MARTA

Very unprofessional staff who’s extremely rude and extremely unconsistent service. You may often noticed train with the wrong destination listed on the signs and the constantly are experiencing delays. Five Points Station is beyond disgusting and don’t get me started on the lack of radio etiquette.

Trains are OK, not always the best time-​wise. They «single track» so often you might as well forget getting timely train service on any weekend. Bus service is abysmal. Hardly ever on schedule, sometimes numerous buses that were scheduled fail to appear. Even using their app on smartphone, buses don’t follow the schedule. If you need to be somewhere at a certain time, forget MARTA and use Über or Lyft.

MARTA is much more convenient than driving from north Atlanta down to the airport which only takes about 50 minutes. Parking is mostly covered and very close to the train — and a little cheaper than airport parking.
I’ve only had one incident where the train stopped running, but they put us on a bus
My only issue is the frequency of pan handlers. I see it on nearly every trip. Other than that, I will use MARTA instead of driving as much as I can — especially during rush hour.

Clean, air-​condition, and cheap way to get around the city of Atlanta. At the stations you buy a Breeze card and choose the amount of trips or days you would like and that is your ticket.
The announcements inside the train seem to harp on their «code of conduct» which makes me think there might be issues riding around, but I experienced none with exception to the hammered homeless guy who sat next to me and rambled incoherently.
It cost me $ 3.50 for one ride north from the airport and made travel quick since auto traffic was snarled due to three events occurring simultaneously.
Great way to get around Atlanta!

I know that I live in Cobb County and that the MARTA is for huddlums but they are wrong. Many people say that the MARTA is unsafe and dirty but it looks the same as San Franciscos BART but with less coverage. MARTA should expand to Cobb and Gwinett because they really need it how are you going to transport people to SunTrust Park Huh? By train. That’s the solution. That’s right I live in Cobb and I love MARTA

The good: it worked for me. It seemed relatively on time and went where it said it would.
The bad: it’s crowded as hell. We had to watch 3 completely full trains go by at Peachtree Center before we finally made it onto the fourth. It emptied out about 90% of its occupants at the next stop.

We’re no strangers to urban mass transit rail lines, and know that occasional break-​downs, delays, more-​than-​occasional surly and uncooperative personnel, endless staircases and unintelligible audio announcements are each a part of the package. In that context, MARTA may not be as speedy as some, but the trains are frequent, inexpensive, clean and well air conditioned.
I’ve spent entire weeks of business travel relying only on the MARTA for transportation, but on this year’s vacation, the seven-​day pass really paid for itself in cost and convenience. We spent at least some time near every north-​south stop between Five Points and Sandy Spring, and at several of the east-​west destinations. From the MARTA Stations we had enjoyable walks to the surrounding areas, and really saw much more of the city than 24+ prior business trips had provided.
No mass transit system is without its faults, but MARTA served us well during our vacation.

as of the writing of this review, i haven’t ridden the bus (that escapade is yet to come) so i’m mainly referencing the red/​yellow/​blue/​green lines.
marta isn’t terrible. i mean, it would be nice if it were a little more efficient. though, honestly, I’ve not been in a city where public transport is perfect… i’m looking at you with a side-​eye, philly and new york.
the following three reasons are why marta is getting extra points:
(1) all the cars have been clean, AND they don’t reek of feet.
(2) passengers are actually friendly. in philly, on the el, you wouldn’t DARE look at someone in the eye or acknowledge their presence but, on marta, I’ve had some pleasant conversations.
(3) breeze cards! philly was still in the age of the dinosaur with tokens and cash only payments if you didn’t purchase a transpass.

Took Marta, an extremely small system that served me well on my single use of it from the airport, on a weekday afternoon and it was a pleasant experience, but it’s just not at all omnipresent enough.
Train Frequencies
Weekdays: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.: 10 minutes all lines
Weekdays: 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.: 20 minutes all lines
Weekends: 20 minutes all lines
Train Service Hours
Weekdays: 4:45 a.m. to 1 a.m.
Weekends: 6:00 a.m. to 1 a.m.
After 9 pm, Red line travels between Lindbergh & North Springs
After 9 pm, Green line travels between Bankhead & Vine City

Have now ridden the MARTA a total of 4 times while in town on business. This is a great and inexpensive way for me to get from the airport to my hotel and back to the airport. No, it isn’t as clean as sitting in your own car, but it isn’t even close to as dirty as the NYC subway. I think a one way trip is $ 2.50, which I think is a good deal. I can’t take the Denver light rail for so little. From the Airport to Lindbergh station takes approximately 30 – 40 minutes. The train doesn’t exactly take you through the best sight seeing areas, but I have experienced any problems either.
If you enjoy people watching, this is a great place place to spend 30 minutes. I have overheard some of the funniest cell phone conversations during my trips. Some of the conductors can be a bit difficult to understand, so pay close attention to the LED banners flashing the next stop.

The quote, «No man ever steps in the same river twice» pretty much sums up my experience riding MARTA over the past decade. It’s never the same and that’s what makes it interesting. You never know what you’ll see on the way from A to B… people watching at its best.
Entertainment value aside, your experience will vary depending on whether you’re a tourist or a resident.
FOR TOURISTS
MARTA can be pretty useful. It’s an inexpensive and convenient way to get from the airport to your hotel if you’re staying in the downtown/​Midtown/​Buckhead/​Perimeter Mall areas. There are several tourist attractions near the train or within short walking distance from it:
–Atlanta Beltline Tour (short bus ride (or walk) from the Inman Park Station)
–CNN Center (at the Dome/​GWCC/​Phillips Arena/​CNN Station)
–College Football Hall of Fame (near the Dome/​GWCC/​Phillips Arena/​CNN Station)
–Federal Reserve Museum (at the Midtown Station)
–Fox Theater (near the North Avenue Station)
–Georgia Capitol (one block away from the Georgia State Station)
–Margaret Mitchell House (at the Midtown Station)
–Oakland Cemetery (at the King Memorial Station)
–Underground Atlanta (at the Five Points Station)
–Woodruff Arts Center (at the Arts Center Station)
A list of 40+ attractions within a ten minute walk from various stations is here:
FOR RESIDENTS
MARTA isn’t particularly useful for most of Atlanta’s residents. It’s been fifteen years since they’ve added any new stations to the system. Way back in the Y2K days!!! They have done a terrible job keeping up with Atlanta’s urban sprawl. Most of us can’t get to our favorite grocery or retail stores, restaurants/​bars, banks, gyms or nightlife via MARTA.
I’d definitely ride more than a few times a year if it took me places I wanted to go. The 30-​day unlimited pass offers limitless rides for $ 95 per month… or under $ 1,150 per year. That’s WAY less than the cost of car ownership when you factor in things like registration, gas, insurance, and maintenance costs. At that rate I’d have to consider exclusive ridership since that would easily save me thousands every year in transportation costs.
Hopefully one day they will finally expand the existing rail lines in all directions and add more stations. Or increase economic incentives for many more businesses to relocate within walking distance of the train stations. Either improvement would make MARTA much more resident-​friendly. Wishful thinking, I know.

Grudgingly adding to this place again just to update my MARTA review. My previous complaints have been addressed, and I’ve been riding MARTA nearly every work day for years with shockingly few complaints once management kicked into gear. And they have kicked into gear in a major way. Steady service improvements on the train lines, reliable (for me) buses, strong security presence during rush hour and even pretty good off-​times, etc. MARTA is growing in ridership and income, enabling more improvements. I left the last star for the future… They’ll be testing farm tables at a station soon…

Another public transit/​subway system, where I’d thought I’d once written a review. Guess not.
Anyway, it’s a pretty clean system for the most part. One of those systems where sadly one can only imagine how better the subway system would’ve been, if suburban counties didn’t oppose the construction of lines going out to those places. Wikipedia it up if you’re curious to learn more (I’ll add a proper URL later, relating to this), though I recall the cancelled plans would’ve included the south line going past Hartsfield Airport to at least Forest Park, GA, and a northwest line near north I-​75 to just a little south of I-​285. And the funding is also limited, because of Georgia state government. :(I’ve more ridden the trains than I have their buses (due to often getting rides from family or relatives), but my experience riding the buses was fine, the one or 2 times I once had to do that. Used to often drive to College Park (coming from Jonesboro, where my late grandmother lived) to catch the train into Atlanta, and myself and my family never had any bad experiences when we did that. The railcars and stations basically have the same kind of feel as what was used for BART in the San Francisco area, and Metro in the Washington, DC area. IIRC, those other 2 subway systems were also first constructed in the 70s.
For what it is, and the history that led up to MARTA’s situation today, I think it isn’t bad. People often rip on MARTA, and I’m not sure why. Yeah it doesn’t have the functionality or service levels of say the CTA in Chicago or MTA subway in NYC, but it’s fine for Atlanta. Like BART in SF, this subway system always seems slightly cleaner than CTA in Chicago and MTA in NYC, and I’m not sure why. It’ll be interesting to ride whenever I use it again, since they now have the Breeze Card system and ditched tokens (yep, that’s how long it’s been since I last rode…).

Love-​Hate relationship.
I love that it costs me just a few bucks to take MARTA from Brookhaven to the Georgia Dome for games.
I hate that I usually end up sitting in a sticky seat next to a drunk guy who smells like a Burlington Coat Factory.

MARTA Rail = Epic FAIL
I attempted to take MARTA rail from North Springs to the Airport last Saturday. The last time I rode MARTA the train broke down but I wanted to give it another chance.
On this last trip, the train made it as far as Lindbergh Center. At about 7:45am they announced that the train was going out of service. Everybody exited the train which then pulled away from the platform and stopped. Then they announced that the North/​South line was shut down for an unspecified problem. I waited for 60 minutes. With no resolution in sight and no useful information from the MARTA PA announcements, I had to take a taxi from Lindbergh to the airport.
The crowd of stranded travelers at Lindbergh was at least 300 people by the time I left. Some of them were getting angry. I saw one upset lady try to ask a MARTA employee about the problem and I heard him tell her to «just shut the Hell up and wait like everybody else». Not surprising, MARTA employees (when you can find them) are usually pretty unconcerned with paying customers.
Too bad MARTA got their lunchhooks in the $ 100 million to install a new light rail line through and around downtown. If is to be managed like the rest of MARTA… well, too bad.
So before taking MARTA anywhere, expect delays, poor service, and surly employees.
And be aware of these statistics directly from the MARTA website:
Since Nov 2013, all of the following were below acceptable target:
1. Rail On-​time Performance
2. Rail Mean Distance Between Failures
3. Rail Mean Distance Between Service Interruptions
MARTA Rail = EPIC FAIL

Loved the Atlanta MARTA. Coming from the airport it was the least expensive way to travel and it was clean and easy to use. It reminded me of the DC Metro and the machines to purchase passes was about the same… easy day.
Inexpensive, convenient, easy. Done!

MARTA. Dear dear MARTA. Thank you for all you do. Ladies and Gents, it is possible to live in Atlanta without a car. Thanks to the Metro Area Rapid Transit Authority (and my wonderful friends who drive me places), I have survived for a year and a half sans motor vehicle. I’m in a unique situation though because MARTA is extremely convenient to where I live and where I work (not a common phenomenon). My commute that could take nearly an hour in a car now takes less than 20 minutes.
MARTA is really easy because there are so few options. On your first ever MARTA ride you will pay $ 1 extra to have a breeze card. Other than that all trips are $ 2.50 regardless of how far you go or if you change trains. North and South are Red and Gold lines. East and West are Green and Blue lines. You can watch the front of the train to see which line you are about to get on or there are scrolling screens in the windows by the doors.
For non-​frequent Marta travelors, Marta is good for three things.
1. The airport. Get on at the outer stations like Doraville or North Springs if you live far away and ride that little dude right to the airport. You have lots of options on getting to the stations if you live inside the city. Take a cab (cheaper than airport parking). Long term Marta parking (cheaper than airport parking). Have a friend drop you off (cheaper than airport parking). Walk (hey there’s a crazy idea & cheaper than airport parking). Both the Red and Gold line end up at the airport. It is about a 45 – 50 minute ride from Doraville or North Springs and about a 20 – 25 ride to 5 points (the transfer station).
2. Braves games. Parking and traffic at Braves games is THE WORST. If you want to get to the game early to tailgate the Braves shuttle probably won’t be running yet but the walk from 5 points or the Georgia State Station is only about 10 minutes. Once it gets closer to the game you can follow the massive crowd through (or above) underground Atlanta to the shuttles that take you directly to the gate. The shuttles start running after the 6^th and go for about an hour after the games. Very worth it and there are always fun characters on these buses.
3. Special events at the GA Dome, CNN center, Phipps, Centennial Olympic Park, Piedmont Park, or Georgia Tech. Parking is never fun and puts everyone in the worst mood for big events. Marta goes almost directly to all of these places and same day parking in MARTA decks is free with validation (the machines are yellow, inside the stations, and always have lines). Tons of people ride MARTA during special events so do not be afraid.
In addition to giving me street cred and significantly more time to listen to pod casts, read my weekly TIME magazine, and listen to music without the stress of ATL rush hour traffic, I have indeed made some MARTA friends. People are generally really nice and not sketchy. Of course you have your occasional crazy person but crazy people are everywhere and I have honestly never felt afraid on MARTA even when riding after dark (keep in mind I only ride north and east of five points).
Love ya Marta!

I rode MARTA several times to go to the airport. It was awesome when I lived in Dekalb County. My friend could just drop me off at the nearest station, and I could just ride my way down to the airport. Not only that, you can use it to go to Phillips Arena, Ga State, Ga Dome, and possibly other places.
Now, since I live in Mableton, MARTA sucks. I’m not sure who’s fault it is, but they need to bring the trains to Cobb County. Speaking of which, MARTA doesn’t really go anywhere except for Midtown, Downtown, and airport.
I want to use MARTA to go to places, but if I have to drive 20 minutes to the nearest station, what’s the point?
The good thing is that it is cheap compared to the other cities’ transit system. But it’s probably because it doesn’t go anywhere.

Inefficient, lack of useful and timely routes, nonexistent customer service, generally a hassle. Google and other trip planners don’t work effectively with MARTA, unlike pretty much every other transit system in the western world, and that sums up MARTA in its entirety– ineffectual.
The people running MARTA must want it to fail. It doesn’t go 85% of the places you want to go. Though most passengers aren’t sketchy, the ones that are have free reign to harass everyone else with no resistance from the MARTA authorities.
Don’t bother calling the route information line– they’ll make the trip 4 times longer than necessary. Anyone who is being honest and isn’t trying to push some environmentalist agenda will acknowledge it sucks. A 15 minute car ride turns into at least 2 hours of dejectedness if you take MARTA. Get a cab if you don’t have a car.
Just took MARTA home from the airport. Passengers from the Airport are a huge portion of MARTA traffic, and Atlanta wants to encourage visitors to the city. You’d think a trip from the airport would be among the most pleasant and efficient. Sadly, no. Today’s experience is pretty typical of all my lousy MARTA encounters.
If it were my first trip to Atlanta, I would have this initial impression of our city:
After tired travelers appropriately boarded a train, an attendant rudely ordered people to clear out, because «they are cutting trains.» ?? Well, what’s another half hour after a long day of traveling, by all means, drag it out even longer, please. I cynically wondered if my MARTA ride home to Virginia-​Highlands (close) would take longer than my flight back to Atlanta. To be fair, it only took half as long as my flight.
Within minutes of getting on the next train, a crackhead lady came into the car and yelled that she’d pay someone a dollar for a shirt. Welcome to Atlanta, world travelers! We are one high-​end kind of city, meet our finest. Our bums are 10 times worse than the bums on the NY subway, how did that happen?
While she went on and on about needing a shirt, no security ever showed to deal with it. There were 5 people who looked like MARTA employees in uniforms on our actual car, but they couldn’t be bothered. Crackhead lady then tried to claim other people’s baggage from the baggage area of the car. Crazy person harassing passengers and property, standard. No sign of any security, also standard.
Eventually, a young man told crackhead lady to leave everyone’s baggage alone. I was grateful for the nice person handling the problem until he started handing out fundamentalist 10 Commandment flyers and ranting about being saved or something to a car full of embarrassed, tired passengers.
After imposing himself on a literally captive audience, Crazy Preacher Dude had the nerve to request donations to cover printing costs. How about some security for these nutbags? I almost would have preferred the crackhead lady. Wait, I didn’t say that, oh no, she’s back. Now she wants a pair of pants. When will this end? I just want to get home.
If I were a business visitor to the city, at this point, I would have written off Atlanta, decided to base the new facility in Greenville, and just gone back to the airport for a flight out.
I finally got to my stop and waited for my bus transfer, but after realizing it would be another 20 minutes for the bus to arrive and then who knows how long to stop every other block, I decided to cut my losses and take a cab the remainder of the way.
This lamentable adventure is exactly why Atlantans who have tried MARTA once, try to never use it again if they can help it, and why T-​SPLOST failed. Failure written all over it. Don’t waste your time.
If you are a visitor and do inadvertently waste your time, please know that the citizens of Atlanta are really ashamed you had to see that, from the bottom of our hearts, but we can’t do anything about it anymore than we can get our crazy aunt to stop hoarding. Please don’t hold it against us and may the remainder of your trip be better. It has to be.

Oh MARTA, I don’t know how to bring this up so I’ll just say it. I’m glad that I have you. I would miss you if you were gone, but you can be so very frustrating.
I wish you would take me more places. We never go anywhere fun any more and you go to bed way too early. I have to cheat on you with my car or God forbid– a taxi– to get to most of the bars I enjoy but I do love how you always drop me off and pick me up from the airport. The rides to Midtown are always fun. I also love the Sunday trips to Decatur and cherish the times you dropped me off right at the High museum. You are always down to go to Candler park.
You don’t take me to Braves games, but I can always catch a ride with our good friend the Braves shuttle. I guess we can try to make this work for now.

MARTA is a great way to get to and from the Atlanta airport. If I don’t have a ride and I’m traveling lightly, it’s my preferred choice. From my station (Arts Center), it’s a zippy 25-​minute ride to the airport. There are 11 stops in-​between, but because I’m already on the north-​south line, I don’t have to switch trains. The train unloads directly inside the airport, so I don’t have to deal with parking or traffic. Since the airport is the last stop south, trains originating from the airport are mostly empty. It’s a bargain for only $ 2.50 each way.
MARTA trains are $ 2.50 one way no matter how far you go. If you’ve never taken MARTA before, you’ll have to pay $ 1.00 extra for a Breeze Card, which is a card you can load MARTA trips onto. Breeze Cards are proximity cards. You just tap and go. Convenient.
So I’ve been as far south as Airport station and as far north as Lenox station (Lenox Square Mall). Other than the airport, I’ve most commonly taken MARTA to get to Philips Arena and the Georgia Dome (Dome/​GWCC/​Philips Arena/​CNN Center station) and Dragon*Con (Peachtree Center station), though I’m using it less and less these days as I find better parking spots for these venues/​events. My freshman year at Tech, North Avenue station was my starting point.
I wouldn’t use MARTA for an Atlanta Hawks game, but I would consider using it for a bigger event such as the NCAA Final Four (Atlanta hosted in 2002 and 2007 and will host again in 2013), Chick-​fil-​A Bowl, or something that might be going on at Centennial Olympic Park. Many people use MARTA for sporting events and quite frankly, the total time it takes to get home taking MARTA from a sporting event is probably the same as (or longer than) driving. The walkway that leads from the Georgia Dome to MARTA is so congested that there are points along the walkway that tell you how much longer you have to wait in line until you reach the trains (e.g. «45 minutes from this point,» «30 minutes from this point,» etc.). Not to mention you’re going to be packed in like sardines once you finally get to the trains.
MARTA isn’t nearly as bad for Dragon*Con, except for maybe the Saturday morning of, for the annual parade down Peachtree Street.
Other than for the above reasons, I really have no other use for MARTA. Atlanta is a sprawling city and the type of town where you really need a car.
As far as cleanliness goes, I think MARTA trains are relatively clean for public transportation. It’s all hard surfaces, no upholstery, so it’s easier to keep clean. I’ve seen much worse in other cities.
Some people have safety concerns about MARTA. I usually take MARTA during the day and/​or for special events when there are more people than usual riding the trains, so I’ve never had any problems. I’ve definitely seen my fair share of crazies, but no one as crazy as Soulja Girl (
, haha). I have had some racial slurs hurled at me at the Five Points and North Avenue stations. Some stations are worse than others and you may have to deal with a panhandler or two. I’ve only seen MARTA security personnel (either on the trains or in the stations) twice in all my trips.
I think the trains are mostly reliable and comfortable, but I wouldn’t rely on MARTA if I’m trying to get somewhere in a hurry. I’ve never been on a MARTA bus, so this review is solely for my experience with the trains.