margin-bottom: 2px; As far as the More MARTA plan goes, there hasnt really been much that we can actually see. Although MARTA boosted bus service frequency after the referendum in 2017, many of the routes have since been cut as a result of the pandemic. But others arent standing still. ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - The Atlanta City Council on Monday approved a financial audit of a MARTA program that was funded by a 2016 half-penny sales tax. New York City Transits service levels have remained remarkably strong throughout the pandemic. The program is expected to give MARTA $2.7 billion over a 40-year period. It was MARTA leaderships expectation that after the recent City-requested resequencing exercise, we would focus on delivery of the program. A new MARTA rail car as unveiled in a December 2022 event. MARTA, which took over the streetcar from Atlanta in 2018, says more people will ride if the line goes more places. Link to information about and archived livestream of past events. To Councilmember Amir Farokhi, who chairs the councils transportation committee, thats a lot of words that dont actually say much. Other rapid bus lines on the initial to-do list include Cleveland Avenue, Metropolitan Avenue, the Campbellton Corridor, and the Clifton Corridor, which are now in design stages. What about our legacy residents? MARTA has a second tier of projects on its long term listvery long term. This way we get the most objective assessment of the way More MARTA is going.. Seven years later, some local elected . MARTA In a first, the Georgia Legislature in 2021 appropriated $6 million toward the $50 million renovation of MARTAs Bankhead rail station, located next to a proposed new Microsoft campus. Councilmember Marci Collier Overstreet said, placing this audit in the Citys hands guarantees that we can find an independent third party to review the numbers. Other improvements include: MARTA's Station . MARTA and the City then executed a robust program of community engagement to establish guiding principles and the project list. Stay tuned to this page and email us at }. @media screen and (min-width:1200px) { Atlanta residents are eager for more transit options. MARTA, city host public updates on More MARTA Atlanta program RIDER ALERT: Bus Service Changes Effective April 22: Select routes will have increased weekday service. MARTA is accusing the city council of playing politics. In 2019, the MARTA Board adopted a sequencing plan that was codified into an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between MARTA and COA in 2020. Farokhi and the Atlanta City Council, along with Mayor Andre Dickens, approved a resolution in March demanding increased financial transparency for More MARTA, including an audit. The program of projects introduces new modes to the MARTA system, with 14 new miles of bus rapid transit (BRT) representing 22% of the expansion miles; 22 miles of arterial rapid transit (ART) representing 34% of the expansion; and 29 new miles of light rail service representing 44% of the new service. We dont need to look at transit as, Oh, this vehicle needs to be a train. We need to look at it as, Okay, this is a service that runs every 15 minutes or less, and this is wonderful for our community. He says the bus network redesign is a chance to start thinking holistically about transit service, rather than the type of vehicle. We are in conversation right now and were still in the nascent stages of forming a more cohesive message, but were on the right pathway to that.. A little of everything, according to Carrie Rocha, who became MARTAs interim chief capital officer in February. MARTA and the City of Atlanta will host three public updates to share information and take questions and comments about the More MARTA Atlanta Program. MARTA Board approves "More MARTA" expansion plan Our library is full of useful, concise videos for advocates, agency staff, and anyone who wants to understand transit better. Atlanta city council OKs audit into billion-dollar MARTA program. Related. There will be in-person updates on Tuesday, April 18, at Sylvan Middle School and Thursday, April 20, at All Saints Episcopal Church. The latest news and developments from the transit world. MARTA, CITY OF ATLANTA HOST PUBLIC UPDATES ON MORE MARTA ATLANTA PROGRAM. Meet the dynamic staff working to change transit in American cities. The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Board of Directors unanimously approved the sequencing of the transit projects in the More MARTA Atlanta program on June 13. MARTA - Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority The citys first official Bus Rapid Transit project the Capitol Hill/Summerhill BRT is slated to open in 2025. GA: MARTA says it's open to Atlanta expansion program audit The final list of projects approved in 2018 includes 36 miles of enhanced bus routes, and 29 miles of light rail. , Some stops have a shelter, a schedule, lighting, youre on an expansive sidewalk. The Atlanta City Council on Monday approved a financial audit of a MARTA program that was funded by a 2016 half-penny sales tax. It includes light rail transit (LRT), bus rapid transit (BRT), and arterial rapid transit (ART) systems, as well as new transit centers, local bus service, and various station upgrades. Atlanta, GA 30303 MARTA celebrates improvements at College Park station with ribbon It will include 14 stops with buses. What is the More MARTA Atlanta Program? The partnership with the Atlanta BeltLine is central to the expansion program and is reflected in the early sequencing of projects that provide BeltLine connectivity in the southeast (Summerhill BRT), to the southwest (Campbellton Road LRT) and the Eastside Trail (Streetcar East Extension and North Avenue Phase 1 BRT). MARTA celebrates Autism Awareness Month with new program How Long Until Atlanta Transit Riders Get More MARTA? } by Ryan Zickgraf April 26, 2023. The two met at MARTA's Lindbergh Station, along with Stephens' mother, Lisa, to talk about trains and to listen to some of Immanuel's work. We have a lot of voices at the table for some of these projects [and] we want to make sure that theyre progressing along [and] incorporating their input. The council says the audit is simply good governance and that it wasnt spurred on by one specific action. The timeline for rail expansion is much longer the first light rail extension to Campbellton Road, which will serve the SW quadrant of the city, wont be completed until 2031. JOB FAIR APRIL 22, MARTA TO CONDUCT FULL SCALE POLICE TRAINING EXERCISE ON MAY 7TH, MARTA MARKS AUTISM AWARENESS MONTH WITH RAIL STATION ANNOUNCEMENTS FEATURING PEOPLE WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER, MARTA statement on passing of Carolyn Long Banks, MARTA, CITY OF ATLANTA HOST PUBLIC UPDATES ON MORE MARTA ATLANTA PROGRAM, MARTA BOARD OF DIRECTORS APRIL MEETING DETAILS, MARTA IS HIRING! DeKalb County officials are considering a separate tax referendum to fund improvements in the rest of that county (a DeKalb contingent recently flew to Minneapolis to check out that regions transit), and Gwinnett County has already scheduled a vote next year to finally invite MARTA into its borders. We have answered these questions, and instead of accepting the answers, Council is playing politics by demanding a full performance review of decisions made by previous MARTA and City of Atlanta leaders. | Learn more Sat, 4/22: Gold/ Red lines operate on special 24-minute schedules. More MARTA is a transit improvement partnership between MARTA and the City of Atlanta that is designing and building transit projects to address the current and future transportation needs of Atlantans by increasing accessibility, mobility, and connectivity. The $3 billion More MARTA Atlanta program, funded by an additional half-cent City of Atlanta sales tax, will help us reach those goals with a list of 17 game-changing projects based on robust. MARTA Board approves the sequencing of More MARTA transit expansion program MARTA Advances Capital Program with 'Unprecedented' State Funding After the More MARTA vote, MARTA spent two years conducting public engagement, technical analysis, and systemwide planning to determine how to spend the new revenue. Every step of the program has been taken in concert with the City of Atlanta, the agency said. Metro Atlanta kids who are diagnosed with autism will now be able to record public service announcements with the new Autism Transportation Project. . It is funded by a -cent sales tax in the City of Atlanta, which voters approved in 2016. The Atlanta BeltLine was always envisioned as a transportation corridor, a plan validated by Atlanta voters in 2016, said Clyde Higgs, President and CEO of Atlanta BeltLine, Inc. The adoption of the More MARTA phasing today is a start towards fulfilling the promise of transportation options to some of the largest hubs for economic and workforce development along the BeltLine." Collin Kelley has been the editor of Atlanta Intown for two decades and has been a journalist and freelance writer for 35 years. We do a lot to engage the public. March 22, 2023 NEXT STEPS Board Briefing: May Review More MARTA Program of Projects Recommendation Community Outreach Activities: May -August Stakeholder Advisory Committee (SAC) Meetings Public Outreach Activities Atlanta City Council Briefings Mayor of Atlanta Briefing Board Work Session: August Review Public Response to More MARTA Program of Projects Four years later, what improvements are now tangible for Atlanta transit riders, and what can riders expect to see in the next four? Tier II projects will be initiated at a later date as additional funding from the tax is available. It. Atlanta pushes for financial review of MARTA expansion below for recordings of the April 19 and 20 meetings, as well as links to the Additional questions and comments may be sent to townhall@itsmarta.com. Atlanta has one of the lowest per capita transit ridership rates among big cities in the country, and ridership had been on a steady decline prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. But critics argue expansion efforts have fallen short. In 2018, the MARTA board of directors approved 17 capital projects to be paid for with More MARTA funds. MARTA 2040? Planner shares dream Atlanta vision, opinion as ARC MARTA and the city of Atlanta will host public updates to share information and take questions and comments about the More MARTA Atlanta Program. MARTA has tapped Archer Western Construction to serve as a contractor for the project. PDF Board of Directors Work Session May 3, 2018 This is yet another stall tactic from a collective group that has been wringing their hands and conflating the More MARTA program with the Citys Renew Atlanta TSPLOST program, the agency said. The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) celebrated improvements at College Park rail station with a ribbon-cutting on the station's East Plaza on April 26. } Please see Thats a lot of where the pushback is coming from, said Sumlin. , Better local bus service will do far more for the Atlanta community than BeltLine Rail could., has committed to establishing a network of bus-only lanes and installing upgrades like transit signal priority on city streets by 2022. hosted three public updates April 18-20 to share information with the public In Georgia, yes, Sign up for Atlanta News First Newsletters. Get our free weekly newsletter on important housing and democracy news every Thursday afternoon. The council and Mayor. MARTA now open to sales-tax program audit demanded by Atlanta City MARTA has the funding, bandwidth, expertise, and a clear path forward. Sometimes its funding issues. Six years later, we do not have those projects, and I still dont believe we have a clear understanding of what money has been spent, what money plans to be spent and what money we will have for projects in the future, Shipman said. font-size: 19px; 2023 Complexity shuts you out, ACC opens the door for you. Much of this work isnt visible to the public, but were making significant progress.. 2023 Hyperlocal News and Information for Metro Atlanta. All rights reserved. In response, MARTA said the audit request was disappointing and disingenuous and accused the council of playing politics. MARTA also said the audit would only slow down projects. Much of this work isnt visible to the public, but were making significant progress.. color:white; A multi-faceted reference that lets you explore transit service, ridership trends, and demographic data in American regions. Height says theres wide variation in bus stop quality. The council on March 20 approved a resolution requesting MARTA submit to its request for a financial audit of the More MARTA program and provide an answer by March 29. In November 2016, the city of Atlanta overwhelmingly approved the local sales tax that was designed for the largest investment in transit enhancements and expansion in four decades. We need sidewalks so that people can safely get onto a bus and then get off a bus and go to destinations as opposed to walking through the mud. This effort will be key in creating a more comfortable rider experience, says Height. The final list of projects approved in 2018 includes 36 miles of enhanced bus routes, and 29 miles of light rail. Whats the reason for the gap? asked one of about two dozen Atlanta residents who spoke at the meeting. City Council members have raised questions for months about transparency from MARTA on the spending of More MARTA money and how it prioritizes projects. Opinion: More MARTA's projects will be mobility gamechanger - ajc HOLMES STATION MASTER PLAN, MARTA IS HIRING: BUS OPERATORS AND JOURNEYMAN BUS TECHNICIANS NEEDED, MARTA TO HOLD VETERANS CAREER FAIR MARCH 9, MARTA POLICE IS HIRING! The More MARTA Atlanta program is funded by a 2016 half-penny local sales tax. Major rail expansions are. Of that sum, $174 million will go to the northeastern section linking Ponce City Market to MARTAs Lindbergh Station and $196 million to a southwestern stretch between I-20 and Oakland City Station. So it definitely is a huge inequality with the transit experience, no matter what part of the metro youre in., Kotak agrees that bus stop and sidewalk improvements need to be immediate priorities in the region. The city is free to conduct an audit. She added that MARTA will work with the city to determine how to proceed with the audit. None of these buses have signal priority or anything else that would actually enhance their mobility., Height says that historically, transit boosters in Atlanta have been too fixated on a hierarchy of transit modes. Crew operator availability remains the agencys biggest challenge, as well as adjusting weekend maintenance schedules in order to run service that matches strong weekend demand. Another nearly $300 million will build various bus rapid transit projects, including one from the Summerhill neighborhood to downtown Atlanta. By John Ruch Stepping back from a fiery rebuke of the Atlanta City Council's call for a "More MARTA". Over the next 40 years, the spending plan will inject $2.7 billion with a B into the transit agency for a range of new light rail and bus projects, as well as improvements to existing stations, that is designed to reduce travel times, reach underserved areas, and bring the Atlanta BeltLine, Emory University and the Atlanta University Center into the transit network. There may be some truth to that, but its a lot of word soup. Many of the agencys longer term-projects, like the Clifton Corridor light rail extension to Emory University, are awaiting additional sources of funding before proceeding to the planning phase.