MARTA will fully activate its new fare gates on Saturday, May 30, with riders required to pay the fare to ride trains from all stations.
Payment had been suspended at some stations during the installation of the Better Breeze payment system, and to give riders a chance to obtain new Breeze cards, but officials said the grace period will end on Saturday.
In a press release, MARTA said that new fare gates and emergency doors at rail stations will close, and customers will need to tap to ride with a bank card, mobile wallet, or a new Breeze card or ticket.
“The installation of our better Breeze system was not as far along as we’d hoped at the end of the customer transition period on May 2, so for the last several weeks, we have left open gates and doors to ensure riders could easily access the system,” MARTA Interim General Manager and CEO Jonathan Hunt said in a statement. “Now, with the installation of more ticket vending machines systemwide, we feel we’ve made significant enough progress to close these open gates and doors and begin requiring fare.”
Ticket vending machines are available at almost all rail stations, and new fare gates accept credit and debit cards, mobile wallets, and virtual Breeze cards in Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, and Samsung Wallet, as well as physical Breeze cards and tickets.
Officials reminded riders that old Breeze cards and the old Breeze Mobile 2.0 app do not work on the new system and are no longer accepted. To transfer your balance from an old Breeze card to a new account, visit breezecard.com.
