Story by Haisten Willis.
In 2015, the MARTA Army launched its first campaign.
At the time, the majority of Atlanta’s MARTA bus stops displayed no information regarding trip times, bus frequency or routes. As such, anyone not familiar with the bus system would have a tough time using it.
That year, the fledgling MARTA Army, a volunteer transportation advocacy group, began Operation Adopt-A-Stop. Individual “soldiers” claimed stops and made them more informative.
“Roughly 90 percent of MARTA’s bus stops had no signage,” says Simon Berrebi, one of the group’s originators. “Though the program, anybody could select a bus stop and we would place a laminated sign with graphic information. At the bottom it would say, ‘This bus stop has been adopted by [name].’ That way, people know that this person wants to make transit better in their neighborhood.”
More than 400 stops have been adopted in Fulton, DeKalb and Clayton counties through the ongoing program. After the MARTA Army began adopting bus stops, the State of Georgia awarded $3.8 million to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) to improve signage at all 10,000 stops.
“We were delighted,” Berrebi says. “When the ARC started implementing the program, they called on us to share our experience.”
The MARTA Army began during a discussion at TransportationCamp South, an annual event bringing together transportation professionals and self-described transit nerds.
At the 2014 meetup, former MARTA spokesperson Lyle Harris asked attendees what the transit agency could be doing better for its riders. Attendees responded that MARTA should listen to the ideas of young transit enthusiasts, and from there the idea of the “army” was born.
“In some other cities, such as Washington, D.C., the riders and agency have a somewhat contentious relationship,” says Saba Long, a MARTA Army board member and the CEO of communications firm Obelisk Strategies. “We see MARTA Army as an opportunity to push the agency forward, push outside the box and connect with the customer.”
“In the room that day we didn’t think things would go anywhere, but a few months later we were asked to come talk to the MARTA board,” says Berrebi, a Paris native who recently earned a Ph.D. in transportation planning from Georgia Tech. “They said, ‘go ahead and do it.’”
The driving idea behind MARTA Army, which now boasts more than 200 members, is to improve the experience for riders and employees.
“What unites us is our willingness to make a difference in our own neighborhoods,” Berrebi says.
For example, Operation Cleanstop’s goal is to decrease litter at East Point MARTA bus stops. “Because only 5 percent of East Point’s bus stops had trash cans, litter inevitably ended up on the ground,” Berrebi says. “Litter has been shown to have a negative impact on health and to be [positively] correlated with crime.”
MARTA Army raised money to install trash cans at each bus stop in the city, raising $16,000 through 150 individual donations to install trash cans at 80 stops (scheduled to begin in June).
The MARTA Army board meets monthly, and typically schedules events once every other month. But its operations were thrown into overdrive on March 30, when a chunk of Interstate 85 collapsed due to a fire blazing underneath the highway.
Overnight, MARTA ridership surged, sending thousands of additional riders into the system’s trains and parking lots. Some stations saw ridership jump more than 50 percent.
In response, MARTA Army organized more than 50 volunteers to offer assistance. Soldiers in brightly colored vests stood ready with information for those in need, such as first-time riders.
“The situation showed that MARTA is an asset to the region, and that you don’t have to use a single-occupancy vehicle to get around,” Long says. “It also showed that MARTA’s not this scary thing that’s hard to figure out. There were MARTA Army volunteers there every step of the way to help people navigate the system.”
The incident reinforced how MARTA Army can aid metro Atlanta’s largest transit agency in the future.
“We have transit advocacy organizations in metro Atlanta,” says Long, “but we didn’t necessarily have one focused solely on engaging people with their transit system and making transit something everyone can take ownership of.”
The Army plans to hire a full-time executive director, which Long sees as the next logical move in MARTA Army’s growth.
“It starts as an idea, the idea grows, it gains traction and then becomes a bit more grown-up and has more impact,” she says. “That’s what we’re looking to do.”
Insider tip
To join, go to MARTAArmy.org and sign up for the group’s newsletter, which includes details on upcoming events and programming.
Insider tip
After July 9, MARTA’s old blue Breeze cards will no longer be accepted. The new silver cards, designed to be more secure, cost $2 plus the selected fare and will be valid for three years after the purchase date.
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