At the June 13 MARTA Board of Directors meeting, approval of the 2025 $1.6 billion operating and capital budget took a backseat to ongoing conflict surrounding the scheduled Five Points Station renovation plan.
The board celebrated the budget approval with $654.5 million in net operating funds and $902.2 million for capital programming. It marks the 13th straight year without any fare increases. Of that budget, about $76 million is set aside for the multi-year rehabilitation program for all MARTA stations — including the Five Points Station.
The four-year renovation project for the city’s busiest MARTA station will kick off when the hub closes in July. Trains will run through the station, but it will be closed to street access for the next 18 months while crews transform the space with a new canopy and updated public space.
Since the ambitious project was announced, several community members, organizations and city representatives have spoken out against the planned closure and project. On June 6, Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens urged the transit organization to halt the project in the wake of an ongoing audit of the More Marta sales tax, which is partially funding the construction.
Dickens said calculation errors found in the audit could force MARTA to repay tens of millions of dollars from expansion programs, although the full audit isn’t expected until July.
Some groups, like Central Atlanta Progress and the Atlanta Downtown Development Improvement District, urged MARTA to focus on a “refresh” instead of an overhaul so that the station can stay open on the street level.
But MARTA officials said they have no plan to stop construction. The first phase of the project will relocate eight bus routes starting July 6. The change will affect the thousands of people who pass through the station on a daily basis.
At the June 13 meeting, several residents shared their concerns about the plan.
“You’re going to hurt the state, you’re going to hurt the city, and you’re going to hurt the patrons,” resident Miss Chapman said.
Propel ATL Executive Director Rebecca Serna gave remarks on behalf of the cycling and pedestrian advocacy group, asking the board to consider people with disabilities and mobility challenges.
“The current plans for ADA access are insufficient, and they need to be revised,” Serna said. “We strongly encourage you to prioritize that access and to maintain safe access for pedestrians to the station during construction.”
Carden Wyckoff, a disability advocate and transit user said the current disability plan is inequitable for wheelchair users like her. Wyckoff said in March, she asked about the disability access plan and was told there was not one. It was not until June that she heard about the proposed plans that would take five to ten minutes to reroute.
Wyckoff said she “challenged” it and tested the rerouted shuttles — it took her 30 minutes to commute. The egress option lacked an elevator, too, leaving Wyckoff to ask how her wheelchair could navigate stairs.
“This plan takes away my freedom, our freedom and the disability community’s freedom,” Wyckoff said. “It’s going to be a very long time until we get this result, and we depend on you to get around to get to jobs, to get to school, to get to work, to get home, and so I ask you to please find an equitable way in order to create safe transfers and equitable transfers with the Five Points transformation.”
MARTA board member Sagirah Jones said she wants to communicate with people on the street and “get a feel” for how people need to move about.
“We want people to continue to use the system and find it viable even as we are working through improving the system,” Jones said. “Right now, people don’t want to have to wait to use it in a way that works for them.”
While Jones pushed to take the input into consideration, other board members posed the inconvenience as a necessity. Some said they felt “encouraged” by the progress of the project already.
“It’s very difficult for us as we go about trying to do [the project] to have people ebbing and flowing in the space; it’s a safety issue,” board member Roderick Frierson said.
Frierson said it is going to be inconvenient, but the complete shutdown will only last 18 months.
It is a bad design. Removing the gothic canopy, replacing it with another canopy, that will also be “outdated” in 50 years and leaving busses surrounding the station. Intelligent design would reroute busses internally so that passengers can ingress/egress safe from elements. Look at the design of the central terminal in Denver, Co. Heck, look at the original redesign that was supposed to happen for 5-points before the Olympics in 96. Internal bus bays, freeing surface area for pedestrians, cyclists and ADA patrons to safely maneuver. THE change in this design is the canopy! Big WHOOP!
Amtrak is looking to relocate and they want to be adjacent to MARTA. The Greyhound terminal at Garnett was supposed to be temporary until the MULTIMODAL center (remember that?) was built in The Gulch. Why not incorporate a multimodal plan and have Amtrak and Greyhound partner? Have Cobb, Gwinette and GDOT, who all have busses running into downtown also chip in? Oh, wait… isin’t that what The ATL transit SUPPOSED to be about? REGIONAL transit planning?!
Agreed. Too expensive for a milquetoast refresh, I smell Collie getting thirsty for skimminh a few million off the top for “enhanced bus procurement” or some half truth like that.
The MARTA corruption is effected through their buying of buses, they literally told us.