MARTA: Moving Atlanta
I N ONE OF THE MOST CONgested
cities, a fi re that caused
Turning the Tide
the Interstate 85 bridge collapse
forced closure of all fi ve
lanes in each direction. Th e
bridge collapse in Atlanta on
a Th ursday evening in March
of this year was called “… as
serious a transportation crisis we
could have,” by Atlanta Mayor
Kasim Reed in an interview. More
than 220,000 cars are estimated
to drive over that bridge per day.
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid
Transit Authority Chief Operating
Offi cer Richard Krisak was
at home watching the bridge
collapse on TV. He said MARTA
staff quickly mobilized and got
additional capacity and service
out that evening.
“Th e thing that really impressed
me the most was how quickly we
could tailor and adjust the service
to meet the demand,” he said. “We
were constantly monitoring during
the event because putting a lot of
extra service out there costs a lot
of extra money for us.”
Th ey closely monitored the
ridership using the Breeze technology
to look at faregate exits and
entries and parking lot usage, he
explained. As they moved through
the event, they could fi ne tune to
meet the demand with the right
amount of service.
MARTA General Manager
and Chief Executive Offi cer
Keith Parker said the evening
of the bridge collapse, on camera
was Governor Nathan Deal,
Mayor Kasim Reed and Georgia
Department of Transportation
Commissioner Russell McMurray
telling people to “Ride MARTA.”
“Th at would not have happened
three years ago,” Parker
said. “You would not have had
the three most prominent folks in
transportation in the state making
those announcements.”
14 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | JULY/AUGUST 2017
Parker described the adversarial
relationship MARTA had with
stakeholders when he came onboard
three years ago. “Many
elected offi cials viewed MARTA as
a pariah; you don’t want to support
it, you stay away from it, you beat
up on it. Th at’s the way you win
votes,” he said.
With MARTOC, the Metropolitan
Atlanta Rapid Transit
Overview Committee, Parker said
there was no trust. When asking
for documents of various things,
he described it as doing it nearly by
subpoena instead of simply asking
for a copy of a report. “It was very
adversarial,” he stressed.
While fi nishing his fi nal 90 days
in San Antonio, Parker would come
to Atlanta several times a month
and would hold meetings with different
stakeholder groups, holding
roundtables with corporate CEOs,
MARTA HAS about
450 CNG buses
but have also
been testing
electric buses
from New Flyer,
Proterra and BYD.
MARTA AWARDED
Kapsch
TrafficCom
a contract to
implement
and maintain a
turnkey regional
mobile ticketing
system.
By Leah Harnack
A change of direction for MARTA has created
collaboration in the region where everyone’s
on the same page of fi nding ways to improve
mobility in the region.
MARTA