MARTA: Cuts would hurt events

MARTA officials reached out to power brokers from major organizations in metro Atlanta Thursday to let them know how severe cutbacks could hamper their events.

The shuttle from Five Points to Turner Field? Gone. Buses to ferry runners in the Peachtree Road Race? Gone.

Reductions in hours for when the trains and buses do run mean that weekend and evening events would suffer as well.

It doesn’t help anyone “if MARTA is overloaded and you and we have customers waiting on a platform for an hour,” said MARTA CEO Beverly Scott. “We need your help.”

The transit agency is weighing whether to shut down the entire system one weekday —- likely Fridays —- or for the entire weekend, to fill a budget hole.

MARTA can avoid the cuts if the Legislature allows it to tap into $65 million in capital reserves. The bill that would allow that could be voted on today, the last day of the regular session. Under state law, MARTA must put half its revenue in capital projects, not operations.

The leaders, ranging from sports teams to the Georgia World Congress Center, seemed receptive. Many said they would review the information and develop a plan to support MARTA.

“When you look at it, it’s pretty self-explanatory,” said Mark Zimmerman, general manager of the GWCC. “It hits us all right in the stomach.”