It's Time to Bake a Bigger Pie, MARTA

We wish for city leaders with a vision for affordability.

BeltLine Rail Now would like to address some incorrect assertions by MARTA in the AJC story from January 27. We’re glad MARTA agrees with our central points: that More MARTA does not have enough money to build Beltline rail, and that additional funding sources are needed. However, we take issue with MARTA’s other assertions.

Our proposed strategy to fund rail on the BeltLine is no ‘wish list’, as MARTA claims. Instead, it is a proven recipe, a diverse mix of tried and true funding instruments used successfully to build transit in other cities. MARTA is struggling to divvy up the current funding pie, so we baked them a bigger pie. We do not claim to be experts - but the information and successful case studies in our white paper were not hard to find.

Flexing of federal highway dollars, new funding sources like Special Assessment Districts, and low-interest financing via TIFIA loans: these are a few of the powerful tools that Atlanta has yet to employ in support of transit. Why the reluctance? It is hardly a ‘gloss-over’ to suggest the use of instruments proven effective elsewhere. And while there will be challenges in implementation, we know that our great city will rise to surmount them.

Our paper does NOT suggest redirecting funding from one project to another. Instead, elements of the funding model we suggest can be applied to other More MARTA projects as well. Again: we propose a bigger funding pie. We need all of the transit in More MARTA, and we need it now. Rail on the Beltline is indisputably the most shovel-ready More MARTA rail project. The first section, from Ponce City Market to Irwin Street via an extension of the downtown streetcar from Ebenezer Baptist Church, can be up and running in less than three years. MARTA began site surveying for that project in October 2020. Atlanta is desperate to hear more about how and when MARTA will begin construction of BeltLine rail - and less about all the reasons it cannot.

Indeed, BeltLine Rail Now has a wish list. At the top is a wish for MARTA, the mayor, and Atlanta City Council to craft a plan to fund and build rail on the BeltLine as quickly as possible. Every day that passes without it is one more step away from affordability and sustainability for the residents of Atlanta. Our primary wish is also our primary goal, and we hope Atlantans everywhere will join us in this election year to realize it.

Matthew Rao and Patty Durand, Co-chairs

BeltLine Rail Now