MARTA to slash a quarter of service

By Ariel Hart

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

MARTA bus route N0. 1, serving the heart of downtown Atlanta – gone.

North Druid Hills Road bus service, from Lawrenceville Highway to Clairmont Road– gone.

Bus service on Moreland Avenue, between Ponce de Leon Avenue and Freedom Parkway – gone.

Bus No. 38, the only one to Chastain Park – gone.

As MARTA grapples with a $120 million budget deficit, these were among the proposed changes that could impact MARTA riders the most within months.

The anticipated cuts are so severe the situation represents a wholesale restructuring of the transportation service, MARTA board member Harold Buckley said.

“We’re going to affect the lives of many, many people,” said Buckley, calling it the worst budgetary situation in his 25 years on the board. “This is a difficult time."

MARTA revenues from a 1 percent sales tax in Fulton and DeKalb counties have greatly declined, marking the second consecutive year that officials have warned about drastic cuts.  However, solutions that averted disaster last year are no longer available and the cuts are expected to be far worse, possibly as much as 25 to 30 percent of service.

At a Monday night forum, MARTA riders voiced frustration, fear and anguish about the potential route cuts. Many learned they would have an alternative route but could be faced with stops farther away, more transfers or longer waits.

"I can only hope that these changes are a stunt to get the attention of elected officials because these changes are unbelievable," said Valerie Molyneaux, a Belvedere Park resident, drawing applause from the assembled crowd.

Exlon Butler, who lives in Avondale Estates, grew concerned when he heard that one option under consideration was the elimination of weekend train service until 7 a.m. "I work at a hospital and I have to be there at 6 a.m.," he said.

Susan Kidd of Decatur said she could still travel to her needed destination, but it might require one transfer after another, which would cause her to seek alternative transportation. "If they do that, I'm not going to worry about MARTA anymore," she said. "I'm going to try and get me a car."

MARTA could lose 66 of its 131 bus routes, or more than half. Bus routes could be dropped in some areas to make up for losses on other routes. Wait times for trains, which increased after last year's modest budget cuts, could stretch to 30 minutes on weekends before 7 a.m. and after 9 p.m.  Rush-hour train intervals could be 12 minutes.

"This is going to be the worst that we’ve seen since the MARTA rail system was created," said Lee Biola, Citizens for Progressive Transit president.  "I think it will make it even harder for the economy to function properly.  People are going to have a harder time getting to work.  It’s going to be harder for businesses who have workers who depend on transit as well as customers who depend on transit."

MARTA CEO Beverly Scott has not given up on help coming from the Legislature, but it doesn't look promising. The budget shortfall is several times larger than last year's, when MARTA asked for and was denied legislative permission to use its capital reserves to offset the lost revenue.

Federal stimulus funds plugged all sorts of 2009 budget holes for MARTA, but that money is no longer available.

Government leaders have proposed new transportation funding, but it wouldn't be accessible until 2012 or 2013.  Gov. Sonny Perdue has said there is no other way the state can help.

"The amount of the shortfall we’re dealing with, the magnitude of what you have to do, is so big,” Scott said. “We’re being as clear to the public as we can.”

MARTA Forums

• Tuesday

6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Adamsville Recreation Center, 3201 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Atlanta

Directions on MARTA: Bus Route(s) 73, 160 or 170 from Hamilton E. Holmes station

•March 8

6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Senior Connections, 5238 Peachtree Road, Chamblee

Directions on MARTA: Located across from Chamblee Station or Bus Route 151 out of Chamblee rail station

•March 9

6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

North Fulton Service Center, 7741 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs

Directions on MARTA: Bus Route 87 from Dunwoody or North Springs rail stations