I never meant to develop the relationship I have today with public transportation; daily rider, avid fan, committed advocate. I owned (and still do) a gas guzzling SUV that I dutifuly drove every day up and down the downtown connector and Georgia 400 from my house in North Ormewood in the heart of Atlanta to my office in Alpharetta. It all started because I had to go to the bathroom.

Let me explain - it was just a Friday like any other. I was planning to go to the Hawks game and had left my office at somewhere around 3:40. I knew Friday traffic would be bad; really bad, and I wanted to get home, change, eat something and get to the game. That afternoon traffic was worse than I could have imagined. I waited in the usual places, but then I got to the tollbooth at GA 400 and it stopped. And the line crawled. The worst part was I had to go to the bathroom. I had to go and I saw no relief. We were crawling toward the Sidney Marcus exit and it looked like we would never, ever get there. As I sat there, about to freak out, I watched the MARTA trains roll over head and thought, "there has to be a better way."

It took me more than 2 hours to get home that night, and by the time the weekend ended, I had mapped out my route. Drive to Inman Park, take the train to North Springs, get on the #140 bus and get to the office.

That morning was crazy. I got up super early and nervously began my trek. I was going to ride a BUS. I had never considered this before, the fact that I had to ride a bus was always the deal-breaker for me. But I did it that morning. I made it and I made it so much more relaxed. And then going home. Wow. What a difference.

I never looked back. By the end of the week I bought a monthly pass. I have only driven to my office rarely since that day, more that 18 months ago. I added the bus in front of my house to my repetoire a few weeks later and now my commute almost never involves a car (I'll admit, some days I drive to the train station when I need my car right after work.) I have taken MARTA all over Fulton and Dekalb, ridden buses to Stone Mountain, Buckhead, Downtown, everywhere. I chuckle to think there was a time when I wouldn't consider a bus. I am chuckling even more when I realize I am writing this on a 3G card from the front seat of the #140 as I ride home.

I love my MARTA. The only regret I have is that I didn't realize it for years. I wish I could have all those wasted hours sitting on the connector back.

I can't, but maybe I can convince you to give it a try and save those hours for yourself ;-)

James Hervey is the author of a blog on his MARTA ridership experiences and a regular contributor to http://atlanta.metblogs.com/. Each year, his sustained efforts at clean commuting have helped keep nearly four tons of pollution out of the air we breathe.