A trip back in time
Photo Source: 8th Floor Productions
Certain aspects of Atlanta life make me feel like I’ve stepped back into the 70’s, to a time of orange and brown color schemes and strict racial divides. This train system was designed in 1974. The era is reflected in the harsh brutalism inspired train stops and the retro train design.
When we moved here, we wanted to live by the train, to take the train to work and across the city. No one, no one we talked to ever rode it or knew anything about it. All we heard was wary concern and assurances that we wouldn’t want to use it.
Today, I rode it for the first time. I couldn’t believe how ugly it was, inside and out. Aesthetics aside, it was clean, efficient and quiet. At 6:30pm it had a moderate, nice, amount of riders, not too crowded but busy enough to be entertaining. I just kept thinking, if the trains, the stations, the whole thing were infused with more beauty, more people would feel good about riding it? As it is, it doesn’t have much feeling of civic pride.
To continue my racial education, the train seems to be ridden almost exclusively by African Americans. I’m not sure why this is the case, since there are plenty of white people living by the stations. The train system feels extremely segregated, much like our street and neighborhood, with whites on one side and blacks on the other. It makes me feel so sad and frustrated.
