For a moment this week, it felt like all anyone could talk about was transit. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens’ announcement of four infill MARTA stations at the State of the City address Monday kicked things off. Monday night, MARTA held a community meeting about the Campbellton Road Bus Rapid Transit Project. And Wednesday, MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood gave his quarterly update to the Atlanta City Council. Read more for highlights and ways to take action.
MARTA's quarterly report to Atlanta City Council
The APTA Ridership Trends app shows that on average nationally, the number of people riding transit has returned to 78% of pre-covid ridership numbers. Yet MARTA is at just 50%. Miami and Houston figures are at over 90% of pre-covid ridership, meaning they have almost fully recovered.
Atlanta City Councilmembers had a lot of questions about ridership, which you can see on the meeting video.
Wondering what's happening with MARTA's Bus Network Redesign? MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood said there is "good progress happening," a Title VI analysis is underway to ensure the redesign is equitable, and that public engagement will restart in Summer 2024.
Given the ongoing struggles to regain pre-covid ridership levels, the redesign can’t come soon enough. MARTA’s current bus cancellation rate is between 7-10%. When it hits 10%, that means 1 in 10 times your bus simply doesn’t arrive. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for people to rely on the bus to get where they need to go. Trip cancellations hurt not only the individual rider but MARTA's ridership overall.
Did you know you can sign up for MARTA alerts on specific routes? This can be useful if you often ride the same bus routes and check your email often.
Finally, Greenwood shared an update on the audit of the More MARTA funding requested by City Council.
Campbellton Road Bus Rapid Transit
To bolster community engagement for the MARTA Rapid Campbellton project, on Monday night MARTA presented a draft public engagement plan and sought suggestions from community leaders. This meeting underscores MARTA's response to community feedback, suggesting that previous engagement efforts for the project, which aims to enhance transit from Greenbriar Mall to the Oakland City MARTA Station by 2028, were insufficient. The proposed Center-Running Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system, a cornerstone of the project, promises significant improvements in travel times, safety, and accessibility amid a broader $500 million investment in southwest Atlanta.
The draft plan outlined various outreach methods, including website updates, emails to community leaders, public newsletters, attending community meetings, pop-ups at community events, literature distribution, and an open house. This approach reflects MARTA's commitment to deeper community involvement and transparency as it moves forward with the project. How would you like to see MARTA engage along Campbellton during the project?
We’re calling for high-quality, physically separated bus and bike lanes! MARTA’s current plans are moving in this direction. Take action to support the best design possible:
