The Atlanta Streetcar has been much maligned ever since its inception in December of 2014. Heck, it was maligned even before that, whether because of cost increases, construction delays, (it was originally slated to open in February of 2012) or the common refrain that it simply ‘doesn’t go anywhere’.
Upon opening its critics grew even more raucous. Ridership numbers failed to reach expectations, safety concerns became apparent after repeated accidents, and management was heavily criticized. Last month the Georgia Department of Transportation, following a series of audits, notified the City of Atlanta that they would shut the Streetcar down unless the city fixed the laundry list of problems outlined by state officials.
Yesterday the GDOT announced that it was for now satisfied with the city’s proposals and would be withdrawing its threat to shut down the streetcar. That news will surely please Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, who had urged state authorities to “take the long view” with regards to the system’s future. Indeed, the Streetcar is a linchpin to the Mayor’s transportation plans for the city, a key part of which is to expand the system throughout the downtown area and further into East Atlanta. Light rail is expected to be a key part of the transportation referendum that city residents will vote on in November.
While the State continues to mull over the city’s streetcar fixes, a more obvious solution appears to be sitting in front of city officials – turn complete control of the Streetcar’s management over to MARTA. At the moment the City of Atlanta, under “direct management of MARTA”, carries out streetcar operations, while MARTA provides technical and logistical assistance. Why not let the transportation authority, which under CEO Keith Parker has seen ridership numbers skyrocket, assume full control of the system?
With increasing public favor and an influx of local and federal money likely coming their way, what time could be better to transfer management from a city management that has drawn the eye of transportation authorities to one of the city’s darlings in MARTA.
With MARTA already set to receive a lion’s share of the money raised by November’s half-cent sales tax increase, (assuming it passes as expected) it makes sense to hand over full control of the city’s light rail to the same organization that runs the nation’s 8th largest rapid transit system in the country. Often government makes things much more difficult than it needs to be. This is another one of those cases where the best option may well be the most obvious one.
