MARTA & Regional Buses
Unless you’ve been out of the loop for a while, you may have heard that Atlanta is faced with conflicting problems.
The city wants commuters to use transit, but it does not want regional buses clogging up Peachtree Street.
This creates a great opportunity! For a long time, Atlanta has wanted an intermodel terminal, MARTA has wanted more money, and commuters have wanted a more pleasant experience! All of these problems could be combined and solved in one shot.
MARTA, in conjunction with developers, needs to build a top quality bus station and mixed use tower that connects to MARTA’s rail lines. They could do this either at 5 points or in Midtown station.
The optimal 5 Points location would be on Forsyth street just across from the Atlanta Federal Center. Currently, there is a decaying building on a large lot. This building could easily be torn down and replaced with a structure similar to the Chicago and Northwestern Line station in Illinois. The result is that people could get to work and play from the suburbs, easily connect to MARTA, and get a positive retail and office environment. Further, if MARTA co-developes the building they can earn the income!
But wait! There’s more! If MARTA is the prime property owner and works with the both the regional bus agencies and the city, they could get some state money. How, you ask? Lease the bays. If the city and MARTA work carefully with the regional transit agencies, those agencies can lease bus bays. Since they receive money from the State, they can pass some along to MARTA. In exchange, they will get better facilities to load passengers and one where weather makes less of a difference. The passengers, employees, and city will all be better off!
If the 5 Points location does not work out, there is a vacant lot behind the Midtown MARTA Station. Just as they did with Lindbergh, MARTA can develop office, retail, and a bus terminal that is convenient to the highway and the train. Again, the regional bus systems get a better transfer location, MARTA makes income, and the passengers get a better environment.
This project will take vision, cooperation between several agencies, the interest of the private sector, and smart planning, but the investment could well be worth it!