Scenes from a recent meeting of MARTOC, the Georgia legislature’s oversight committee on MARTA, in which state legislators and the transit agency manage to puzzle the public observer:
First scene: New MARTA CEO Keith T. Parker calls "minimal" an annual $3 million lost in fare evasion. Yes, he means that $3 million is "minimal" in the context of MARTA's overall $427 million operating budget. Still, according to MARTA, it has saved much less — $1.5 million annually — by extending wait times for train riders with the cuts it made in 2010. Therefore, one calculates, that by reducing fare evasion another 50 percent, MARTA could pay to reduce those waits from the current 13-15 minutes to 10 minutes.
Such a move would be more than a minimal fix for those of us who use the system every weekday. With ridership numbers “drastically dropping,” according to one MARTA official at the meeting, it makes sense to improve service.
Parker said MARTA is working on cutting fare evasion through more police presence. “Our leakage problem is nowhere near what other major systems have,” Parker said. “But it sends a message that we are not taking care of the system.”
Next scene: MARTOC member Sen. Fran Millar, R-Dunwoody, says he doesn't understand why MARTA ignores distance-based pricing: Why, for example, does someone traveling from Alpharetta to the airport pay the same fare as a rider going from Midtown to Hartsfield-Jackson. "It just doesn't seem right when all these toll roads we're putting in on I-85, on I-75, you pay so much for so many miles," Millar said. "How come we're doing it in the HOV lanes but we're not doing it with MARTA? We're not very consistent in our transit policy as a state. I don't get it."
He has a point. It seems like MARTA is missing out on a revenue opportunity with distance-based pricing, depending, of course, on the cost of instituting such a system. Parker called it an “extremely complex topic” that would benefit from a full briefing, which MARTOC chairman Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven, agreed to schedule.
Another scene: MARTA is installing security cameras on its buses and trains; 300 of the 500-plus buses now have them. Sen. Millar wanted to know why MARTA has not publicized the move to security cameras. "I just don't think people are aware it's a new MARTA," he said.
But marketing and advertising cost money. It feels odd to hear a state legislator suggesting the transit agency crank up marketing and public relations about something many riders already know about, because they see the cameras in the buses. If the state feels strongly about advertising, maybe it would consider paying for it. (By my count, the AJC since September has published two stories focusing on the security cameras, and another three that mention them.)
Summing up, MARTA leaders came to the MARTOC meeting to announce some steps in deficit reduction (five vice-president level jobs were eliminated, with two new ones being added) and some good news for riders (security cameras, a “Ride with Respect” campaign targeting boorish behavior, the re-opening of some station restrooms).
For MARTOC members, however, there weren’t enough specifics about plans to increase revenue, aside from modest fare hikes down the road which, apart from distance-based fees, they seem to discourage. (Presumably, the distance-based system they want to research could decrease fares for some short-haul riders.)
Final impression: For all the affable small-talk between legislators and MARTA officials, the meeting had the air of awkward political theater, whereas many Atlantans would hope instead for a partnership. On one side is the state, which contributes nothing financially to MARTA yet influences its fate legally. On the other is MARTA, which has mismanaged money for years, yet has to serve a widespread public and manage union employees, while submitting to an unyielding General Assembly.
Conclusion: The mass-transit stalemate continues. You wish there was a more productive way to improve the system for workers who depend on it.
