riding marta
When I was returning from China last December, I thought I would give the subway in Atlanta another try. It had been several years since I rode on Marta, after seeing a man who had obviously peed in his pants get up and walk off only to have a woman come from the other direction and sit in the same seat. I wanted to say something, yell something, but it was too fast. So I admit I already had a biased expectation. I wanted to see what it might be like for someone just arriving from China.
I arrived at the International Terminal, of course, and made my way through customs and out to retrieve my bags. When I left baggage claim I was in a big hallway by myself. No one around except a woman guard down the hall. I checked my phone for messages finally. The lady yelled “sir you can’t stop there” in a commanding, you are going to get in trouble voice. I put the phone away and started walking again. “Welcome to Atlanta” she said using a fake sweet voice. I played it safe, said nothing and walked on, looking for a safe place to stop. There were no signs anywhere saying anything about stopping or not stopping.
I walked outside because the sign said “ground transportation” with an arrow pointing outside. So far on my walk you had better know English or Spanish – nothing was presented in any other language. A guy working there asked if I was going to domestic. I said I’m looking for the subway, is it only at domestic? He said he didn’t know. I said Marta, can I get it here or do I need to go to the domestic terminal? He said, “I don’t know, go in and ask at the information counter”. I said you work here and you don’t know where to get Marta? He said yes. Then he said I think you can get it at domestic. I said I know I can get it there, was wanting to know if it is available here. He said I don’t know. I said bye.
So I took the shuttle from the International Terminal to the Domestic Terminal. With waiting time and the ride it took about 30 minutes. Arrive at domestic. No signs in Chinese anywhere. No signs in English to the subway. No subway signs at all. Naturally, most people are not coming to the airport to ride Marta. They come to fly on a plane. They might ride to the airport on Marta or ride home, but that would all be from within the Domestic terminal. No one ever bothered to put up signs to the Marta from outside the building where arrivals from international flights would enter.
Found the machines to buy subway tokens. They were confusing, even in English. I found a printed route map for the trains. It is in English and Spanish combined in such a way that it is hard to read in either language. And strangely, not everything on the brochure was translated into Spanish. It was not available in any other language.
I met a woman from China on the subway. She was on the same flight as me. She pointed out that there is a train from international to domestic terminals. Just that we are not allowed to use it because we are forced to exit at the International Terminal and then not allowed back in to ride the train.
I hope one day I can meet the person who planned the International Terminal so I can ask why they would do these things. Is it a Georgia law that visitors from other countries be welcomed with confusion and a complete lack of information about how to get around the airport and the city?
david geiger 
One Response to “riding marta”
A few weeks ago this finally became an issue for the airport, getting from the international terminal to the domestic terminal to ride the MARTA train. People were saying it was taking sometimes an hour and a half or more, due to traffic, lack of buses and lack of drivers. It got enough attention that the airport has put the contract for the shuttle bus on hold and required them to double the buses. They are supposed to be looking at other ways to improve the traffic flow for the buses too. No mention of the lack of signs. Now might be the time for you to raise the issue. Strike while the iron is hot!
Also, it still seems crazy that there’s no way to take the plane train from one terminal to the other. I get the security reasons but dang!
LikeLike