This will be a combination day 2/final summary post, because my decision became pretty easy last night (albeit somewhat clunky and convoluted). There were quite a few variables that went into how I decided to deal with traveling to Midtown from East Cobb via mass transit. There’s no perfect situation, so my task was to minimize inconvenience, driving distance, and cost as much as possible.

Drive Time

It took me 38 minutes to drive 13 miles to the Perimeter Mall MARTA rail station yesterday. That compares to an 8-mile drive in 23 minutes to ride the Cobb County Transit bus (a drive I could probably make shorter, and which in any case avoids highways altogether).

Southbound Toll

$1.25 for CCT, $1.75 for MARTA

Northbound Toll

Regardless of whether I’m riding CCT or MARTA northbound at the end of the day, I still have to pay for a MARTA token.

Southbound Convenience

CCT is generally more convenient because it’s a shorter drive from my house to the bus station. The exception is when I75S is jammed up and I285E isn’t, in which case it becomes more convenient to drive a little further to the MARTA station. The bus’ route runs down I75S, and the ride could be extraordinarily long in that case. Another factor to consider is buses seem more prone to break down than heavy rail trains do.

Northbound Convenience

CCT wins hands down because of MARTA’s inane decision to stop running northbound trains from the Arts Center station after 8 p.m. I didn’t find this out until last night when, had some nice person not given me a ride to the Lindbergh Center station, I would have been up shit creek.

Overall Cost

My employer offered me an unlimited ride MARTA pass (discounted courtesy of the Midtown Alliance), or cash in lieu of that. Accepting would mean paying the southbound CCT toll on my own. So it makes more sense to accept the cash, right? Well, there are other factors.

I can find use for a MARTA pass outside the confines of my daily commute, whereas I’d have little use for a CCT pass.

When gasoline prices are factored in, the extra 10 miles in my round trip to the MARTA station would negate the cost savings of having unlimited MARTA use, considering The Big Red Bastard guzzles gasoline the way Jenna Jameson guzzles… you get the idea. So, paying the CCT toll myself works out to roughly the same cost (or less) as driving to the MARTA station.

Decision Time

The lack of a post-8 p.m. northbound Arts Center train was too much for me to bare. And yet, I still went with the MARTA pass because 1) I would have to pay a MARTA toll to ride the northbound CCT anyway, 2) I can find extra use for a MARTA pass, and 3) it works out to the same cost for me to pay one way on CCT as it would for me to drive extra distance to the nearest MARTA station.

How this will work is I plan to check Georgia Navigator in the morning for traffic problems, and will only drive the extra distance to the MARTA station when something bad is happening on I75S and I285E is relatively clear.

It doesn’t seem like this process should require nearly as much thought or effort as it has for me. And it still seems like there could easily be better options (like the ideas coming out of Citizens for Progressive Transit, for example).

Negative thoughts aside, I’m still saving at least a tank or two of gas every month this way, which works out to $45 to $90 (yeah, you read that right). When factored in with a daily parking charge of at least $4 in most places, those savings add up quickly and are worth a few headaches here and there.

UPDATE: This is all very confusing. Apparently, I can get a northbound train from the Arts Center station, BUT I have to get off at the Lindbergh station and transfer after 8 p.m.