The Atlanta business community and Mayor Andre Dickens expressed concern about the state of MARTA, and they vowed that the transit agency would be a top priority in 2025.
MARTA was a focus of the Dec. 13 meeting of the highly influential Atlanta Committee for Progress (ACP), an organization that includes top business, civic and academic leaders working in tandem with the mayor of Atlanta.
“MARTA was a big topic,” Dickens said in an exclusive interview after the private meeting. “Business leaders think that there’s room for improvement around service delivery. There was a talk about what the ideal state of MARTA would be, how their workers could get to work and on time performance. That was some of the talk about how to help with ridership and about building communities around MARTA stations.”
MARTA is a regional transit agency that serves the City of Atlanta, Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties.
In recent years, there has been increased scrutiny over MARTA governance – especially with its management of More MARTA, an additional revenue stream of a half-penny sales tax passed by City of Atlanta voters in 2016. The City of Atlanta has been frustrated by MARTA’s lack of progress in building out the projects designated in the More MARTA program.
Courtney English, chief policy officer and senior advisor to Mayor Dickens, made a MARTA presentation to the board explaining the governance structure of the transit agency, as well as its declining ridership and other challenges.
“We laid out the mayor’s transit vision,” English said. “The City of Atlanta does pay the lions-share into MARTA, but it has the same representation as the other jurisdictions.”
Carol Tomé, CEO of UPS and the 2024 chair of ACP, said business leaders were strongly interested in MARTA. Although the Atlanta region continues to grow, ridership is down.
“It’s the data that is leading us to this conclusion, and the data, any way you cut it, is not good,” Tomé said. “That’s concerning to us. The quality of life is being stuck in the roads and the quality of air being stuck on the roads.”
Tomé said the goal is for Atlanta to have a “best-in-class” system.
Because Mayor Dickens also chairs the Atlanta Regional Commission, there are opportunities to shore up transit throughout the region. Gwinnett and Cobb counties just voted against a one-cent sales tax to improve their transit systems.
Business leaders expressed concerns for their employees who need to take transit to get to work as well as the growing traffic congestion in the region.
Incoming ACP Chair Michael Russell, CEO of H.J. Russell & Co., said MARTA needs to be a priority.
“We need to get some synergy between MARTA and other stakeholders. We need MARTA to be on the upswing. It’s just too important for the city,” Russell said. “MARTA has got to bring in more riders. Ridership is declining. And traffic out there is terrible. Clearly, the meeting brought it up to the forefront even more.”
During its executive session, ACP decided to create a task force in 2025 to do a deep dive into MARTA, its operations and governance. Russell and Kathy Waller, ACP’s executive director, will decide who else will serve on the task force. Tomé did say she would be part of that initiative.
During the interview, Dickens did express some optimism about MARTA. He was especially pleased that Jennifer Ide, a former colleague of his on the Atlanta City Council, is going to be serving as chair of the transit agency.
“We have a tremendous opportunity with Jennifer Ide being the chair of MARTA. We are enthusiastic about that,” Dickens said. “She knows this city well, and she knows the interests of the city and the regional value of MARTA.”
Dickens said his administration will be working more closely with Ide and the city’s two other representatives on MARTA’s 11-member board.
“We’ll make sure we shore up our communications to them before meetings and after meetings around what our expectations are from City Hall,” Dickens said.
The mayor also explained why he agreed to support MARTA’s revised plans to upgrade the Five Points MARTA Station after he had called for a pause on the project.
The reason? MARTA listened to the city’s concerns and figured out a way to have pedestrian access to the station during construction. Dickens also said that if the project had been stopped altogether, MARTA likely would have lost the federal and state funds designated for the project.
What about Beltline rail?
“I have stated a thousand times that I’m pro-Beltline rail,” Dickens said, but he added the city needs to know the current costs to extend the streetcar to the Eastside Beltline trail all the way to Ponce City Market.
The city is currently analyzing the various transit options for the Beltline, and Dickens said that in January, the city should be “getting some good information back about all the modalities, the costs, the challenges, timing… so we can bring that to the public sometime during the first quarter hopefully.”
But the mayor, who said he talks to Atlanta Beltline Inc. CEO Clyde Higgs frequently, said it’s more than just building the streetcar extension and rail on the eastside trail. There also is the decision to develop rail along the entire 22-mile Beltline corridor.
“It’s a 100-year thing,” said Dickens, who acknowledged that his mentor, former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, used to talk about making decisions for the city we wanted to live in 50 years from now. “For Beltline rail, it would be 100 years or more.”
In a similar vein, Dickens talked about the importance of transit-oriented development. Building developments around MARTA transit stations would bolster the city’s tax base, provide opportunities for affordable and market-rate housing and create a built-in base of potential transit riders.
“We believe any publicly owned land near transit is ideal for development,” English reiterated. The city, through the recently formed Atlanta Urban Development Corp., is exploring development opportunities on publicly owned land.
Dickens said that implementing the plans for More MARTA, building infill stations, developing transit-oriented developments, and improving the bus network are all on the table.
“Yes, it’s a higher priority,” Dickens said. “We just have got to get going. We will not be in this position at the end of 2025. When we sit down at that ACP meeting, you will see a different MARTA and a different Atlanta MARTA relationship. It’s going to be a big push.”
The ACP meeting also reviewed the city’s accomplishments in 2024 — from public safety to affordable housing, homelessness, the city’s credit rating, parks and greenspace, neighborhood revitalization initiatives and Showcase Atlanta, to help the city host the FIFA World Cup in 2026 and the Super Bowl in 2028.
“We have an amazing mayor, and it’s not just an amazing mayor, but he has an amazing staff,” Tomé said. “I’m super proud of not only his vision but of the accomplishments that were made.” Tomé added that during the executive session of the meeting, business leaders were united in support of Dickens and his re-election for mayor in 2025.
ACP also made history at the meeting, naming Michael Russell as its 2025 chair. Russell will be the first Black person to serve as chair of ACP, which has been around since 2003. Tomé was the first woman chair.
“I’m so used to being in these business circles that I don’t even think about it anymore,” Russell said about becoming the first Black chair.
There also were a couple of board changes. Dan Cathy, the retired CEO of Chick-fil-A, brought his son, Andrew Cathy, to the board meeting. The younger Cathy, who is now CEO of Chick-fil-A, will replace his father on the ACP board. Also, Roz Brewer, interim president of Spelman, will take Helene Gayle’s spot on the board.
No need to waste millions on another study—I can fill you in. I’ve lived in Atlanta for 34 years and recently moved out of Gwinnett after seven years because the taxes had become absurd. Gwinnett voted down MARTA because the plan required residents to pay for 40 years before seeing any tracks or trains. Contrary to the biased news articles at the time accusing Gwinnett of racism, the reality was much simpler—the plan was impractical. I’ll be nearly dead in 40 years, and no one wants to pay for something for that long without receiving any benefit.
Here’s a better idea: propose a 1-cent tax that starts construction immediately after approval. Begin laying tracks right away, with new services coming online within 2–5 years as stations are completed. Tracks could extend up I-85 to Gwinnett Place Mall, Mall of Georgia, Gainesville, and Hamilton Mill. Another branch could follow 316 to Athens, with additional lines using Georgia Power corridors east-west near GA 140 or GA 120, and another over GA 20. Lines could also run up GA 400. The I-75 line could be expedited by building rail over the raised express lanes. While you’re at it, consider building the GA 400-to-675 tunnel and the proposed north end I-285 replacement. With some vision, this entire project could be completed within 10 years, revolutionizing transit in Atlanta for the next 50 to 100 years.
A proposal like this might actually have a chance of passing. Unfortunately, we’ll likely see another expensive study, wasting millions without producing any tangible results.
Hire Michael to head up his suggested implementations and get the projects done. He is correct and another study is another waste of money.
Yes.This is correct.
Tell y’all what: I’ll do the study for 50% of the fee & come up with the same study. Now THAT’s a Bargain!
I totally agree with you. We are the sixth largest city in the U.S. and yet our transit system is not even on par with cities half our size. We are behind so we need a big push effort now. The idea that it will take 100 years to build out our transit system is absolutely ridiculous… if we do what you are suggesting Atlanta will become the premier city in this country, and it will explode in growth but we continue to be afraid of our own success sadly…
Frequency and reliability matter. Having routes that go where people want to go, when they want to go, matters. Pretty stations don’t matter. Real bus shelters do matter. Having members of the MARTA board who actually use the system would be a big help.
Dickens & Co. didn’t even talk about these issues. He’s a performative mayor who pretends to make progress by talking, but he’s getting nothing positive done for the city. We deserve an alternative.
MARTA just can’t think big, nor think for the METRO AREA. That’s where the real Transit issues exist. …but they act like the OTP Transit/traffic/transportation issues don’t exist. And, it’s not toatlly MARTA’s fault there – the State & Metro Counties seems to think that there is no reason to cooperate with ITP.
Here’s a thought: Let’s all Work From Home & put these FFF-ers out of business.
For us senior citizens, safety issues are a huge factor. Marta needs security guards that are visible and also ride in the cars. We would ride MARTA more often if we didn’t feel threatened.
I frequently ride MARTA but hardly anyone else will. Here’s what I hear:
1. It stinks. That is true. They need to clean it up. It’s not unusual to go into a car that smells like urine.
2. They don’t feel safe. Again true. Last week a mentally ill person was kicking the doors. How are people supposed to feel comfortable with that?
3. Delays. Also true. I don’t know how a rail that only goes north south and east west is late so often but it is. That has to be fixed immediately.
4. Paying is a nuisance. Atlanta residents should be able to buy discounted yearly passes, but that’s not an option.
Before embarking on any huge project, get the basics done right. Earn the credibility to do bigger things.
Unfortunately, this is going to take some house cleaning. They need to reduce a lot of the current staff and hire different staff. Maybe hire people from the service industry who understand customer service.
Better than some sities…Worse than Many others.
Atlanta is the only big city I know of without any bus lanes. I can’t take the city or Dickens administration thoughts on Marta seriously until they actually start moving forward with real changes here.
YUP. Andre Dickens, A GT Grad, knows…& has to do better than previous ATL Admins. Tick-Tock.
‘Room for improvement’ ‘best-in-class.’ Above the fray CEOspeak (see Kamala). Tragic legacy media doesn’t question this nonsense.
YUP
Until there is concensus on addressing..maybe ‘attacking’ is the right term, the REAL transit issue of the Metro Area…the METRO AREA. I see a lot of focus on adding extra Stations between areas that already have sufficient Train Stations, but nothing about resolving the reality of cars coming in & leaving on I-75, I-85, I-20 & the hundreds of other aterial roads into the City, everyday.
Until MARTA, Atlanta, The Metro Area & the State get serious about selving trnasit/transportation issues, we should just laugh at articles & statements from the Mayor (who I respect) because these are not serious efforts.
Anyway, by the time they address 5% of Metro Atlanta’s transit/transport issues, we’ll all be workign from home, or replaced by A/i, LOL.
Until there is concensus on addressing..maybe ‘attacking’ is the right term, the REAL transit issue of the Metro Area…the METRO AREA, this is all just the standard talk which we’ve gotten for the last 50 years.
Laughingly, I see a lot of focus on adding extra Stations between areas that already have sufficient Train Stations, but nothing about resolving the reality of cars coming in & leaving on I-75, I-85, I-20 & the hundreds of other aterial roads into the City, everyday.
Until MARTA, Atlanta, The Metro Area & the State get serious about selving trnasit/transportation issues, we should just laugh at articles & statements from the Mayor (who I respect) because these are not serious efforts. They are only P.R. gestures to those living in-town (specifically in the MLK-Inman Park section of the MARTA line).
Anyway, by the time they address 5% of Metro Atlanta’s transit/transport issues, we’ll all be workign from home, or replaced by A/i, LOL.