MARTA Is Making A Comeback, With Or Without Funding (Atlanta: sales, home)

[jsvh]

MARTA Is Making A Comeback, With Or Without Funding | WABE 90.1 FM

MARTA is no longer a four-letter word in metro Atlanta.

For years, MARTA has been the battered and neglected transportation stepchild in Georgia. But today, it's on the rebound.

The ninth largest transit agency in the country operating in the black. Its ridership is up. Its trains are running more often. It's even improving its bus service ─ cut during the Great Recession and tight budget years.

In November, Clayton County became the third county to join the regional transit system ─ the first in 40 years ─ adding to MARTA's momentum. The Atlanta Streetcar's launch in December was the first expansion of a new rail line in years.

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MARTA is the largest transit system in the country to receive no annual operating revenues from the state. For more than four decades, only two counties have been paying the 1 cent MARTA sales tax ─ Fulton and DeKalb ─ even though the entire region has benefited from the investment in transit.

Think about it.

Atlanta would never have won the 1996 Summer Olympic Games bid without MARTA. Or either of the Super Bowls. Or the Final Four. Or any of the other major sporting events we get on a regular basis. What about our major conventions? And how about our direct MARTA line to Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport? It's hard to imagine how horrendous our region's traffic would be if MARTA was not taking thousands of cars off our highways and roads every day.

Despite the regional and statewide benefits of MARTA, two counties have been shouldering the financial burden of the system for decades. Because we have not invested more in MARTA, it has not expanded into the five-county system that was originally envisioned.

At long last, state leaders are willing to say the world "transit." Some even mention the word "MARTA" in mixed company. A joint Legislative Study Committee released a report that actually called for the state to fund transit.

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[joey86]

Here's a novel idea. Since the topic is Marta's comeback, let's discuss that. There are a million threads discussing its issues and failures. There is plenty of debate on the subject on various threads, we don't need the same droning negativity in this one.

[AtlantaIsHot]

Good story to read. I've been anxious to see MARTA be the system it was dreamed of being. It is definitely a superlative for Atlanta. It's the ONLY heavy rail in the south, and will be for a very long time it appears. I don't think Georgia should keep it afloat, but I do think they could part with some money to aid it's viability. They could help it with maintenance, refurbishment, and expansions. First and foremost, it needs to be ran correctly and efficiently. Priority number one is doing the best with what it is presently. If increased ridership leads to more money in the system, it will do no good if mismanaged. Still, adding rail to Alpharetta is in the best interest of the region, IMO.

MARTA, like so much of metropolitan Atlanta, has been largely a success IN SPITE OF Georgia's apathy. Long live MARTA.

[Gulch]

Next up: getting people to write "MARTA" instead of "Marta" or "the Marta."

[Mal93]

Can't give Gulch more rep so

[arjay57]

Keep it up, MARTA.

[JMatl]

Originally Posted by Mal93

Can't give Gulch more rep so

Same here.

[JMatl]

I was a regular Gold Line rider from Brookhaven to Civic Center before I started working from home over two years ago.

I recently took the train to the Airport for the first time in months, and I definitely noticed a difference. The headways are SO much better, the arrival/departure info is live again and much improved, the stations and trains were clean, I saw several cops in the stations and on the trains and it seemed much busier and more vibrant.

The almost 11% increase in ridership shows. Now if only they would take care of the landscaping pots and planters outside of the stations that used to be so beautiful a few years ago.

[J2201987]

MARTA is no longer a four-letter word in metro Atlanta.

Uuuuuumm....

[jero23]

Originally Posted by AtlantaIsHot

Good story to read. I've been anxious to see MARTA be the system it was dreamed of being. It is definitely a superlative for Atlanta. It's the ONLY heavy rail in the south, and will be for a very long time it appears. I don't think Georgia should keep it afloat, but I do think they could part with some money to aid it's viability. They could help it with maintenance, refurbishment, and expansions. First and foremost, it needs to be ran correctly and efficiently. Priority number one is doing the best with what it is presently. If increased ridership leads to more money in the system, it will do no good if mismanaged. Still, adding rail to Alpharetta is in the best interest of the region, IMO.

MARTA, like so much of metropolitan Atlanta, has been largely a success IN SPITE OF Georgia's apathy. Long live MARTA.

Yeah, after the I-20 East expansion of heavy rail occurs which has already had its environmental impact, etc. done which has been in the works much longer.