Tag: public transportation
Will the pandemic ruin MARTA’s plans for its biggest expansion in decades?
The Covid-19 pandemic has been catastrophic for public-transit agencies across the nation. Even when the pandemic does end, it’s possible that our work and travel patterns will be disrupted permanently. Then, there’s the economic impact of the pandemic and its corresponding effect on tax revenue, a major source of funding for many transit agencies, including MARTA.
Commentary: Connecting MARTA’s proposed light rail to the current Atlanta Streetcar is a mistake
Back in November, voters overwhelmingly approved a sales tax increase to fund transit expansion in the City of Atlanta. MARTA just released its ideal expansion plans, which include bus rapid transit crisscrossing the city, late night and weekend bus service, and 21 miles of light rail. But there is a fatal flaw: the light rail infrastructure goes through one of the most congested part of town, the downtown path of the Atlanta Streetcar.
CEO Jeffrey Parker talks about MARTA expansion and “The ATL”
One month into his tenure, Parker dished on his optimism for widespread transit expansion, MARTA’s venturing into mixed-use development, and the prospects of a region-wide system being called “The ATL.”
What you need to know about the metro Atlanta transit expansion bills
On Wednesday, Georgia lawmakers in the House and Senate approved their chambers’ versions of legislation that would create a new regional agency that could kickstart a long-awaited expansion of bus and rail lines throughout metro Atlanta.
Midtown’s Rockspinner has been replaced. Meet Autoeater.
We almost shed a tear when we learned that, after three years, Midtown's beloved Rockspinner sculpture was leaving town. But Midtown Alliance recently installed its replacement: Autoeater.
The MARTA Army wants you!
MARTA Army’s core team is comprised of Georgia Tech students and alumni, lawyers, accountants, designers, developers, and even teenagers who lend their skills to serve the overall objective: making MARTA a more efficient and appealing option in a city angling to become a pro-transit powerhouse.
Will voters decide to double down on the Atlanta Streetcar?
Streetcar boosters believe the referendums, if approved, could shift the conversation away from its early troubles. When the first trolley rolled out in December 2014, the project was already more than a year and a half behind schedule, and construction costs had ballooned from an estimated $69 million to more than $98 million, with federal grants covering less than half the price tag.
Keith Parker puts us back on track
MARTA CEO Keith Parker's biggest project yet is the construction of three new rail lines expected to cost upwards of $8 billion. In MARTA’s history, the ambition of Parker’s expansion plan is rivaled only by the ambition behind the agency’s creation five decades ago.
October 2015: Smooth rides
Two years ago in this space, I made an embarrassing confession: that even though I live barely 200 yards from a MARTA station, and my office is a hundred steps from another one, I was still driving to work every day.
Can CEO Keith Parker make MARTA cool?
This is a historic chapter in MARTA’s history: the first major expansion in four decades. Much of the credit goes to the transit authority’s general manager and CEO Keith Parker, who joined MARTA in December 2012 when the agency was beleaguered with a fiscal crisis and plummeting ridership.