Poor MARTA. Public meetings have been taking place in recent weeks about MARTA's 120 million dollar deficit and a scary amount of service cuts to bus routes that may be in the works. Scary as in cutting 66 bus routes. Dire situations could also mean waiting 30 minutes for trains during non-peak times and cutting Saturday or Sunday service entirely. With so many people already viewing MARTA as inconvenient, service cuts would certainly not be the icing on the cake.
July 1 is when any major changes will occur, including a potential 30% cut in service. Yikes. The next round of forums about service cuts and changes are Monday, March 8 from 6:00-8:00 pm at Senior Connections. The second is at the North Fulton Service Center on Tuesday, March 9 at the same time.
There might be some help if the Georgia Assembly approves legislation that would allow MARTA more control over its operating budget. You can contact your legislator in person, by phone, by letter or by email. You can find contact information for your state senator and state representative at www.legis.state.ga.us. or find out who your representatives are at www.votesmart.org.
For more information, check out your neighborhood bus routes to see how you can currently get around on the bus system, and what might be lost. You can also take MARTA's deficit reduction survey to voice your opinion on what would be the most preferred service cuts.
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