After a comfortable early morning train ride, I started my first day at MARTA one year ago talking with employees about the need to transform the agency. The challenges facing MARTA were (and remain) huge.
Due to declining revenues over the previous four years, the agency had eliminated 40 of its 131 bus routes, cut rail service, shut down more than half the rail-station restrooms and raised fares by over 40 percent, while most employees had only received one pay increase in the previous decade. In my first meeting with the chief financial officer, he noted that things were not expected to improve much in fiscal years 2013 and 2014. The budget forecasted a $33 million deficit, no pay increases, no service improvements, and more fare increases. In fact, MARTA was projected to use all of its budget reserves over the next four to five years, leaving the agency fiscally insolvent.
Fast forward a year from that meeting, and things look better. We turned the $33 million deficit into a $9 million addition to our reserves. We eliminated the fare increases scheduled for 2013 and 2014. We budgeted funds to invest in our employees. We will re-open several station restrooms over the next few weeks. We will increase evening rail service by the end of this year, and bring even more bus and rail improvements next spring/summer. If we continue on our path of cutting costs, our long-term fiscal situation looks much more promising.
Our board of director support has been unwavering.
As we move into the second year of our five-year plan (aka MARTA’s Transformation Initiatives), we will continue to focus on fiscal sustainability, quality customer service and investing in employees. We want everyone to know that MARTA is open for business, with an emphasis on seeking partnerships that bring new resources to the agency while providing new amenities to customers.
Topping the list is our Transit Oriented Development (TOD) program. These TODs can potentially build ridership by clustering new shops, restaurants and housing at our transit stations. When handled correctly, TODs increase ridership, improve neighborhoods around MARTA rail stations, and provide stable revenue through partnerships with the private sector. We expect to complete at least five TOD deals in the next two years. In collaboration with the business community, MARTA is seeking to broaden our revenue base by adding popular retail concessions, expanding vending opportunities and considering new types of display advertising.
We’re focused on doing a better job of serving our customers. Our “mystery shopper” program will help target and correct customer service issues. We will aggressively implement the recommendations of a recent top-down assessment of our bus operations, including replacing about half the bus fleet with new CNG buses over the next three years and completely re-engineering our bus maintenance program to improve reliability and appearance.
A major complaint from many customers is the lack of reliability of our rail station signage. On any given day, more than half the signs simply don’t work. Customers will begin to see improvements before the end of 2013 and through 2014, with a mix of new signs and a maintenance program to improve the reliability of existing signs.
We will continue to make smart investments in technology. Customers with smartphones can now plan their trips by downloading our free “On the Go” app that provides real-time information about bus and train arrivals and other information. Although MARTA has comparatively few serious crimes, we want everyone to enjoy a safe and pleasant trip. In November, MARTA police began enforcing “Ride with Respect,” a new code of conduct that provides suspensions for illegal or nuisance behaviors.
Among our most important changes underway at MARTA is our re-investment in employees. As our economic outlook and cost effectiveness improves, we fully intend to invest further monetarily in our employees.
In July 2014, MARTA will commemorate its 35th anniversary. As that historic milestone approaches, our board and staff are doing the things necessary to become routinely excellent in all we do. I’m confident that excellence will generate increased public and private sector investment in MARTA. As the region grows, so too must MARTA.
Keith T. Parker is general manager and CEO of MARTA.
