Judge upholds MARTA’s decision to privatize paratransit service

A Fulton County judge has upheld MARTA’s 2015 decision to outsource its paratransit service to a private company.

Superior Court Judge Shawn Ellen LaGrua overturned an arbitration board ruling that the MARTA had violated the terms of its union contract by hiring MV Transportation to provide transit services to the disabled and elderly. Last year the arbitration board ruled the transit agency had to bring paratransit operations back in-house. But MARTA appealed that decision to Superior Court.

In a decision issued Monday, LaGrua ruled that MARTA was within its authority to privatize its paratransit service even though that power is not specifically spelled out in its contract with the Amalgamated Transit Union.