Come fall, MARTA will be a different system when the transit agency implements what it calls the deepest cuts in its history.
The MARTA board approved unanimously on Monday to eliminate 40 bus routes, beginning Sept. 25. Trains will have wait times up to five minutes more. Bathrooms will close to the public at 29 stations across the system. This will be the final year for shuttles to Braves games and Aaron's Amphitheatre at Lakewood.
“I think it’s crazy," said Chiquita Croff, 19, of Clayton County. "They shouldn’t do it. It’s an inconvenience to everybody."
Croff uses MARTA “to go to work, to get my baby from day care, to go everywhere really.” When Clayton shut down its C-Tran bus system, her mother had to start driving her to the MARTA stop every day. Now Croff is going through MARTA cuts.
For bus routes that survive, there often will be longer rides because of detours to pick up portions of the eliminated routes. Bus and rail service collectively will decline by more than 10 percent.
MARTA said it provides service to 142,000 passengers per day. MARTA estimates that 86 percent of those passengers still will get what they need from the reduced service.
Michael Tyler, board chairman, said the cuts were MARTA's biggest ever.
"This has been an extraordinarily difficult and challenging business," Tyler said as the board prepared to vote. "It has a very real, negative impact both in terms of educational opportunities for our riders and employment," as they face longer walks, longer commutes and tougher connections.
MARTA CEO Beverly Scott called it "what I would venture to say was the most difficult budget this agency and this board has ever had to face."
MARTA discussed cutting the Braves shuttle last year but did not vote to do it, MARTA spokeswoman Cara Hodgson said.
The cuts could affect tourism. Richard and Debbie Segee, who drove from Greenville, S.C., on Friday to see the Braves play Detroit, said they did so partly because co-workers told them how to avoid downtown Atlanta traffic by taking the MARTA train and Braves shuttle. Cuttingthe latter service probably will affect their decision to return. “Just the traffic getting in and out, it's, uh, hectic," Richard Segee said. "Greenville rush hour is like 10 a.m. in Atlanta."
In addition, more than 300 MARTA employees will lose their jobs, beginning Tuesday. Between them and vacant positions, MARTA's workforce is shrinking by 14 percent. Two of MARTA's four ride stores are closing, at Lenox and Lindbergh stations. Customer call center hours are cutting back, and there will be fewer agents at stations.
On weekends, trains will start at 6 a.m., not 4:45 a.m.
MARTA receives much of its operating revenue from a sales tax levied in Fulton and DeKalb counties, and those revenues have declined significantly in the sour economy.
The cuts approved on Monday, however, are only half as bad as those proposed earlier this year. The sales tax forecast since has improved. MARTA has scaled back the cutbacks a number of times: As early as a month ago it planned to close all bathrooms but those at Five Points station. Now it intends to leave nine open at some end-of-the-line and transfer stations. A small amount of bus and train service is being restored, too.
The restrooms were important to wheelchair-bound Ronald Perry, 56. He can’t drive a car, so MARTA is necessary for him to travel. He’s on diuretic medication that makes him need a bathroom frequently. “What about people like me?” he said.
MARTA orginally projected a $120 million deficit. The cuts will plug some of that, but not all. MARTA still will have a $69 million deficit, which it will pull from reserves.
Scott and Tyler said it was important for MARTA to maintain a certain level of service in order to "bridge" to what they hope will be increased mass transit in the region after a 2012 referendum on transportation funding.
Key to the cuts
- 40 of 131 bus routes eliminated, others rerouted
- 20-minute waits for trains all day on weekends
- 15-minute waits for rush hour trains
- Customer service hours scale back, close on weekends and holidays
- Lenox and Lindbergh ride stores close
- Public restrooms close except at nine stations. They'll close at 7 p.m.
- More than 300 MARTA employees lose their jobs
The eliminated: a sampling
Note: For some eliminated routes, other routes that survive will pick up parts of the route
- Braves and Lakewood shuttles
- All mini-bus routes
- Route #11, to Atlanta University Center, no service Northside Dr. between Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. and Kennedy St.
- Route #17, Grady Hospital, no service on Crew Street, Little Street, PPollard Street, Pulliam Street, Washington Street
- Route #38, to Chastain Park
- Route #45, no service on Virginia Ave., N. Highland Ave. and DeKalb Ave. to Candler Park Station
- Route #151, Perimeter Center/Chamblee, no service on Ashford Dunwoody Road and Johnson Ferry Road segments
- Route #200, Airport Early Express
- Route #245, no more service on N. Decatur Rd. between Emory University and DeKalb Medical Center on Winn Way
Dates
- Tuesday: layoffs begin
- Sep. 25: service cuts take effect
- Oct. 3: Monthly pass goes from $60 to $68
Routes to be eliminated:
7, 11, 17, 18, 22, 28, 38, 44, 45, 52, 54, 57, 59, 69, 70, 72, 77, 88, 91, 96, 97, 105, 113, 118, 122, 137, 139, 151, 160, 200, 216, 245, 273, 311, 328, 329, 341, 364, 376, 389, 397
Routes to be changed as presented earlier this year:
3, 13, 21, 26, 27, 32, 47, 49, 50, 51, 53, 55, 58, 60, 73, 78, 81, 84, 87, 89, 95, 99, 107, 111, 114, 115, 116, 117, 120, 121, 125, 165, 178, 180, 185, 189
Routes to be changed, with new tweaks since presented earlier this year:
1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 12, 15, 16, 19, 24, 25, 26, 30, 33, 34, 36, 37, 42, 56, 66, 67, 68, 74, 75, 82, 83, 85, 86, 93, 103, 104, 119, 123, 126, 132, 140, 143, 148, 150, 153, 155, 162, 170, 172, 181, 183, 186, 193, 121E, 121L
MARTA should have an updated list of route changes online soon. For more information see http://itsmarta.com/service-cuts.aspx
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