Two-dollar MARTA fares, less frequent service, higher parking fees and staff cutbacks are all close to reality at the transit agency.
A committee of the MARTA board on Thursday approved those measures as part of a plan to fill a $109.8 million shortfall for the fiscal year that will begin in July. The full MARTA board is expected to take a final vote on June 22. If the board approves the changes, they will be put in place over the following four months or so, said MARTA CEO and General Manager Beverly Scott.
"You wish that you didn't have to," Scott said. "We knew this was going to be challenging."
MARTA receives more than half its income from a penny sales tax in Fulton and DeKalb counties. With the economy in recession, next year MARTA is expecting $74 million less from those taxes than it had budgeted.
"That is devastating," said Ted Basta, chief of business support services at MARTA. "But we are not alone in this."
The public can comment on the proposed cuts at hearings on June 16 and 17.
Even worse cuts were on the table until the Atlanta Regional Commission on Wednesday voted to give MARTA $25 million in federal stimulus funds meant for transportation projects in the Atlanta region. MARTA plans to pay the ARC back with transit-related projects worth about the same amount of money, like sidewalks.
Proposed internal cuts include furloughs and higher medical insurance payments. Some that directly affect riders are:
• Raising fares 25 cents, to $2
• Where parking isn't free, raising fees by $1
• Stopping train service a half-hour or hour earlier — at midnight
• Longer waits for buses and trains
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