On Monday, MARTA’s board of directors votes on Darrell Jackson’s pocketbook.

Jackson, 25, takes MARTA to work every day. He didn’t realize the board was expecting to raise fares from $1.75 to $2, parking by $1 where it’s not free and scale back service.

And he’s unhappy.

“Oh man,” he said last week, as he began his commute home from MARTA’s Five Points station. “I can’t even afford it now. Raising the fee and all that stuff, it’s going to be hard.”

Jackson said he takes MARTA — and then a commuter bus, and then a Gwinnett County Transit bus and then a lift from his family — to get from his summer job detailing cars in Atlanta to his home in Athens.

MARTA board members didn’t need to go to stations to hear complaints like Jackson’s. Hundreds of riders came to public hearings last week to voice their opinions on the cutbacks and get information.

Many patrons were understanding about the fare increase. After all, MARTA hasn’t raised it since 2001. Bringing it up to $2 won’t even make up for inflation. But, the service cuts were another matter.

“The trains don’t come on time, the buses don’t come on time,” and now the waits will be longer, complained Britney Carter, 17, who was also taking MARTA from Five Points last week. “I don’t like it.”

MARTA leaders said they have to make cuts to balance the budget.

The agency depends partly on sales taxes collected in Fulton and DeKalb counties, and they’re running low as people shop less during the recession.

It was facing even more drastic cutbacks this spring, until the Atlanta Regional Commission decided to send $25 million of the region’s federal stimulus funds for transportation MARTA’s way. In return, ARC expects MARTA to fund $25 million in transit-related projects.

MARTA has capital reserve funds it can use for those projects, but not for running the system. State law prevents MARTA from using capital funds on operations.

If approved at the 1:30 p.m. meeting Monday, the fare increases and cutbacks would not take place immediately, said MARTA CEO Beverly Scott.