In recent years MARTA has tried to improve the experience of its customers with amenities like Wi-Fi on its buses and fresh-fruit markets to its stations. Recently it began improving its elevators and escalators.
Also in the works: a mobile ticketing app that will allow passengers to board by swiping their smart phone.
The idea is to make it as easy as possible to use MARTA by allowing passengers to dispense with paper Breeze Cards. In addition to helping regular customers, the app could allow MARTA to sell its services as part of a ticket package to popular events like Georgia Tech basketball games or Music Midtown.
MARTA CEO Keith Parker told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution editorial board Monday that even passengers who don’t use the app would benefit from shorter lines at vending machines.
Parker said MARTA has watched other cities like Dallas and New York roll out their own apps. He said MARTA will adopt their best features.
“It will be the most sophisticated of those apps in the country,” he said.
MARTA plans to pilot the app in the next three to four months, with a full roll-out sometime in the next year.
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