Time for Atlanta to adopt an integrated mobility strategy

Increasingly, major cities are taking a strategic approach to mobility planning. These include Charlotte, Dallas, Los Angeles and other cities in the U.S.

Mayor Andre Dickens’ April 2024 administrative order on transit has created an opportunity to enhance mobility, strengthen neighborhoods and make Atlanta’s amenities accessible to all residents. It effectively resets the More MARTA capital expansion program. And it sets a pivot point from which to rethink how the City and MARTA can help people get where they want to go.

Those are the opening lines of a white paper released today by Better Atlanta Transit.  The report calls upon Atlanta leaders to develop an Integrated Mobility Strategy – similar to those adopted in Charlotte, Dallas, Los Angeles and other peer cities.

The proposal is premised on the idea that transit in Atlanta faces both a crisis and an opportunity.

That crisis is well established. “  There are legitimate concerns about MARTA’s long-term fiscal viability, as well as the agency’s capacity to address the conditions that underlie those concerns,” the white paper notes. “ At the same time, sluggish implementation and rising costs have set More MARTA (which applies only to the City of Atlanta) on a path that falls far short of expectations.”

The opportunity is less well-known but potentially just as impactful.  We believe that innovative technologies and approaches can extend the effective footprint of mass transit at a fraction of the cost of conventional modes.  Among the reforms are micromobility (bikes, scooters, etc.) and microtransit (such as  on-demand shuttles), along with various types of applications and automations.

Atlanta, MARTA and the region already taken big steps in the right direction. E-bike vouchers, complete streets and the proliferation of multipurpose trails each pave the way toward a more micromobility-friendly city.

On the microtransit front, MARTA’s NextGen bus-route revamp includes proposals to extend on-demand service into districts in the city that are reliant on transit yet less dense than other areas. Various entities, including Hartsfield-Jackson Airport and the area around Truist Park, are experimenting with autonomous shuttles.

The next step toward such an approach? “An independent body to consider how traditional mass transit might be woven together with new technologies and changing travel habits.”

Please have a look for yourself at the white paper.  We welcome feedback in the form of comments below this post.