MARTA shifts plan for Atlanta’s Clifton Corridor from light rail to buses

MARTA once touted light rail as the future of transportation in the metro Atlanta area.

Now the transit agency has pulled the plug on yet another light rail project.

MARTA says it now prefers BRT, or Bus Rapid Transit.

The agency says BRT will get riders to their destinations just as quickly and it won’t cost as much.

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Some passengers say light rail may cost more, but it would have really helped with traffic congestion.

“I’d prefer the light rail,” Nicholas Bourne told Channel 2′s Tom Jones as he boarded the train at the Avondale Transit Station.

He said light rail would get him to school faster.

Rob Yankovich would also prefer light rail but said a Rapid Bus Transit line is appealing as well.

“The rapid bus works if it’s done right,” Yankovich said.

MARTA just announced it has put the brakes on light rail for the Clifton Corridor in Fulton and DeKalb counties.

It would have transported riders between Lindbergh and Avondale rail stations.

It would have included stops for those headed to locations like Emory University Hospital, the Atlanta V.A. Medical Center, and the CDC.

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MARTA said the 8.4-mile Bus Rapid Transit line it now favors is less costly, has a dedicated lane, and will get riders to their destinations just as quickly.

Here’s what MARTA told Channel 2 last summer.

“Bus rapid transit or BRT. is not like the regular bus. It operates a lot like a train,” said Manjeet Ranu with MARTA.

Some say MARTA touted light rail back in 2016 when Atlanta residents passed a half-a-penny transportation sales tax.

MARTA now says Bus Rapid Transit is more efficient and more likely to garner crucial federal funding.

Mayor Andre Dickens said earlier this month that MARTA has to come through on plans it sells to the public.

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“If they have that expectation and we come out of here 4 or 5 years from now and we say we got plans and we got designs but we haven’t delivered anything, that’s not gonna sit well with the public who has given up this piece of sales tax,” Dickens explained.

MARTA had planned for 29 miles of light rail back in 2016.

It now says it is recommending Bus Rapid Transit for Campbellton Road, Highway 54 in Clayton County, and Summerhill.

MARTA will be holding forums on the Clifton Corridor project this week.

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