Ok, so I finally watched the "Crazy Girl on Train" video on YouTube the other day. Whether or not it is bad press for MARTA I don't know, but I found it absolutely hilarious. And the fact that someone took the time to add subtitles for what this ranting woman was raving about really put the icing on the cake.
Now, I ride MARTA all the time. In fact, I lived without a car for 6.5 years and on average, say I rode MARTA once a day each day. That means over 2000 rides on trains and buses. Not once have I seen craziness like that. Sure, I probably could count on two hands the number of more exciting incidents...the guy who got knocked out of his wheelchair at Five Points or the stand-up preacher on the East line. But I'm averaging .005% on MARTA incidents. That's what makes the video so funny...it is out of the norm, an extreme case of MARTA gone wild.
But I wonder, how did non-MARTA riders view it? If you live OTP (outside the perimeter), did it make you less inclined to hop on the train after watching the screaming "Soulja Girl"? Maybe if you caught it on the news, you didn't see the funny captioning. Humor goes a long way...even the time I saw that man get accidentally dumped out of a wheelchair (wow, did we all go silent), the man who caused the incident later made a crack about it at another station, which for good or bad made me chuckle. Those of us regulars on the train know you might see just about anything...and learn not to take things so seriously.
Most people on the train are pretty low key and quiet, so much that MARTA actually has a sign stating that if you are going to play music with a headset, keep the volume down (believe me, that rule was needed -- but that is another story). At night it is quieter, except if you get caught by Falcons fans or help us, another cheerleading convention. Most people are just trying to get home from the late shift, and there is the occasional business men and tourists. You learn too, that if anything ever bothers you, change to a different train car at the next stop or page the train operator. But, like I said, the occasion comes up rarely and as long as you go into the MARTA experience with a sense of adventure, willingness to mingle with people of all types and awareness that if anything does seem shocking, it is an abnormality, then you'll be fine. Plus, I promise, the more you ride, the shock value wears off and you'll be just slightly annoyed and wish the crazies would be quiet so you can go back to decompressing on your carless commute.