I've had high hopes for MARTA's new CEO, Keith Parker, and today MyAJC.com brings news that my hopes may have been well-founded.

After three years of running trains only every 15 minutes due to budget cuts, MARTA plans to decrease headways during the morning and evening rush hours to 10 minutes. That's good news for a transit agency that has shed so-called "choice riders" over the past few years -- rail and bus ridership is down by about one-sixth since mid-2009, further crimping revenues. But giving even more reason for optimism is how Parker, who started at MARTA in December, came up with the money. From the MyAJC story (subscription required):

"Officials had budgeted for a $33 million loss, but wound up adding $9 million to MARTA's general fund, Parker said.

"The agency's newfound solvency was achieved in part by eliminating some positions in the information technology department, nixing four vice president positions and doing away with some of their support staffers, Parker said."

When MARTA cut the rail frequency in 2010, it did so to save a mere $1.5 million a year. Now, the cost of running trains more often is expected to be only about $1 million a year. Given the severe decline in ridership during the years rail (and bus) frequency was cut, that looks like a terrible decision -- particularly if the money could have been found by eliminating "four vice president positions" and other jobs now deemed expendable.

With Georgia's GOP-led state government moving ever-so-slowly toward a better working relationship with MARTA, and with even free-market types in the region proposing expansions of mass transit, it is hard to overstate how vital it is that MARTA be seen taking actions like this one.

In his intial visit to the AJC's offices late last year, Parker touted his track record of speaking to -- and acting on -- fiscal conservatives' concerns about mass transit. So far, so good.