Riders are getting their first look this month at a proposed major overhaul of MARTA’s bus routes and service, the first comprehensive changes to the system since the transit agency was founded.
The bus network redesign has been in the works for several years as transit officials have weighed what they think will serve riders best: more frequent routes in a concentrated area, but less frequent service over a broader area.
MARTA officials hope more service on the most popular routes will be more useful and help win back ridership, which plummeted during the COVID-19 pandemic and never fully recovered.
Making bus service work well is key to improving the system overall, said Andrea Foard, a project manager on MARTA’s redesign team.
“It’s overlooked a lot in a lot of systems because it’s not the sexy rail topic, but bus really is critical to how people move,” she said.
Last week, MARTA held the first of several community meetings to get feedback on the plans. Another meeting is scheduled for Dec. 17, and meetings will resume in January. The plans will be tweaked based on feedback before they go to MARTA’s board of directors for approval in mid-2025. The changes are slated to go into effect by the end of next year.
“We really don’t want anybody surprised by the changes that would be coming to their route or neighborhood,” said Ryan VanSickle, who oversees MARTA’s service planning.
Here are the key things to know about the bus network redesign:
More frequent service
MARTA runs 113 routes currently but there’s frequent service — a new bus coming every 15 minutes or faster — on just five. The majority of routes run every 30 to 60 minutes and some run only during peak hours or on weekends.
That would change under the proposal, which has 79 routes total. Eighteen routes would offer frequent service and routes that intersect with rail lines have been designed to minimize the time it takes to connect.
Under the proposed plan, more than three times as many people would live within a quarter mile of a bus stop that offers 15-minute service or less. Many routes would offer service every 10 to 12 minutes, similar to headways on the rail lines.
MARTA CEO and General Manager Collie Greenwood has said that will fundamentally change how people view bus ridership, particularly riders who have the option of driving.
“Now you can kind of put your schedule away and you can just get out there and know that the bus is coming,” Greenwood said. “People will start to say, ‘This is an option I can consider.’”
The proposal also increases the number of low-income, minority and car-free households that will be close to a bus stop offering frequent service.
“Hopefully the existing riders who already ride the system will want to use it more,” VanSickle said.
Microtransit
Many of the routes facing elimination are in low-density areas, routes that currently pick up maybe one or two passengers.
Instead of running empty buses, MARTA is proposing microtransit — an on-demand service akin to government-sponsored Uber or Lyft.
The new plans call for the creation of 12 such transit zones, where riders would be able to request a ride to go to their end destination or to a bus or rail transfer station.
For many of these riders, this could end up being faster than current routes that run hourly or every 45 minutes. The goal is that no passenger will wait more than 30 minutes for a ride, Foard said.
No peak service
Since the pandemic, fewer people are traveling during what were once peak commuting hours. But many routes currently operate on special peak or weekend hours.
The proposed changes eliminate that in favor of consistent service seven days a week, day or night.
MARTA says it will simplify service — no more ramping up and ramping down throughout the day — and give riders consistency.
Officials also believe this will help with reliability. Currently, driver staffing issues have resulted in routine bus delays or cancellations. The proposal anticipates a similar number of buses on the road, but the decrease in routes and elimination of peak hours should help with scheduling.
In talking with other cities that have redesigned their networks, many told MARTA they were too ambitious and have had to scale back service. VanSickle said MARTA has taken that feedback into account and doesn’t want to make the same mistake.
“That is the last thing we want to do,” he told attendees at the first public meeting. “We want to plan something that we can run reliably from Day 1.”
Learn more
The full plan is online at martanextgenbusnetwork.com. Riders can also look up their existing routes and see how the changes would affect them. A virtual community meeting is scheduled for Dec. 17 at noon. MARTA planners will give a brief overview of the plan before participants split into geographic breakout rooms to answer more specific questions. The website also offers a survey where riders can submit feedback.
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