MARTA and other transit agencies could lose money due to financial bankrupt insurances.... (Atlanta: get credit)

[atlantagreg30127]

Very interesting article. More people are riding transit due to gas prices and the economy, yet several transit agencies (even those run better than MARTA) may have a huge blow to them because of this: MARTA Could Feel Financial Crisis Pinch - News Story - WSB Atlanta

[pirate_lafitte]

This could mean higher fares. MARTA has to come up with money from somewhere. I guess any expansion is out of the question.

[noah]

Seems very much a what if. AIG provides a lot of types of insurance in the business world and all these products will not disappear overnight, if they did business would stop more or less, thats why AIG was propped up. If these agencies can't get credit then there will be a lot more problems then just public transit.

[swatt]

Being the largest public/metro transit in America to not receive state funding makes it rather hard for MARTA. The fact that even when the residents want to give MARTA public funding the Georgia congress strikes it down, that's why the system, more or less, sucks.

Would really help bring in money if they could expand the rail, especially to the Alpharetta area, but that takes more money. The system, as a whole is flawed, and the Georgia congress really isn't helping (Not that it affects them).

All in all, I'm not surprised.

[pirate_lafitte]

Originally Posted by swatt

Being the largest public/metro transit in America to not receive state funding makes it rather hard for MARTA. The fact that even when the residents want to give MARTA public funding the Georgia congress strikes it down, that's why the system, more or less, sucks.

Would really help bring in money if they could expand the rail, especially to the Alpharetta area, but that takes more money. The system, as a whole is flawed, and the Georgia congress really isn't helping (Not that it affects them).

All in all, I'm not surprised.

Alot of people have never cared whether or not MARTA gets expanded because of a "I don't care if someone else doesn't have a car and can't get to places" mentality. A scary one at that.

[VJP]

Pretty much all public transport agencies run in the red. That said in this state we have a government beholden to DOT contracts and the like. That fact is coupled with adminstration in MARTA and the like that maintains the status quo. I really would like to publicly flog these people for their wasteful treatment of our money when it comes to running these systems. Ripping them all out and revamping the whole thing and its fund appropriation is worth a shot here....I'm speaking to a brick wall but had to vent. I grew up in NYC and after eight years it sitll incenses me that I have to get in my car to get a candy bar and see a movie. Meh. I live near east lake and use the train as much as I can to avoid the hassle of driving in rush hour....bleh.

[pirate_lafitte]

With the financial problems going on, this might set back any progress MARTA could make. I can't wait for the day that Sonny Perdue leaves office. He has expressed he won't do anything for MARTA or mass transit. He has already said so. Roy E. Barnes tried to do something. He didn't do it with MARTA, but GRTA, but it is a start, that is if he had been re-elected. Apparently, issues concerning the Confederate flag are hold more importance to many GA residence than mass transit. I didn't vote for Perdue. I voted against him. Of course, Perdue won anyway. I can't wait until he is out of office and hopefully GA gets a governor that will do something good, like fix the mass transit.
MARTA was never really funded properly, so this could mean bad things.