MARTA tops ridership list but faces cuts

Washington —- Public transportation ridership nationwide hit the highest level in 52 years last year, and Atlanta’s MARTA saw the biggest ridership increase of any major U.S. subway system, according to figures released Monday.

MARTA ridership rose by 8.6 percent last year, according to the American Public Transportation Association, which announced the figures at its annual legislative meeting here.

Only San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Lindenwold, N.J., saw bigger annual increases in subway usage last year.

After one of its best years on record, MARTA is headed for one of its bumpiest patches ever, with fare increases all but certain and major cuts in service a distinct possibility, MARTA General Manager and Chief Executive Beverly Scott said Monday.

“I’m not an alarmist … but this is serious,” said Scott, who also is chair of the American Public Transportation Association. “It’s real bad.”

In an interview after addressing the group of transportation leaders, Scott reiterated previous warnings of “Draconian” cutbacks at MARTA because of lower revenues from its share of sales taxes.

She predicted users could see service reductions of between 10 percent and 30 percent, depending on the outcome of pending legislative proposals that would change how the agency can spend its money.

MARTA users also will almost certainly see base fare rate hikes of 25 cents, to $2, she said. Under the worst-case scenarios, “it’s not even a MARTA you and I know anymore,” Scott said.

Despite getting about $65 million from the federal economic stimulus package for repairs, renovations and equipment replacements, MARTA is projected to have a $65 million to $67 million operating budget shortfall this year, because its share of public sales tax revenues has declined dramatically along with the economy.

With lower gas prices and fewer people now commuting to work because they no longer have jobs, ridership is falling once again, too.

In January, MARTA train ridership dropped nearly 4 percent from the same month a year earlier, according to MARTA figures. More than half of all MARTA users say they use the system to commute to work.

But it’s the decline in sales tax revenues that really puts the system on the skids. MARTA’s primary source of funding is a 1 percent share of the sales tax in Fulton and DeKalb counties and the city of Atlanta. Ticket sales account for only about 28 percent of its revenues.

When Scott took over MARTA in October 2007, the agency was expecting a 6 percent increase in revenues from its share of sales taxes, she said. Now, with declining sale taxes from the recession, MARTA is expecting an 8 percent decrease in revenues this year and a $1.2 billion decline in revenues over the next decade.

Scott said the federal economic stimulus funding was a major boost for MARTA, the eighth-biggest “heavy rail” system in the country.

The system’s board of directors is deciding where the stimulus money will be spent. As examples, Scott said she has recommended some of the money go toward purchasing more than 100 new buses, fixing recurring flooding problems at MARTA’s Ashby Street station and repairing fire ventilation systems at other stations.

Because the federal economic stimulus money can only be used for system improvements and not for operations, though, it doesn’t do anything to help MARTA’s operating budget shortfalls, Scott added.

That could be changing.

Monday, federal Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he may push to loosen the rules so some of the money could be used for transit operations and not only for physical improvements.

“We know transit districts don’t have the money to operate,” LaHood said in a meeting with reporters at the transportation conference.

“We’re giving them money for buses, we’re giving them money for buildings, we’re giving them money to buy equipment,” he said. “I think I’m going to be open-minded about this. I’m going to talk to other people about the idea of some of these funds being used to pay for salaries and pay for operation of facilities.”

LaHood cautioned that he hasn’t raised the idea yet to President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden or others who control the purse strings for the economic stimulus funding.

“That’s me talking now,” he said. “I’m not speaking for the administration. I’m talking about me as secretary of DOT, knowing the kind of problems that transit districts” are facing.