MARTA unveils electric buses for Earth Day
MARTA celebrated Earth Day by unveiling its first electric buses.
The agency unveiled the buses Friday at a ceremony at its Edgewood/Candler Park station. It showed off three electric buses, which will be put into service May 1 on Routes 2 and 102 out of its North Avenue station.
In 2019, MARTA received a $2.6 million Federal Transit Administration grant to buy six electric buses and the infrastructure to charge them. They replace 2005 diesel buses and will reduce MARTA’s emissions of greenhouse gases and fine particle matter, which has been linked to a variety of health issues.
U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock recently secured an additional $3.8 million in federal funding for MARTA to buy another six buses. MARTA also plans to seek federal funding for electric buses for its Clayton County Southlake and Atlanta Summerhill bus rapid transit lines.
“Electric buses are ideal for routes that travel through dense urban corridors like the 2 and 102 — leaving no noise or emissions in their wake,” interim MARTA CEO Collie Greenwood said. “Our goal is to continue adding electric buses to the fleet to help combat climate change and reduce the public health impacts from air pollution, especially in our most vulnerable populations.”
About the Author
David Wickert writes about the state budget, finance and voting issues. Previously, he covered local government and politics in Gwinnett and Fulton counties. Before moving to Atlanta, he worked at newspapers in Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.
