Today’s Horizon section includes a little blurb about the newly forming “Students for Progressive Transit” organizations at Atlanta’s universities:

Ahead of the Curve:
Students join supporters of mass transit

Published on: 01/10/05

Advocacy for mass transit has spread to metro Atlanta’s college campuses.

Fledgling chapters of Students for Progressive Transit are flourishing at Georgia Tech, Georgia State University and Emory University.

Georgia Tech student Patrick Wolfe, president of his campus chapter, said he became interested in public support for mass transit after taking a class in transportation planning. Joe Winter, president of the Georgia State chapter, said he read about Citizens for Progressive Transit, a metro advocacy group, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and contacted the group to see what he could do to help the cause.

Both chapters have about 16 members, according to their presidents.

“As a Georgia State student, I have gotten to use MARTA on a regular basis and come to really enjoy the experience,” said Winter, who lives in Cobb County. “In fact, I have come to the point where I don’t mind making my commute a little longer just so that I have more time to read on the train or plan out my day a little better.”

Wolfe, also a Cobb resident, said he doesn’t use mass transit as often as he would like but hopes to move into Atlanta after graduation and use it more regularly. He said he often uses the Georgia Tech transit systems.

The Georgia Tech chapter has established MARTA information booths at the campus student center, developed a Web site with information about transit options on campus and throughout metro Atlanta, and opened an ongoing dialogue with Georgia Tech’s transportation office.

Emory’s group, which is newer, has 10 members, says chapter President Koshlan Mayer-Blackwell. So far, the group has surveyed some 300 Emory students about their transit habits.

“We have become particularly interested in MARTA’s ‘inner-core feasibility study’ and the different alternatives proposed to better connect Emory to MARTA rail lines,” Mayer-Blackwell said. “Enlarging MARTA operations along the Clifton Corridor has been a contentious issue in the past, but we hope to advocate for students who feel that improved transit is essential for Emory as a strong institution of higher learning and a member of the greater Atlanta community.”

Ñ Julie Hairston

So, what’s up with us Cobb residents wanting to use MARTA?