Winter storms that walloped metro Atlanta in January and February also dealt a blow to MARTA ridership during the fiscal year that ended June 30.
Ridership figures released Thursday show patronage of the transit agency has stabilized. In fact, MARTA experienced gains in ridership (measured by the number of “unlinked” trips) before and after the winter months.
The number of unlinked trips declined in December, probably because Christmas fell in the middle of the week and depressed ridership for the entire week, said MARTA researcher Bob Thomas. Ridership also dropped precipitously in January and February because of the storms.
Trains ran less frequently because MARTA employees couldn’t make it in through the epic gridlock after the Jan. 28 storm. Bus service was canceled entirely one day and operated with only a limited number of “lifeline” routes for several days thereafter.
MARTA and the rest of the region were better prepared when the second storm hit on Feb. 11, but train frequency was still reduced to a weekend schedule. Bus service was canceled Feb. 12 as a precaution and resumed on a limited basis the next day.
“The winter just knocked us down,” said MARTA CEO Keith Parker. “But we’ve had five consecutive months of growth, so we are trending in the right direction.”
MARTA officials are optimistic that they are finally seeing a turnaround after a five-year ridership tailspin brought about by the flagging economy, service cuts and fare hikes. Those factors have cost MARTA about 25 million passenger trips since 2009.
Even so, the number of unlinked trips in fiscal year 2014 (about 130 million) are the lowest in at least 15 years.
Elsewhere in the nation, transit ridership has grown steadily in the post-recession era. It increased an average of 1.1 percent in 2013 compared to the previous year, according to the American Public Transportation Association.
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