The Driver Behind Public Transit’s Transformation in Atlanta (Dallas: sales, how much)

[LynnHarris]

Keith Parker took over one of the most beleaguered and least loved transit systems in America -- and almost instantly reversed its course.

Keith Parker had run large-scale transit operations in Charlotte and San Antonio, but he realized from the start that Atlanta would be his toughest assignment yet.

The beleaguered Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is the ninth-largest enterprise of its kind in the country. But ever since its beginnings in the early 1970s, it has been ensnared in racial, regional and partisan acrimony. Georgia’s state legislators have never been shy to criticize or to micromanage the agency, which they have denounced as inefficient and unreliable. Originally envisioned as a five-county system, MARTA has never been able to expand beyond its initial two counties in the center of the Atlanta metropolis.

Much of MARTA’s problem has always been its unorthodox funding mechanism. Most of the nation’s public transit agencies get about a quarter of their income from state funds, but MARTA doesn’t get any operating money at all from the state of Georgia. Its budget is heavily dependent on local sales taxes, leaving the system especially vulnerable to economic downturns. During the Great Recession, MARTA took a cleaver to its operating expenses. A third of its bus routes were eliminated. Wait times between trains hit 15 minutes. Bathrooms in most stations were closed. Along with reduced services, passengers saw fares rise more than 40 percent. Customers were incensed. Ridership dropped by a sixth in the four years before Parker arrived.

In his first few days on the job, he searched on Google for stories about MARTA over the previous six months. “I couldn’t find a single positive article about the agency -- whether it’s TV, newsprint, whatever,” he says. “Just nothing positive. Overwhelmingly negative. Including my hiring.” His near-unanimous selection was under scrutiny because of open-meeting concerns. “Even that turned into just a negative story for MARTA,” Parker recalls. “So I viewed that as a major thing to work through: how we change the image of the agency...”

Full Story: The Driver Behind Public Transit

[bu2]

Originally Posted by LynnHarris

Keith Parker took over one of the most beleaguered and least loved transit systems in America -- and almost instantly reversed its course.

Keith Parker had run large-scale transit operations in Charlotte and San Antonio, but he realized from the start that Atlanta would be his toughest assignment yet.

The beleaguered Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is the ninth-largest enterprise of its kind in the country. But ever since its beginnings in the early 1970s, it has been ensnared in racial, regional and partisan acrimony. Georgia’s state legislators have never been shy to criticize or to micromanage the agency, which they have denounced as inefficient and unreliable. Originally envisioned as a five-county system, MARTA has never been able to expand beyond its initial two counties in the center of the Atlanta metropolis.

Much of MARTA’s problem has always been its unorthodox funding mechanism. Most of the nation’s public transit agencies get about a quarter of their income from state funds, but MARTA doesn’t get any operating money at all from the state of Georgia. Its budget is heavily dependent on local sales taxes, leaving the system especially vulnerable to economic downturns. During the Great Recession, MARTA took a cleaver to its operating expenses. A third of its bus routes were eliminated. Wait times between trains hit 15 minutes. Bathrooms in most stations were closed. Along with reduced services, passengers saw fares rise more than 40 percent. Customers were incensed. Ridership dropped by a sixth in the four years before Parker arrived.

In his first few days on the job, he searched on Google for stories about MARTA over the previous six months. “I couldn’t find a single positive article about the agency -- whether it’s TV, newsprint, whatever,” he says. “Just nothing positive. Overwhelmingly negative. Including my hiring.” His near-unanimous selection was under scrutiny because of open-meeting concerns. “Even that turned into just a negative story for MARTA,” Parker recalls. “So I viewed that as a major thing to work through: how we change the image of the agency...”

Full Story: The Driver Behind Public Transit

Keith Parker is familiar with this model. Transit agencies in Texas get minimal state support and are dependent on sales tax. And San Antonio is far more anti-transit, anti-tax than Atlanta. I really get tired of hearing Atlanta blame the state. Houston and Dallas have done vast amounts of transit expansion over the last couple of decades with that minimal state support.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by bu2

Keith Parker is familiar with this model. Transit agencies in Texas get minimal state support and are dependent on sales tax. And San Antonio is far more anti-transit, anti-tax than Atlanta. I really get tired of hearing Atlanta blame the state. Houston and Dallas have done vast amounts of transit expansion over the last couple of decades with that minimal state support.

I agree. Many cities fund public transit with local taxes.

[jsvh]

Originally Posted by bu2

Transit agencies in Texas get minimal state support and are dependent on sales tax. And San Antonio is far more anti-transit, anti-tax than Atlanta. I really get tired of hearing Atlanta blame the state. Houston and Dallas have done vast amounts of transit expansion over the last couple of decades with that minimal state support.

I agree that we should hope to get to a point where transportation needs $0 tax dollars and that Texas systems are also primarily sales tax funded. However, I will note that many of the expansions that have happened in those Texas cities did receive state funds. MARTA does not get state funds.

[Tryska]

Actually reading articles before commenting goes a long way.

[bryantm3]

this article is a few months old; since then, a lot of more good news has happened.

first off, i'd like to say that i hope keith parker never leaves. the improvement MARTA has seen can just as easily be lost by bad management, and it would be worth it to offer him a greater salary if he ever decides to leave.

secondly, i hope the state legislature decides to start investing in MARTA the way they should have from the start. there is no reason that our transit system shouldn't be as expansive as washington's.

[Tryska]

Keith Parker is my new boyfriend. he doesn't know it yet, but I am totally into his managerial acumen.

[atler8]

Since Texas supposedly does it's transit system growth & funding better & was thrown into the discussion here by another member, let's be honest about how for example Dallas's DART has been funded & expanded.
Voters approved a $2.9 billion bond referendum in 2000 & the federal government pitched in w/ a $700 million grant in 2006. That's a total of $3.6 billion right there. By comparison, MARTA has not received any comparable block of extra funding during that time frame.
Also, there have been hiccups of a major scale in the DART system with several cities eventually being dissatisfied to the extent that they held votes on whether to leave or stay in the system.
One particualr hiccup involved a scandal that included massive mismanagement & fraud that was uncovered when the funding for a particular new line was found to be in the state of a shortfall to the tune of $1 billion.
Eventually the deep depths of the scandal led to a murder-suicide episode that deeply shook DART & public confidence in the system. MARTA has never suffered any episode as scandalous in it's history.

[arjay57]

Does MARTA have a specific plan that they have pitched to the State of Georgia?

If so, what are the particulars? What would be the service area? Who will govern the system? How much money will be required and what are the proposals for who will put in how much?

Has the state made a response to this plan? Are there any areas of agreement? How can the areas of disagreement be addressed?

[Tryska]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Does MARTA have a specific plan that they have pitched to the State of Georgia?

If so, what are the particulars? What would be the service area? Who will govern the system? How much money will be required and what are the proposals for who will put in how much?

Has the state made a response to this plan? Are there any areas of agreement? How can the areas of disagreement be addressed?

judging from the article - I don't think they have pitched yet (but maybe some time soon, or we will hear announcements about it). Parker felt it was important to get MARTA's house in order first, to even the negotiatiations a little. I think MARTA is on a stronger footing now, then they were a year ago, for sure.