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Transit Tangents
The Podcast where we discuss all things transit. Join us as we dive into transit systems across the US, bring you interviews with experts and advocates, and engage in some fun and exciting challenges along the way.
Transit Tangents
Atlanta Introduces the A-Line
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Atlanta just took a real swing at better bus service and it’s bigger than a single new route. We’re breaking down MARTA’s newly opened A-Line bus rapid transit and the agency’s full bus network redesign, a rare top-to-bottom reset aimed at making transit simpler, more frequent, and easier to use for everyday life.
We start with the uncomfortable backdrop: Atlanta’s growth hasn’t translated into a strong ridership comeback, and MARTA is still well below pre-2020 passenger trips. That makes every decision feel high stakes. We talk through what the MARTA rail network provides today, why train and station modernization helps, and why the bus system is the fastest way to improve real mobility across a sprawling Sunbelt metro where land use often fights transit.
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Intro And What’s New
SPEAKER_02Public transit that's my way to roll. Public Netflix. I'm taking control. Public transit is the rhythm of my life.
SPEAKER_00This April, Atlanta opened a brand new BRT line called the A-Line. And while it may be short, coming in at just about two and a half miles in each direction, it is the city's first real push at BRT, and plans are already in the works for additional lines.
SPEAKER_01This opening also comes along with a bus network overhaul with the transit agency Marta trying to do its best to utilize resources in a way that improves the overall experience across their bus and rail network.
SPEAKER_00So this week we're going to take a look at this new BRT line and what could come next, as well as uh the decision making that went into the entire bus network reset that just happened.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. So to get started, it's interesting that Atlanta, which was a city that started basically as a railway junction, is now just such a car-dominated
Atlanta’s Transit And Land Use
SPEAKER_01landscape. Scrolling around, looking at Google Maps, the land use decisions here are pretty wild to see. I mean, you do have like a pretty dense downtown, and there are some north-south corridors along the rail that have some density, but we're talking windy neighborhoods with like lots of green space in between houses right on the edge of downtown. So serving this area with transit uh is definitely a challenge for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, it's a fairly typical Sunbelt city, you know, like you said, kind of dense downtown. For anybody who's been to Atlanta, there is like the uptown area around Piedmont Park, and all of that stretch between downtown and Piedmont Park is pretty well densified and is actually really well built for transit corridors, which is where I think you're gonna see a lot of this expansion. But it's just like you said, it kind of follows that Marta line. But as soon as you get away from the line, uh it is typical southern suburbia.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yeah, absolutely. So just to give a quick overview, so Marta includes four rail lines. You've got the blue line, the red line, the gold line, and the green line that cover 48 miles with a total of 38 rail stations all throughout, all kind of meeting in the center in downtown at Five Points Station.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and Atlanta's actually uh in the process of replacing a lot of these Marta trains. They are pretty old, uh, as well as a $1 billion railway station rehab project that they're working on uh where they can modernize these older stations. Uh, if you've ever been to Atlanta, you know that the MARDA system does feel a little old. So those modernization efforts are definitely appreciated. And there's also an infill station that is currently under construction, which will bring the total number of stations up to 39. So definitely some good expansions happening there.
SPEAKER_01In addition to the rail network, before April 2026, the city had 113 bus routes that spread all across the city, and largely they've remained in a fairly similar design for quite a while now. We'll talk a little bit about that uh later on when we discuss the bus redesign changes. But as far as ridership recovery goes, Atlanta has not fared so well compared to other cities. I mean, they're definitely not alone in not having a great recovery, but pre-COVID in 2019, uh, Marta had 118
Ridership Decline And The Stakes
SPEAKER_01million passenger trips. Again, that's pre-COVID. In 2025, that was still down at 66 million. So 66 million from 118 uh is pretty rough. And that drop actually happened despite the fact that Atlanta's population was just continuing to grow during that time period.
SPEAKER_00But for today's episode, we are going to jump back into the bus network and talk about the entire redesign that is happening right now. Before we do that, let's first kind of give a little bit of recap on the old network. Like most cities, the bus network is really designed to allow commuters to come in and out of downtown for their nine to five jobs. Buses would try to feed people into the rail stations where possible, and then you would continue your commute into downtown using the MARDA system. And that kind of worked fairly well. So commuting into downtown that was fine, but Atlanta being this large, sprawling suburbia that it is,
Why The Old Bus Map Failed
SPEAKER_00any type of crosstown connection or orbital path that you wanted to take was much, much more challenging to near impossible.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and especially just you know looking at some of these neighborhoods from afar, there definitely are community nodes and places that you would want to be traveling between that would be really inconvenient to utilize this system to get between. So uh that's where uh the the idea for this redesign kind of came in. Jarrett Walker, who is uh someone that I read his sub Substack quite a bit. Um, he's a good follow on Twitter, and I believe he's on Blue Sky as well. Um, if you're interested in checking him out. Uh, he's also the author of Human Transit and someone who I would love to get on the show at some point. I just need to, I want to find like the right topic because I I feel like he is uh an invaluable resource, and we have kind of brought him up on the show a couple times more recently. But um, he and his firm were kind of brought in uh to work on this and described this as the first complete rethinking of the bus network in 45 years in a blog post that he did um kind of talking about this.
SPEAKER_00Some of the notable changes that led to this redesign, one is that many of the suburban centers that sort of surround Atlanta because of the population boom, have now also become really large employment centers. Um, that has absolutely changed the way people commute and their relationship to transit services in the area.
SPEAKER_01This one's not a unique to Atlanta one, but also obviously after COVID-19, work from home has really changed people's uh travel habits. It's not, like we said, just commuting in and out of a downtown area, um, but instead, more so folks maybe using transit to go out for dinner for the night or to run errands or to go meet their friend on the other side of town versus having a regular commute back and forth uh at the same times of day. So definitely shifting kind of how folks are getting around.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly. And so we have these trips that you really need to be taking all day long, whether that's to a transit center or to your work center or to retail or to see friends or family. So these all direction trips that are just so valuable, especially for people in the Atlanta region who maybe don't have access to a car, um, all of these changes have sort of fed into this uh notion that, okay, the bus network, it's not working post-COVID. What do we need to do to change it? Right.
SPEAKER_01So, that what do we need to do? Um, the redesign focused on the following things. Number one is not going to be a surprise to folks who watch the show, um, but it is focusing on more frequent lines that run all day and on the weekends at a frequency of 15 minutes or greater. We talk about all the time
The Redesign’s Core Tradeoffs
SPEAKER_01how uh frequency is what will actually get people out to go and ride these things. If I have to go and look at a schedule every single time uh and one bus gets canceled or whatever it may be, you're gonna be less likely to use it versus, oh, I know there's always gonna be another bus coming every 10 minutes or every 15 minutes. You're more likely to be like, oh, I'll I'll just take the bus there because I know it's gonna be easy to be able to do.
SPEAKER_00Another big change is that more of the lines are designed to now go past train stations instead of just ending at them. Uh that way you have more connectivity from either side of the rail station, but also for trips that you're not trying to go to the rail station, you're just trying to go beyond it and you don't have to transfer, which is always nice. So this redesign, it does sound like it would be a major improvement for the region, and I do think that it is. Uh, but even Jarrett, who uh Lewis has mentioned, says that it does have its flaws.
SPEAKER_01So Jarrett stated, quote, is this all of the service that the area needs? No, it's what Marta can afford given its other commitments and the decisions that have been made about priorities. Marta directed us to plan for a total service budget that is slightly lower than 2019, though higher than 2023. I wish we could have proposed far more service than this. So, you know, doing what you can with what you have, which again is an unfortunate reality, but it is the reality that so many transit agencies across the entire country are currently dealing with right now.
SPEAKER_00So, in this, what actually changed? Well, one thing that may be really surprising is that the network went from 113 routes to 81. When I saw that number, I was pretty shocked by that drop because that to me doesn't sound like you're improving the network if you're going to drop the number of uh bus routes that you have. But there is some argument for it. You know, if you are focused more on coverage or expanding bus routes, um, there there's sometimes, I guess, an argument for it. In this case, I don't know, Lewis, what you think about the drop in in routes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, it is exactly what you're getting at. The the like kind of uh coverage versus frequency idea here. And you can tell that they're leaning into frequency. And it makes sense when it is a city the size of Atlanta, in my opinion at least, that uh if you are on a tight budget, you are not gonna be able to have these sprawling bus routes running through very not dense parts of town spread out all over the place. And even if you are able to try to hit some of these coverage routes, they're gonna be at like hourly frequencies or something at best, which is so unreliable for folks to be able to use. You get one canceled bus or something like that, and all of a sudden you're stuck for two hours somewhere. Um, and to kind of try to soften the blow a little bit here for those areas that maybe have lost a bus route. And again, these bus routes that were cut, uh, generally speaking, were lower ridership routes that had been underperforming for years. So it's not like I mean, there there will be people who are directly affected by this, but um, it will be smaller numbers. So there were 12 new on-demand zones that were introduced to try to soften the blow for those folks. So those are things like um in Austin, I think we call it Cat Metro Pickup. Um, in
Route Cuts And Microtransit Zones
SPEAKER_01other places, it's essentially like, you know, oftentimes it'll be a van or something like that, and you can use the transit app and use it as a way to take this van to places within your pickup zone and or to connect to a rail station, a bus station, whatever it may be. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's the microtransit model that so many cities have been experimenting with post-COVID. We see it in Austin, uh San Antonio uh uh launched the via service or launched the service with via down there. So we it is this is not an uncommon solution that we're now seeing spread around the country. This use of microtransit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, to be honest, uh we we've talked about talking more about this. I still don't know if it's like any good or not. I've never used it anywhere. I don't even know that I've talked to anyone who has used it anywhere. So if you've uh been able to use something like this in your city, definitely let us know because I I it's something I want to talk about. And I don't know if it's kind of like a cop-out for transit agencies to be like, oh, we're kind of doing it, and then it's just like not a very good service, or maybe it ends up working out really great and it could be better than having a fixed-line service in the right areas, right?
SPEAKER_00Like I don't think this is like uh uh use everywhere solution, but another change that has happened with the redesign. Schedules on the old map were overall less frequent and they varied more wildly on weekends and later at night, while the new maps are really focused on adding a little bit more consistency to that schedule.
SPEAKER_01Yes. And lastly, Marta estimates that the redesign will actually increase access for folks uh to frequent transit service. So uh again, while some folks may be losing access to not frequent service, overall the increase in folks who will be able to have a short walk to a bus that would arrive every 15 minutes or better is growing from 70% to 76%. So I would have liked to have seen it grow a little bit more than that, but you take the I guess where you can. Agreed, agreed. And uh for for folks who are watching on the video version too, we have a uh image of the map, and the red lines on the map are gonna be the every 10 to 15 minute routes. You're gonna have the the new rapid route, which we're gonna talk about in a second, which is uh kind of a darker bold red. Um, and then the frequencies kind of go down uh as you go down the list in color. So uh we'll we'll make sure that's linked if you're interested in actually taking a look at the map itself.
SPEAKER_00One of the most exciting parts of this bus redesign coming to Atlanta is the city's first attempt at BRT with the introduction of the A-line. As we mentioned at the top of the episode, this BRT is a little short. Uh, it's about five miles round trip, so two and a half miles in either direction, with some dedicated lanes,
A-Line BRT Basics And Gaps
SPEAKER_00but uh also some mixed traffic areas as well.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the the length on this one was kind of surprising to me. I mean, this is probably one of the shorter lines, but um it does seem like it's in an area where it probably did run into quite a bit of traffic trying to get across the highway and whatnot. And it seems like in the areas where it's going to matter that the dedicated lanes are there. Um, there will also be some signal priority uh from reading up on it. It seems like buses will at least be able to hold a green light a little bit longer if they're approaching. So it's not necessarily going to flip a switch and they'll never stop, but uh definitely helps to be able to hang the green light a little bit longer for a bus that might have otherwise just missed it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they're also working on some enhanced bus stops, although these are not entirely complete. Unfortunately, the line had to go live before all of the infrastructure was fully in place. Uh, but those should be completed through the remainder of the year. And then we're also seeing the bus at 10 to 12 minute frequencies, which again for BRT is fine.
SPEAKER_01I would expect for BRT it would be a little sooner or a little faster, but I think for for BRT in the US, 10 minutes is kind of I mean, I'd I'd like it to be faster than that, but there are probably only a handful of places that are that are exceeding that, unfortunately. This one, uh, when I looked at the map, I mean, the there are some great connections for downtown and in the close vicinity with some, I mean, there's a stadium, there's there's some uh development in apartments, but overall the the density along this line was a little less than I was expecting necessarily looking at it, particularly at the end of the line. It doesn't feel like there is much there, at least yet. Uh, it's hard to tell from afar, but it does seem like there is some development happening in the area. So maybe that development is on the way, and and I'm just not seeing it yet uh from afar.
SPEAKER_00Overall, given the area of Atlanta that this line runs through, it was probably a pretty easy sell to the neighborhoods and the communities that it serves. This road was already two lanes in each direction and provided enough room to add some dedicated space without really causing too much disruption. There's also things like you know, there's a large stadium on this line that'll help get people in and out of the area quickly after game days. So definitely some benefits here. Um, like I said, pretty easy sell to the neighborhood.
SPEAKER_01It also does end at uh a section of the belt line as well. So uh potentially good for folks to be able to access uh some recreation along the route as well.
SPEAKER_00And if you're a real transit tangents OG, you remember we did an urban trails episode where we talked about the belt line two years ago. A long time ago. I think it was two years ago. It's been a long, long time.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Moving on though, we do have uh plans for a beeline already kind of coming into focus here. And this one is a little bit further off, but I still think it's worth talking about. Uh, it's in the Campbleton corridor and would be a center-running BRT with 100% dedicated lanes on this one, uh, which is pretty impressive. Um, it would also come in at about five miles long.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and this one would be connecting the rail at Oakland City Station to the Greenbar Mall at the end of the line. Um, there's some apartments here in between, but most of the uh corridor is fairly low density.
SPEAKER_01But with it being a giant mall at
Next BRT Lines And Big Hopes
SPEAKER_01the end of the line, you know, my favorite saying, uh, where you see parking lots, I see potential. There is definitely a ton of potential for development here. And it looks like some of that development is actually already underway. So um this one does feel like a win here and kind of acts as uh a little fork off of the rail line. So good to see that one.
SPEAKER_00You need to take that slogan to like Simon Malls to their boardroom and be like, where I see your parking lots, yes, you should see potential. They could be building housing and transit in their giant parking lots at all their malls.
SPEAKER_01I'd be curious how many properties like companies like that actually, because those are companies that probably are starting to do it. I mean, they're having to try to pivot out of being just mall operators, so we'll see.
SPEAKER_00In addition to these two lines, there are other proposals that are out there. Uh, there's one that's a BRT running in express lanes from the end of the red line at North Springs along Highway 400. Uh, the South Lake BRT from the airport to South Lake Mall.
SPEAKER_01And honestly, I found a couple others as well while I was digging into some of the resources on Marta's website and whatnot. And I thought there were a few others, like I was reading something about a C line. You guys can correct me if I'm wrong on some of this, but I was running into a couple broken links and kind of outdated pages. So some of these uh may be less likely to happen uh than not. But you never know. Hopefully, we end up with some success as folks get used to the A-line. Again, it literally just opened uh at the end of April. Uh, so hoping for some success for the folks at Marta who just got this service open.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So overall, really excited to see the redesign. I really, as you said, I really hope it does work well for the Atlanta region and that they can capture more ridership. Um, this has worked for other cities that redid a complete bus redesign. Houston comes to mind. Now, granted, this was before the Whitmer years where buses suddenly became a dirty word and and you know, dedicated bus lanes were being ripped out of the city. But before that, they did see some ridership increases with their bus redesign. So, again, hopefully the same thing we see here. The one thing I would like to see, if you look at an Atlanta transit map and the MARTA lines, they kind of make a plus sign through the city. So you get you know your north-south-east-west connection, but there's really those, those, you know, I guess diagonal directions that you really should be hitting with more rapid transit. They're not going to expand the train line to kind of hit those areas between uh a north and a east connection or north and a west connection. So I would love to see more BRT sign up, kind of going out in those uh those directions.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was personally surprised that one of these was not aiming at like Northwest Atlanta. But you never know. Maybe maybe they'll get there in the future. We'll see. Um, but uh I hope everybody enjoyed this episode. If you have not left a comment already, please consider doing so. It helps get the show out to new people. You can hit the like button, subscribe. If you want to support the show directly, the best ways to do so are via our Patreon. You can buy us a coffee, check out the merch store linked down below. But with all that being said, thank you all so much for watching and enjoy the rest of your transit tangents Tuesday.