MARTA Braves shuttle restored

By Ariel Hart

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

MARTA will take Braves fans out to the ball game this year.

Enlarge photo

Ben Gray, bgray@ajc.com Signs pointing the way to the Braves shuttle bus should reappear after Monday's vote.

Related

• MARTA proposes new rail lines
• Reed, council clash over transit

More Atlanta/Fulton news »

• Beryl may bring rain, wind here
• Not all cheating the same at APS
• Sneiderman battle recalls 1989 saga
• Citizen Review Board under scrutiny
• Atlanta/South Fulton
• North Fulton

The MARTA board on Monday voted to restore the Braves shuttle to this year’s transit schedule, in time for the season home opener April 8.

MARTA is making it work financially by using old buses that were slated for sale, MARTA staff said.  The solution will only work for a year or two and the board will have to revisit the issue.

MARTA had voted last year to eliminate the service as part of a round of unprecedented budget cuts.

Although the service overall cost MARTA money, the benefits to the city and region justified reconsidering it, said Ted Basta, MARTA’s chief of business support services. In a survey, MARTA found that 11 percent of shuttle riders were taking it in order to get to their jobs, Basta said, and 38 percent came from out of state.

“All in all it seems to make sense," he said.

In addition to the shuttle, the MARTA board voted to add service to bus routes 2, 87, 99 and 181.

The Braves shuttle runs from Underground Atlanta near MARTA's Five Points Station to Turner Field.

Federal rules prevent MARTA from charging extra for the shuttle, in order not to compete with potential private shuttle operators, MARTA officials said. Passengers still pay the regular $2 MARTA fare when they board the system to transfer to the shuttle. On the operating revenue side, that leaves MARTA with a profit.

However, when MARTA averages in capital costs including the lifetime cost of replacing the buses, running the shuttle puts MARTA in a $969,000 hole annually, according to MARTA staff.

They said that for the time being they could delay those costs.  In last year's cuts MARTA had marked for sale many buses that had reached their useful life of 12 years or 500,000 miles, Basta said, but in order to keep the shuttle running they will keep 15 of the older vehicles.  He said they took the best of the old buses and there was no question of their road-worthiness, but the solution would only last a year or two.