Metro Atlanta

Beltline light rail could generate 4.2 million trips, study says

That level of ridership would put light rail system in Atlanta on par with those in cities such as Baltimore and Charlotte.
Beltline officials presented new light rail ridership projections at a community meeting Thursday night. (Courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Inc.)
Beltline officials presented new light rail ridership projections at a community meeting Thursday night. (Courtesy of Atlanta Beltline Inc.)
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Light rail along the Atlanta Beltline loop could generate 4.2 million trips annually, according to a new estimate.

Beltline officials presented the new ridership projections at a community meeting Thursday night where staff laid out the final recommendations from a multiyear transit study.

The ridership estimate is “intentionally conservative,” said Shaun Green, the Beltline’s principal engineer.

It doesn’t account for future land use growth and densification, which are expected to increase along the Beltline similar to what happened on the Eastside after the first trail segment was built there.

But even conservatively, it would create a light rail system in Atlanta on par, ridership-wise, with those in cities such as Baltimore and Charlotte, North Carolina. And it would substantially expand the reach and ridership of the existing Atlanta Streetcar, which recorded just under 217,000 trips last year.

The final recommendations are largely the same as the draft plans presented this time last year: three loops of light rail encircling the city, 22 miles in all. One would run the full length of the Beltline, and two loops would connect to downtown by extending the existing streetcar route east and west.