JULY/AUGUST 2017 | MassTransitmag.com | Mass Transit | 15
neighborhood leaders, civil rights
leaders and small business owners.
“I would ask three basic questions,”
Parker said. “First, what do you
think of MARTA now, secondly,
what would you like MARTA to
become and thirdly, what are you
willing to do to help?
“I wanted to build a sense of
collaboration with the diff erent
parties. … they had a stake in me
being successful. Me being successful
meant the agency being
successful, means they get something,
too.”
Th e other goal, Parker said,
was to disarm the elected offi -
cials. MARTA was in dire fi nancial
straits. He was sure they were
expecting him to walk in asking
for more fi nancial support.
“Instead, I remember my fi rst
meeting with the governor … I
said, ‘Governor, I promise you
this is going to be the quickest
and easiest meeting you’re going
to have all day. I came in to introduce
myself and to tell you, we’re
not asking for anything. Give me
a year to get our house in order
and to prove ourselves, that we’re
a company worth of investment
and if we do that, then we might
be coming back.’”
As he was walking out the
door, Parker said he added one
more thing. “’Th ere’s some legislation
being discussed that’s been
introduced that would signifi cantly
reduce my ability to run the agency
MARTA DID a total
frame-up rehab
of two fleets
of its rail cars
with Alstom.
Alstom is also a
part of the new
train control
service that is in
the Chamblee
Station.
as I see fi t; I think an undue amount
of regulation. I would like your support
in holding it off .’
“He off ered support to that and
eventually that legislation died.”
At the time, MARTA was facing
a projected $33 billion budget
defi cit and not getting better.
Employees hadn’t had raises,
there were forced furloughs, major
increases in healthcare, morale
wasn’t particularly high. Th ere was
also a very adversarial relationship
with the media. It was a diffi cult
and challenging environment.
Turning Things Around
Th e initital objective was to get
some early wins to send a message
they were serious. Th ey scoured
the budget and looked for where
money could be saved.
Th ey switched from bi-weekly
paper pay stubs for nearly 5,000
employees to an automated system;
they made some adjustments in a
number of the ways capital money is
spent to free up dollars in positions;
and they had a freeze on new hires
for an extended period except in two
areas, an offi ce of transit-oriented
development and the external relations
and communications groups.
As a result of the cuts, they saw
the year-to-year costs stay fl at. “We
didn’t go up even one percent,”
stressed Parker. “We were able to
add service, pay our people more,
keep fares at the same level and
balance the budget … and had a
$9 million surplus.”
Atlanta Development
Th ere’s a general acceptance of
transit as a player in economic
development in the Atlanta region
and when you look at the highest
growth areas in the region, the
hottest properties are around
transit stations.
“When you look at where people
want to live,” Parker said, “ … they
want to live in densely populated
places where they can get around
without a car, that they can have
a good vibrant lifestyle, walking a
neighborhood grocery store, being
able to get to the park riding their
bikes and not being totally beholden
to terrible traffi c all the time.”
Another sign of acceptance is
when on November 8, 2016, the
half-penny sales tax was approved
with nearly 72 percent approval,
the highest approval rating in the
country. “Th e citizens of Atlanta
with a 72 percent vote saying we
want to tax ourselves more to have
more MARTA. We’ve seen a sea
change,” stated Parker. “MARTA
had not passed a single initiative
of any kind in 40 years.
“I think those are strong affi rmations
that we’re moving in the
right direction.”
Host to the Industry
With the American Public Transportation
Association’s triennial
Expo in Atlanta in October, MARTA
is ready to host and showcase
the many things they’ve done and
have planned for the future.
And in the coming weeks and
months we’ll have more on much
of it. Th ere will be details on the
regional expansion planning; information
on ways they have improved
effi ciencies of their bus and
rail fl eet; details on how they’ve
developed their transit asset management
plans; a mobile payment
launch; the airport connector; system
safety and security; and more.
Parker said of attendees,
“Th ey’re going to see a downtown
that’s very vibrant and growing
and we’re a part of that vibrancy.
... we’re going to show them a really
nice time with some new technologies
that we’ll be exploring.
“I want them to learn from us
and us from them.”
“The citizens of Atlanta with a
72 percent vote saying we want to tax
ourselves more to have more MARTA.”
-KEITH PARKER
Photos by Leah Harnack/Mass Transit