the MARTA bus is in the top left corner, key in ignition, flashers on -- the driver can be seen on the right ordering BBQ

BBQ that’s MARTA lickin’ good!

Anyone that has ever taken the MARTA Bus or MARTA Rail service in Atlanta Georgia knows that people wait for trains, trains don’t wait for people. Keeping with their schedule, MARTA is pretty good with arriving and departing on time. With recently increased rates and the recovering recession, MARTA personnel have dwindled to, what we consider, only the most qualified individuals for “Moving Atlantan’s Rapidly Through Atlanta.”

Recently, I (caleb j. spivak) had the extreme privilege of taking a MARTA bus from downtown to East Atlanta. Documenting the unfamiliar trip, what was about to happen may not surprise you. Pulling up to Glenwood Avenue, I found myself departing from bus route 23 to board bus route 9. While waiting for the connection, I heard a voice from behind. To my discern, the MARTA bus driver was standing directly behind me giving further instruction for my connecting bus. Bus driver then proceeded to the Texaco Gas station (on the corner of Glenwood Avenue and the entrance to I-20 West).

marta-bus-driverless-as-driver-orders-BBQ-from-a-gas-station-trailer
the empty drivers seat as the driver was ordering his BBQ

As the MARTA bus sits driverless, door wide open, key in ignition, PASSENGERS on board, Bus Driver goes into the Texaco gas station for a restroom break — hey, when you gotta go, you gotta! On his trip back to the bus, an unfathomable move: he orders BBQ from the Texaco BBQ trailer (has been there for seven months now). After receiving his order TEN MINUTES LATER, Bus Driver makes his way back to the bus.

In awe, I decide that their must be something magical about that Texaco BBQ trailer, and having yet to eat dinner, I found myself ordering. To my dismay, the food was nothing special. Something I would never have risked my  job for in a downward economy.

The best part however, is that there are plans for two additional gas station BBQ trailers, one in Buckhead and one in Alpharetta; presumably along the MARTA Bus Routes.

Clark Griswold once said, “I’m so hungry, I could eat a sandwich from a gas station.” Though this BBQ might be MARTA lickin’ good, I’d say stay away and never let your hunger reach that of Clark Griswold.