Some MARTA riders face weekend delays

MARTA riders will face some inconveniences this weekend, the agency said Friday.

The inconvenience of not being able to use a debit card to load rides on MARTA Breeze cards continued Friday for those who must enter a PIN number, and track work will mean longer waits for some trains Saturday and Sunday.

A MARTA spokeswoman said the transit agency remained uncertain about when a software problem will be resolved and all Breeze payment options return. Riders can still use cash, credit cards and debit cards that can be used as credit cards, transit spokeswoman Cara Hodgson said Friday.

The agency said it has had fewer that 10 complaints about the debit card problem since it arose last weekend. The agency said less that 2 percent of riders have debit cards that don’t have the credit option.

The debit card inconvenience, however, won’t be the only issue some riders will have to deal with this weekend. MARTA will be conducting track maintenance that will affect some rail service, Hodgson said.

The agency’s Red Line will only operate only between the North Springs and Lindbergh stations in north Atlanta. Customers traveling from North Springs will need to transfer to a Gold Line train at Lindbergh station to continue southbound.

Service frequency between Lindbergh and Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport will be reduced to one train every 20 minutes. Customers traveling north will need to board a Gold Line train at the airport and transfer to a Red Line train at Lindbergh to continue to North Springs.

Additionally, at the Lakewood and Oakland City stations, all trains will board on the southbound platform.

Green and Blue line trains will operate on a normal 20-minute weekend schedule.