Transit in Georgia

How many transit agencies are there in Georgia?

There are 14 urban and 103 rural transit systems. These numbers are threatened by the current funding crisis; at least one system (CTRAN in Clayton County) is ending this year.

How does Georgia rank in terms of state funding of transit?

According to a 2007 report by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, Georgia is not alone in its limited support for transit. However, MARTA is the largest transit system to receive no state assistance. Georgia only provides capital and planning funds, but no operating funds.

Why doesn’t Georgia provide state funding for transit?

To many in the state legislature transit means MARTA, despite the fact that there are over 100 transit agencies across the state of Georgia. And unfortunately MARTA suffers from an image problem. Many associate MARTA with inefficiency, despite its high rankings compared to similar agencies around the county, and consider it a social service (to transport poor African-Americans) instead as a vital $6.4 billion infrastructure investment.

What is needed for Georgia to be competitive for federal funds for transit?

Georgia has consistently been losing out on federal funds for transit due to a lack of state and regional support. Georgia received hardly any federal funds for high speed rail and lost out on the last round of stimulus transportation money. In addition, Georgia has no projects in the New Starts pipeline, the primary discretionary federal funding source for new transit projects. In order for Georgia to be competitive for federal funds we need to be able to show a source of operating funds for the next 20 years for our existing transit and any new service. Finally, it is critical that Georgia demonstrate its ability to fund transit this year as the federal government is currently working on the next major transportation bill. This bill authorizes federal transportation funds for the next 6 years and sets the federal priorities. Any major transportation investment must be included in this bill.

MARTA

What is MARTA’s total budget deficit?

More optimistic sales tax projections and the lifting of the 50/50 restriction for three years allowed MARTA to reduce the projected $120 million operating deficit. However, it didn’t alleviate the need for service cuts in order to balance the budget.

The MARTA Board passed a budget for Fiscal Year 2011 on June 28, 2010. However, this budget still draws from MARTA’s reserve accounts. With the large service cuts approved for September 2010 remaining in place, it is projected that MARTA’s reserve account will be depleted in 2013.

What caused this problem?

MARTA has been balancing its budget using reserve funds pretty consistently since the late 90’s. This is in part due to the ending of federal funds for transit operations for systems of its size in 1998. However, the bulk of the current deficit is due to reduced sales tax revenue caused by the current economic recession. MARTA’s main source of operating funds, besides farebox revenues, comes from the 1% sales tax in Fulton, DeKalb and the City of Atlanta.

What is the 50/50 requirement?

The original state law creating MARTA (the MARTA Act of 1965) says that MARTA has to spend half of its sales tax revenue on operating and half on capital expenses. This high of a split is an unusual restriction for a transit agency and gives the State of Georgia control over MARTA’s budget despite contributing no funds. The transportation bill that passed the legislature in 2010 lifted the 50/50 restriction on MARTA for three years with some stipulations.

What is MARTA doing internally to address the funding gap?

MARTA has cut internal costs significantly, including mandatory furloughs and a higher share of health insurance costs for their employees.

MARTA has never received state funding, why do they need it now?

MARTA has been using its reserve fund to balance its budget for over 10 years. However, the economic recession hit harder than anyone expected. This crisis was only averted last year because MARTA received $45 million in one-time federal stimulus funds. It is unlikely that any federal funds will be available for transit operations this year.

What are the service cuts?

The final proposed changes include a 10% reduction in bus service and 14% decrease in rail service. Forty bus routes will be eliminated and all except six of the remaining will be rerouted. Rail service on the weekend will start at 6am. All lines will run every 15 minutes during peak hours on weekdays. The green line will still run to Candler Park. Bathrooms in nine stations will remain open but two Ridestores will close and there will be shorter customer service center hours. The monthly pass will increase to $68 and weekly pass to $17.

Over 300 MARTA employees will be laid off and the remaining non-represented employees will continue to have higher health care costs and 10 day furloughs.

The list of finalized bus route service changes can be found here:

The service changes will take place on September 25th and fare increase will take effect October 3rd.  Unfortunately, without a new source of funds for MARTA, these cuts will be permanent and more cuts and fare increases are likely in the next two years.

CTRAN

Why is CTRAN ending service in Clayton County?

Last fall the Clayton County Commission voted to end the local funding for the CTRAN bus service. The service ended at midnight on March 31st. The County Commission has demonstrated a lack of commitment to saving the service, despite work by MARTA to obtain short term federal assistance. Recently the Commission voted to turn most of their buses over to GRTA to run three additional express routes from the county. However, this arrangement was not approved by the Federal Transit Agency. The end of the service left thousands of Clayton residents stranded. CTRAN carried over 2 million passenger trips last year. Over 50% of trips were to and from work. CTRAN also served several hundred disabled passengers on their paratransit service. These riders now have no affordable transportation options.

What is the future of transit in Clayton County?

The state legislature passed a bill that allows the Clayton County Commission to place a one cent sales tax on the November ballot to join MARTA. Efforts are underway to convince the Commission to put the vote to the people of the county. A one cent sales tax in Clayton, of which a large portion would come from the airport, would allow considerable more transit service in the county. It would provide the funds to build and operate the Lovejoy commuter rail line.

Regional Transit Referendum

What does the transportation bill passed by the state legislature do?

A full summary of the bill can be found here.

In short, the bill divides the state into 12 regions and each region has to develop a list of transportation projects to fund with a one cent ten year sales tax. The voters will be asked to approve the tax on the July 2012 ballot. A regional roundtable of local elected officials will approve the project list.

Right now ACT Now and other transit advocacy organizations are working to ensure that transit and bicycle/pedestrian projects get a fair share of the Atlanta region’s potential funds.

ACT Now

What is ACT Now?

ACT Now is a grassroots, non-partisan coalition comprised of individuals and organizations who recognize that public transit is a necessary component of the Georgian economy, environment, and quality of life. Using education, public outreach, and advocacy, we aim to ensure that transit has the necessary federal, state, regional, and local resources needed to maintain and extend service.

What does ACT Now support as solutions?

ACT Now is working on short and long term solutions at the local, state and federal levels.

We support Senate Bill 3189 at the federal level which would give large transit agencies flexibility for how they use their federal funds.

We are working to ensure that not only is transit funding in the regional transportation referendum, but that it is transit that makes sense and will service the needs of everyone in the region.

We are developing our legislative agenda for the next Georgia legislative session.

Please contact us to see how you can help!