Interim MARTA GM: Time to rebuild trust
MARTA’s new interim general manager and CEO said he will use his time as leader to rebuild the public’s trust in the beleaguered transit agency.
Jonathan Hunt, who served as chief legal counsel before being appointed by MARTA’s Board of Directors last month, said ensuring MARTA’s success is personal to him as a longtime Atlanta resident. The MARTA system today is good, he said, but can be great.
“I want to see MARTA win,” Hunt said Thursday at a news conference, his first public remarks since taking the job. “When MARTA wins, Atlanta wins.”
The board picked Hunt to lead the agency from a pool of three internal and several outside candidates following Collie Greenwood’s abrupt resignation in July because of visa work issues.
At the same time, the board also named an external advisory board to assist Hunt, which is comprised of individuals from the Atlanta mayor’s office, civic and business communities. The committee includes former MARTA chief Keith Parker, who now leads Goodwill of North Georgia.
Hunt takes over at a critical time, with multiple projects nearing the finish line and the 2026 FIFA World Cup games on the horizon next summer.
Between now and then, MARTA expects to introduce new trains, new fare gates with tap-to-pay capabilities, a redesign of its bus network, the region’s first rapid bus line and a renamed Dome/GWCC/Philips Arena/CNN Center station.
Hunt said he is focused on four priorities: Improving operational efficiency, improving safety/security, delivering key projects and ensuring MARTA is World Cup-ready.
“Our vision is to deliver safe, clean and reliable service through routine excellence every day,” Hunt said, pledging to treat every day as a “special event.”
In updates to the MARTA board and the advisory committee this week, Hunt said MARTA’s key projects are moving forward, but won’t all meet deadlines that were previously promised.
Project delays have dogged MARTA for years; however, Hunt stressed the new delays are strategic. The latest delivery dates were planned with riders in mind, he said. Among executives at MARTA, there was concern about the disruption if the system were to introduce numerous changes all at once.
“To the extent that somebody wants to say it was, quote, ‘late,’ MARTA is going to deliver, and we’re going to deliver the best possible way to minimize disruption to our customers,” Hunt told board members.
The bus network redesign, which is the first overhaul of routes since the transit agency was founded, is one of those projects being pushed back. When it was approved by the board in June, the target rollout date was December. Now, the plan is for April 2026.
The new railcars are also delayed. The state-of-the-art aluminum cars, called CQ400 and being made by Stadler in Utah, were supposed to go into service late this year. One railcar is in Atlanta being tested now, and a second is expected to arrive soon.
Without giving a specific target date — “that’s where we got in trouble before” — Hunt said new railcars would be in service for the World Cup.
Amid the delays, one project’s timeline has been moved up. The Rapid A line, previously known as the Summerhill bus rapid transit project, will be fully completed next April, according to Hunt.
After encountering construction delays, MARTA had planned to open it in phases beginning in April 2026 and ending in the fall.
The team has found a new way to deal with shallow utility lines that have plagued the project and will now be able to complete the full line before the World Cup, Hunt said. The Peoplestown endpoint will provide another way for people to quickly get from downtown to the Beltline’s Southside Trail corridor.
Hunt said getting these major projects over the finish line should address concerns that have been raised about MARTA’s ability to complete capital projects.
Slow progress has been a major sticking point with city of Atlanta officials, who have expressed frustration at how little Atlanta voters have received after greenlighting a sales tax to fund transit expansion.
“If they’ve become resolute in their minds that it’s never going to happen, the only way I can address that is through delivery,” Hunt said. “It’s going to take some time. It’s going to take consensus-building, but it will happen.”
Greenwood, a Canadian, took an early retirement in July because of work visa issues — but also at a time of mounting problems related to MARTA’s service and reliability. Among them:
- A MARTA bus driver was fatally shot over a fare dispute, prompting union leaders to demand safety protections;
- A renovation at Five Points station was delayed amid a back-and-forth between MARTA and the city over permits;
- The chair of MARTA’s board said she lost confidence in Greenwood over his handling of an audit into capital spending, before later walking back her statement;
- MARTA announced the Summerhill bus line won’t be complete on time or on budget;
- A man shot and injured two people on a train;
- There were lengthy train delays after pop star Shakira’s concert and at the AJC Peachtree Road Race; and
- At least 11 people were injured in an escalator malfunction after a Beyoncé concert in July.
It is unclear how long Hunt’s appointment will last. The agency is conducting a national search for it’s next leader.
About the Author
Sara Gregory covers transportation for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Previously, she covered local government in DeKalb County. A Charlotte native, she joined the paper in 2023 after working at newspapers in South Carolina and Virginia.
