Atlanta To Get New Transportation To Braves Games?

ISSUES

Unless you drive to the game yourself and you tailgate in the parking lot, the other option for Atlanta Braves fans is the MARTA system and the bus shuttle in.  This is probably one of the biggest turnoffs to travel to a ball game for fans.  The sweaty, long, loud, bus ride after a three hour game is one of the last things most want to do.

After the ball game, fans have to run out of the park to catch these old busses that are parked on the street corner.  The line piles up quickly and you usually have to stand around for a few minutes before you enter the glorious bus.  Then, your on the bus and the time it takes to get back to the MARTA seems like 2 hours.

Everyone there is extremely helpful in getting you here and there and they are actually doing the best they probably can with what they have but it may improve shortly.

IMPROVEMENTS

Plans are in the process to build a roughly $30 million maglev train.  This fast moving train would expand from MARTA’s Georgia State station to traffic-clogged Turner Field, the Atlanta Business Chronicle  reports.

The Braves are partnering with a private, Marietta-based company that builds the futuristic people-movers to help try and solve the team’s faulty shuttle system.  This transit project is considered essential as the Braves officials call traffic congestion the primary hindrance to fan attendance.

THE CATCH

The Atlanta Braves must first negotiate a new agreement with the city of Atlanta.  The team’s lease of Turner Field runs out on Dec. 31, 2016.  The Braves would love to reach a new agreement as soon as possible and talks are said to be moving along now.

GOALS

The plan would be to open the one-mile maglev train system in time for the Braves 2015 season.  Trips between the ballpark and MARTA would take less than two minutes and each vehicle can transport 200 fans.

Funding is expected to come from a third-party company based in Madrid.  One project backer says the maglev train will be the first commercially viable one in the United States.