MARTA breaks ground on new type of service

ATLANTA - A new type of bus service will soon come to the streets of Atlanta.

The new bus line will be called MARTA Rapid and is a cross between traditional rail and bus service.

After years of planning, MARTA and Atlanta city leaders broke ground Thursday on a new bus rapid transit line.

"Really exciting time because this is the first of its kind first in the state of Georgia and for the example that we are setting for the region," said Solomon Caviness, the Atlanta Department of Transportation Commissioner.

The 5-mile, 14 stop line will be built in the Summerhill neighborhood and will connect downtown Atlanta south to the Beltline. The high-capacity transit line will have new electric buses and operate in 85 percent dedicated lanes with transit signal priority. Fourteen BRT stations along the route will feature off-board fare collection so you can pay before you board, real-time service information, and level boarding, along with other amenities consistent with rail stations.

"Rapid is going to shave vital minutes off of their commute," said Collie Greenwood, MARTA General Manager and CEO.

The line is expected to serve about 2,300 people a day and MARTA says the service will connect with their rail system. This is the first new line to be built with the More MARTA half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 2016. 

"It’s the end of an era of talking and planning and designing and, you know, imagining and consulting," Greenwood said. "It’s actually time to get to work."

The groundbreaking comes as the Atlanta DOT looks at possibly making MARTA rides free. They have not said who would be eligible, how it would work or when it could start.

"It is something we’re exploring, evaluating, to see what makes the most sense," Caviness said. "Other cities throughout the world are exploring fare free."

MARTA says they are not currently in discussions with the city about this, but they are all ears depending on the terms. 

"Fares are never free, someone’s paying for it somewhere," Greenwood said. "So, we would just have to determine where that is and how that works."

MARTA plans to build six of these rapid bus lines. Construction on this first one will take about two years.