ATLANTA — The latest publicly available MARTA rider data shows that across all forms of transit, the transport agency saw a 1.3 million trip shortfall. However, the transport agency says not only is the data wrong, they even know why.
The currently available MARTA ride numbers have dropped, the data available shows it was due to decreasing ridership on the rail system.
However, when asked about the drop in participation, MARTA officials told Channel 2 Action News that they believed the drop was “not real.”
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As of the data through September 2024, the most recent available, MARTA reported that bus ridership was on par with their expectations, while streetcar and mobility service riders were higher than their forecast.
For train service, the data says 1.3 million people chose not to take MARTA, a point that MARTA officials pushed back on in detail.
“We are confident that the observed decrease in rail ridership is not real, but instead due to a steady increase in faregates not reporting Breeze card taps,” MARTA said in a statement. “Our Research & Analysis investigated the discrepancy and found that while fare evasion is an ongoing issue, there was a systematic issue with our faregate system not recording all our rail customers.”
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The transport agency said they’d been seeing a ridership decrease on the rail system since fall 2023, even though “ridership on all our other modes was continuing to increase.”
That prompted them to investigate, and while “it took some additional time to diagnose the problem,” they found the data was a combination of broken faregates, “possibly” stuck in the open position, or “Breeze taps that for various reasons never got communicated to the back office.”
MARTA told Channel 2 Action News they were still working to find why the data started to go missing, but that the vendor they use for the faregates has “intensified their efforts to fix faregates that aren’t reporting Breeze data.”
In comparison to the data on their performance site, which showed a drop, MARTA said “Rail ridership had been increasing from early 2020 through late 2023, where it was between 50-60% of pre-pandemic ridership levels.”
Additionally, both the MARTA Streetcar use and MARTA Mobility use have returned to pre-COVID-19 pandemic ridership levels. Bus ridership has also “been rising steadily since January 2021,” with about three million riders per month. MARTA said they expect the new bus route from the NextGen Bus Network Redesign will help build on this growth with “smarter and more frequent service routes.”
MARTA said they’re taking the following steps to increase rail service use in the region:
- New faregates and payment system: MARTA is working to implement a new payment system and new faregates at all our rail stations. The new payment system will give customers more options to pay their fare and will be as simple as tapping a credit card or mobile wallet at the faregate. The faregates will also feature enhanced security measures with improved sensors and design to reduce fare evasion. MARTA’s goal is to install the new faregates before the 2026 World Cup.
- New state-of-the-art rail cars: MARTA officially unveiled our Stadler CQ400 rai cars at the 2025 State of MARTA event. These railcars will attract new rail customers by offering open gangway designs, upgraded lighting and seating, digital displays, charging stations, and improved safety measures.
- Automated rail control system: By replacing the current train control system with a Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) system, MARTA will enhance the safety and reliability of our rail network and allow our trains to operate with the highest safety standards, while still being monitored and controlled by skilled MARTA operators. The system being installed by Stadler to work seamlessly with the new railcars will allow us to increase capacity, improve on-time performance, and optimize efficiency. By doing so, we’ll improve the customer experience and position MARTA as one of the most advanced transportation systems in the country.
- Improved service frequency: In December 2024, MARTA increased rail frequency on weekdays to every 10 minutes during peak hours, and every 12 minutes during midday hours. MARTA will look for future opportunities to increase service based on staffing levels.
- Station Improvements: The agency has been implementing its $1 billion program to repair and renovate all 38 heavy rail stations and improve the overall experience for our rail customers. Extensive work is ongoing at multiple stations, including Five Points, Airport, and East Lake.
- Other system improvements: MARTA has several other ongoing initiatives to improve the customer experience, including the development of a new mobile app, improved security, and a focus on station cleanliness.
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