Safety is pretty important to me and is worth the price of a cab in the situation described.

starrs Apr 24th, 2009 04:58 AM

How were you unsafe?


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