(AJC) — MARTA will receive $19.7 million in federal grants, to help upgrade parts of its bus system that are deteriorating, according to the Federal Transit Administration. As part of $776 million nationwide in federal grants announced Monday to help bring bus systems back into a state of good repair, MARTA was awarded $18.3 million […]
(AJC) — Metro Atlanta mass transit is fragmented and going broke. That’s the message legislators and transit officials heard Thursday as they met to consider what to do. “We’ve permitted the creation of multiple systems,” said MARTA CEO Beverly Scott, who is a member of the commission and delivered a briefing on MARTA. That system […]
(AJC) — While some MARTA riders may have learned the hard way that the trains won’t start as early on weekends, others will be adjusting to changes to their weekday commutes starting Monday. MARTA service reductions went into effect Saturday. The agency cut 10 percent of bus service and 14 percent of rail service as […]
(AJC) — Fifty-seven MARTA laptops valued at more than $55,000 have vanished. Paperwork for some items of evidence in the MARTA police property room was missing or incomplete. MARTA vehicles drove the Ga. 400 Cruise Card lane without paying so often that cash-strapped MARTA paid $79,000 in fines to the state this summer. The tolls […]
(AJC) — The Legislature may have started demolition Wednesday on MARTA as it has existed for 40 years. If so, no one could be happier than MARTA CEO Beverly Scott. “In fact, it’s going to need to,” Scott said Wednesday. “We cannot effectively serve the region” as is. Commutes don’t stop at county lines, but in […]
(AJC) — Fulton County mayors have united to fight a new penny sales tax for regional transportation plans, unless neighboring counties kick in extra money for a regional transit system. A similar battle is brewing in DeKalb County, which along with Fulton has imposed a 1-cent sales tax for two decades to build and maintain MARTA. […]
(AJC) — Director of transit-oriented real estate development, who made $103,000 a year: Cut. Landscape architect, $80,000: Cut. Employee relations manager, a catch-all job including oversight of health fairs, weight-loss challenges, team-building, $90,000: Cut. These are among the first cuts MARTA made as it planned to eliminate 734 positions and lay off more than 300 employees, […]
(Atlanta Journal Constitution) — Fearing bankruptcy, MARTA last month announced it would cut 40 bus routes, close station restrooms, eliminate the shuttle to Braves games and increase wait times between trains. If it wasn’t for an improving sales tax forecast, it could have been worse. Sipping coffee outside Lindbergh station recently, MARTA CEO Beverly Scott talked […]
(Atlanta Journal Constitution) — MARTA mini-bus No. 341 sat outside the Medical Center train station, waiting for passengers to board so it could begin its last run of the night. None did, and at 10:15 p.m. the doors fell shut. Around the corner it picked up two hospital workers, the only commuters for the entire […]
(Atlanta Journal Constitution) — Come fall, MARTA will be a changed system. In budget cuts the agency’s board approved unanimously Monday, 40 bus routes are going away. Trains will add wait times up to five minutes more each. Bathrooms will close to the public at 29 stations across the system. This will be the last […]
(Atlanta Journal Constitution) — The state Capitol is one block and about a thousand miles from Atlanta’s City Hall, particularly if you’re a mayor looking for help from the Legislature. But Atlanta’s new mayor, Kasim Reed, has spent more time at the Capitol than some of the lawmakers he had gone there to see last week. […]