Key Points:
• Passengers on MARTA’s Bus Rapid Transit lines will pay their fares before boarding to cut wait times.
• Interim CEO/general manager Jonathan Hunt made a quarterly update to the Fulton County Commission on Oct. 1
Riders on the GA 400 Bus Rapid Transit line will pay their fares before boarding their bus and validate their tickets as they board.
Jonathan Hunt, MARTA’s interim general manager/CEO, gave the Fulton County Commission the transit agency’s quarterly update to the commissioners on Oct. 1. He said the advance purchases will allow customers to board through all doors of the bus, thus minimizing wait times at each station.
Riders on all buses and trains will start using MARTA’s new automated fare collection system in spring 2026. Hunt said it will incorporate new faregates, a new app, Breeze Card vending machines, and Breeze Cards, plus a new virtual wallet option. Construction has begun on the fare gate installation.
Hunt said the GA 400 Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line will run between Windward Parkway Park and Ride in Alpharetta and the North Springs MARTA Station in Sandy Springs.
The BRT route is part of the Georgia Department of Transportation’s (GDOT) State Route 400 Express Lanes project, expected to be completed in 2031. BRT buses will operate on the express lanes. According to Hunt, those lanes will be built by SR 400 Peach Partners, a GDOT partner.
Heavy civil industry leaders Dragados and Acciona Construction formed the joint venture, SR 400 Peach Partners. Its purpose is to carry out the project’s design and construction.
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MARTA is working with GDOT on the design of the BRT stations proposed at Windward Parkway, North Point Mall, and Holcomb Bridge Road. Hunt said a fourth BRT station proposed at Old Milton Parkway is not in the contract agreement, nor is it fully funded.
A $100 million state bond will provide funds for station infrastructure.
MARTA will collaborate with SR Peach Partners on the BRT stations. The transit agency is working with the True North Community Improvement District on the alignment of the BRT stations.
GDOT’s website said that utility relocations and site preparation will begin this fall with roadway and bridge work beginning in summer 2026.
MARTA Police Chief M. Scott Kreher told the commissioners that MARTA is safe. He said in 2019 the transit system had more than 400 crimes classified as serious by the FBI, but had fewer than 200 violent crimes in 2024.
Kreher said no homicides have occurred in the 2025 reporting period, compared to four in 2024. Aggravated assaults were down 26 percent, and robberies were down 29 percent. The overall crime rate declined 21 percent.
Ridership remains lower than pre-pandemic. More than five million passengers rode MARTA rail and slightly fewer rode MARTA buses in November 2019. Hunt said three million passengers rode buses in July 2025. Another 2.8 million passengers used MARTA rail that month.
Hunt said ridership has remained flat. MARTA is buying new railcars to start replacing the oldest transit fleet in the United States because Hunt said riders don’t appreciate delays caused by old railcars that break down. Track maintenance speeds are being improved so the new railcars don’t get delayed by bad track conditions.
Hunt told the commissioners that more than $220 million will be spent on capital projects that include new buses, railcars, faregates, apps, software, and refurbishing some rail stations.