A pivotal time for MARTA, or is agency too far down the track?

This month there have been issues with getting the running shoe crowd to the AJC Peachtree Road Race, an escalator gone wild after a Beyoncé concert and, finally, the bizarre departure of agency CEO Collie Greenwood.

I mean, who had on their MARTA bingo card that he would have to leave because his immigration status had expired?

The contentious debate surrounding immigration usually centers around those picking Vidalia onions, not the leader of a large metropolitical transit agency.

But here we are: MARTA going all MARTA. Again.

Greenwood was someone you could root for, a fellow who started as a bus driver and worked his way up the transit track to lead an agency.

It’s the American dream, although he is Canadian.

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Greenwood submitted his work permit renewal request sometime in January, some five months ahead of its June 18 expiration. The agency tried to work the immigration system and expedite his paperwork to no avail. So he had to secretly step away from his leadership gig for a month while checking his mail each day.

It seems he didn’t take into account who was elected president. He probably should have sent in the application Nov. 6, or even sooner. But that’s hindsight.

Don’t fret for Greenwood. A MARTA employee since 2019, he was allowed to “retire” and will “earn” his annual $446,250 ($607,636 Canadian) until his contract expires in January 2027. That’s more than $670,000 (American) just to wake up every day for the next 17 months.

To make things even more MARTAesque, this comes just weeks after the agency handed out pink slips to a dozen employees.

There has been some grumbling about Greenwood, but there always is about the manager of a losing team. And MARTA is that, an organization losing riders at epic proportions.

Granted, transit agencies have shed riders in recent decades, but MARTA seems to excel at it.

In 2019, MARTA had 118 million riders. Last year, there were 65 million, after coming back from a COVID plunge and then stalling out. Last year, bus ridership grew 8% to 31.5 million riders and rail dropped 6% to 29.5 million, according to Federal Transit Administration figures.

Interestingly, in a smaller metro area, and in another time, MARTA had 158 million riders in 2008 — 86 million on trains and 72 million on buses.

Credit: John Spink

Credit: John Spink

MARTA has disputed that decline, saying the gates at train stations often don’t work, so many butts in seats are not counted. I’ve seen it written that MARTA spends perhaps $11 per rider. But if one takes into account the capital expenses, a total of a $1.6 billion annual budget, each rider costs the agency almost $25.

Which means the $2.50 fare is a bargain.

Late last year, I interviewed Greenwood about his turnaround plans.

“We have these perceptions of safety, cleanliness and reliability,” Greenwood said, adding those observations came “from the people who are using it.”

So, that “perception” was really riders being sentient about their experiences.

Greenwood told me rail ridership, which has plummeted, “is there,” mentioning events like the SEC championship, Taylor Swift concerts and the Peachtree Road Race.

“We continue to shine in those moments, but we need a sustained effort,” for the everyday riders, he said.

But big events in recent months — Pride weekend, the Peachtree race, a Shakira concert and the Beyoncé fiasco — shot that theory to pieces. The sad thing is, MARTA knows well in advance when these events are coming.

He spoke of getting back to the basics, about doubling down on that “safety, cleanliness and reliability.”

One plan was to reduce the number of less popular bus routes and increase frequency on the remaining.

“We can’t please everyone,” he said. “But we can please more people more often than in the past.”

So far this year MARTA ridership is again down, 4.1% overall in the first quarter compared to Q1 2024, according to the American Public Transportation Association. That’s down 2.8% for buses and 5.8% for rail.

Transit ridership across the U.S. increased 6% during the same period. Rail elsewhere is up 11%.

Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC

Credit: JOHN SPINK / AJC

(In fairness to Greenwood, the system reworking buses has yet to be implemented.)

Rusi Patel, a lawyer for the Georgia Municipal Association, used to ride buses from his home near Grant Park to his office downtown.

“I had to give up on it because I couldn’t rely on it,” he said. “It was canceled a lot. I finally decided: ‘I can’t do that any more.’”

I called Doug Nagy, a former Atlanta transportation official and frequent MARTA critic.

“I’m grumpy as a rider but I want the best for MARTA,” he said. “It has a lot of potential.”

The next MARTA leader, Nagy said, must articulate concrete goals for moving the agency out of its morass.

Our boss, Publisher Andrew Morse, got ahold of a keyboard and typed out an editorial titled, “MARTA must do better. Bring in new leadership and stop misleading the public.”

He’s right. First, MARTA’s board must acknowledge there is a huge problem. A systemic failure.

I contacted MARTA board members but they’re characteristically lying low. There long has been a don’t-rock-the-boat vibe on that board.

It’s no longer time to mouth tired expressions of change. The board has to step up and actually do something.