Overheard some guy at the Varsity complain about parking and it changed how I think about transit

I was eating a chili dog yesterday and this dude at the next table was ranting about spending $18 to park for 45 minutes. He said he could have taken the train from Doraville for $5 and walked 3 blocks. I always thought MARTA was a hassle but I never added up the parking costs like that. Hopped on the train this morning from Lindbergh to Midtown for a job estimate and saved $12 and 20 minutes of driving. Anyone else actually do the math on parking versus transit around here?

2 comments

2 Comments

robin8964d agoMost Upvoted

Hold up, I gotta push back on this. You saved $12 but you also spent an extra 30 minutes waiting on the platform and walking those three blocks in this heat. Time is still money, and my time is worth more than a few bucks. Plus you can't just hop back to your car if you finish early or run into a client who wants to grab lunch. I'd rather pay the $18 and keep my schedule flexible then be stuck on MARTA's clock.

dylan_ward4d ago

Right, because who doesn't love a nice 30 minute sweat session just to save a few bucks? I bet you also clipped all those crazy gas station coupons from the Sunday paper, didn't you? Get back to me when your car breaks down and you're the one stuck on the platform for an hour. Or better yet, when you try to grab lunch with a client and realize you're three blocks from your car in this heat, you'll be paying for it with your own time. I'll take my $12 and go buy myself a nice cold drink on the way to my air conditioned car, thank you very much.