MARTA to launch revamped bus network, ‘last-mile’ van service

In the last decade, some people’s first thought of MARTA buses is the viral moment when one blocked the Weather Channel’s view of the 2017 Georgia Dome implosion.

But MARTA is taking a major swing and making what it calls its biggest overhaul in decades to better serve diehard passengers and, the agency hopes, attract others. The MARTA NextGen Bus Network will add more bus trips to the busiest routes, trim less common ones and bring in a new on-demand vanpool in place of some buses.

“We’ve redesigned the entire bus network, essentially to focus more on frequent service. We’ll have over three times as many routes running every 15 minutes or better, just about every day of the week, all day,” Ryan Van Sickle, MARTA’s director of technical services, said at a recent event at the Kensington Station in Decatur. “Generally, [riders] are happy with the increased frequencies they are seeing.”

Seventeen bus routes will see buses every 15 minutes and another 12 routes will see them every 20 minutes.

“So, most often, when you look at a bus schedule, the service that you see during the rush hour is also going to be the same level of frequency that you see during the midday, into the evening and even on Saturdays and Sundays,” Van Sickle explained at the event held to educate riders.

This change will come at the expense of bus service on less busy routes. MARTA is replacing that with a zoned rideshare program called MARTA Reach.

Said Van Sickle: “Kind of like an Uber pool or a ridesharing service. You’ll be able to use an app, make a phone call or use our website and essentially request a ride that will come pick you up and take you curb to curb within a zone within 30 minutes or less.”

This is big. There are 12 MARTA Reach zones and any passenger, including customers who use wheelchairs and other mobility devices, can take a Reach van for the same $2.50 fare as a regular bus or train.

One of public transit’s biggest challenges is bridging the last-mile gap — that last small segment of a trip between a person’s doorstep and mass transit, or between a bus stop or a train station and point B.

Van Sickle said MARTA piloted a program like MARTA Reach several years ago and noted that Gwinnett and Cobb counties each have their own version of micro-transit. The idea is to offer a replacement to people in these lower-demand areas and have transportation for them when they need it.

Van Sickle also said using vans to get to people’s doorsteps is far easier than buses on neighborhood streets. Yes, MARTA — the big, bulky, bureaucracy — is getting more nimble.

The NextGen bus routes and schedules begin April 18. MARTA launches Reach on March 7, meaning passengers have just over a month to try the replacement before their buses cease.