SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — Many metro Atlanta bus riders are finding new ways to get around as the entire system of new bus routes is officially in place.
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach showed how the first major bus redesign in MARTA’s history is going.
Now, Gehlbach is walking you through the changes.
So far, some riders are happy with the updated bus service, or buses running more often, but other areas have had routes disappear.
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MARTA said it’s trying to put more buses where more people can access them.
The NextGen Bus Network launched over the weekend, MARTA’s first bus overhaul in decades.
For Monday, the first weekday commute, there were plenty of ambassadors around to help riders navigate the change.
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Some riders are seeing the positives already.
“I noticed last night, it was a little hectic still,” MARTA rider and Georgia State University law student John Jennings told Channel 2 Action News.
Jennings said his morning routine getting into downtown Atlanta won’t change, and that his route will now have more buses.
“Definitely a lot better,” Jennings said. “Gotta get up and get to class, pretty good to be able to hurry up and get on the buses and make it there.”
But for other riders, the change of route meant inconvenience and lack of access.
A viewer called Channel 2 Action News about how the previous Route 189 bus stops near the Kimberly Mill neighborhood in South Fulton are no longer running.
The route used to run down, then do a loop through the subdivision, but the updated route’s new stop is almost a 20 minute walk away on Flat Shoals Road instead.
Another neighbor said the MARTA buses used to stop in front of his house, but Monday morning, he had to walk six blocks with no sidewalk to catch a ride.
MARTA NextGen Project Manager Andrew Pofahl is asking for some grace as riders and drivers adjust to the updated routes.
“A lot of benefits in terms of more frequent service,” Pofahl said. “We’re tripling the number of routes that come every 15 minutes, that’s tripling the number of people who have access.”
MARTA officials said the redesigned routes’ goal is to have more buses running more consistently, all week long, and hopefully on time.
The trade off, though, was that there are now 81 routes in service, rather than the previous 113.
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