MARTA Boondoggle

The “public transit” company operating in Atlanta Metro is called MARTA.  It’s a failing government owned company with rail and bus service operating with a 50% subsidy from tax dollars. It is designed to link shopping malls that are closing. To further damage their financial viability, the MARTA Board wants to spend an additional $2.7 billion to expand this financially failing system.

$2.7 billion is a lot of money. The population of the city of Atlanta is about 480,000. So $2.7 billion divided by 480,000 is $5625 put on the credit card of every man, woman and child who lives within the city limits of Atlanta. What Atlanta citizens get for this $2.7 billion is 42 miles of additional public transit provided by over-paid, unionized government employees with unsustainable pension plans. MARTA plans to be taxpayer dependent forever. Their ridership is down and the ticket revenue doesn’t cover half of its expenses.

All Bus transit should be privatized and the MARTA train should be limited and self-supporting.

If it still costs $300,000 to repair and resurface a two-lane road, $2.7 billion would repair 9000 miles of road. If you can still get a Prius for $25,000, you could buy 108,000 Prius cars and give them to the MARTA riders.

The 42 miles of light rail and Bus Rapid Transit this would add, costs $65 million per mile.

A $2.7 billion MARTA expansion is planned to be implemented over the next 40 years.  It involves 29 miles of light rail and 13 miles of Bus Rapid Transit. Federal and private funding will be required.

The locations include light rail to Emory University and light rail for the Atlanta Beltline and Bus Rapid Transit for Campbellton Road.

On the Beltline, for example, $174 million in funding is identified to build three miles of light rail from Ponce City Market to MARTA’s existing Lindbergh Station. Another $196 million is identified for four miles of light rail along the Southwest Trail, from the I-20 area to MARTA’s Oakland City station. But only another $200 million is identified to complete another eight miles of rail along eastern, southeastern and western segments of the Beltline.

Light rail projects could take 7 to 10 years to be up and running. Bus rapid transit lines could be in place within two or three years.

Atlanta voters approved an additional half-penny sales tax to fund transit construction and operations inside the city in 2016. Atlanta’s City Council compiled a list containing more than $11.5 billion in potential projects, despite the fact that the tax is expected to collect less than a quarter of that amount.

https://www.myajc.com/news/local-govt--politics/billion-plan-for-new-atlanta-transportation-projects-marta/V9Hw5kCaMM8wjIIv8sR3WP/?utm_source=newspaper&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=6030417&ecmp=newspaper_email&

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader