MARTA may run the Braves shuttle this year after all.
The transit agency cut the popular service after the Braves' season last year in response to a gaping budget hole. The shuttle was part of a historic systemwide cut in service.
But now MARTA is rethinking it and will hold public hearings at the end of March about that and increasing some frequency of bus routes, MARTA spokesman Lyle Harris said. That includes Routes 2 on Ponce de Leon and Moreland avenues, 87 on Roswell Road, 99 on Boulevard, and 181 on Buffington Road, according to a MARTA notice. The MARTA board will vote on it by early April, Harris said.
Though the shuttles are packed with passengers every year, MARTA simply couldn't afford it, agency officials said then. According to federal rules, MARTA is not allowed to charge shuttle passengers an extra fee, for fear of competing with the private shuttle industry, MARTA officials said. So running the shuttle was an expense.
"We have been in conversations with the Braves and the city," Harris said. "We’ve heard from them loud and clear that the service as well as all transit service is really important to this region and the economy of this state. We are making investments. ... It’s about improving the economy of the city and the state and the region."
Ashley Robbins, president of Citizens for Progressive Transit, said she was glad that “this will encourage people who don’t generally ride to ride MARTA.”
But, she said: “Putting the money into the shuttle instead of some other service can seem unfair to some. ... This is not life line service,” getting people to hospitals or jobs they have no other way to reach.
The public hearings are set for March 21 at Roswell City Hall and the South Fulton Service Center, and March 24 at the Atlanta City Council chambers, Decatur's Maloof Auditorium and the Adamsville Recreation Center. For more information, go to itsmarta.com.
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