Who is Better Atlanta Transit?

Putting the worst idea in Atlanta on top of the best idea in Atlanta sounds crazy,” BeltLine lovers have told us. Credit: Better Atlanta Transit

Last spring, a handful of longtime transit advocates met on the Beltline Kroger patio to drink beer and talk about a shared concern: Was MARTA really going to put the Atlanta Streetcar on the Beltline?

Our group included a green building consultant, a former county commissioner, an environmental journalist, a property manager and three Georgia Tech professors.

[Meet Better Atlanta Transit’s entire Board of Advisors]

At first, we had more questions than firm opinions: Why was this project favored over long-awaited transit in less-advantaged parts of town? Will the streetcar squeeze pedestrians and cyclists into a tighter corridor? Won’t three years of construction be bad for Beltline shops and restaurants? What will happen to the trees and green space? 

And after the first leg is built, where will the city find another $2-plus billion to complete the entire circular route? Or will it just hobble along as a partially completed white elephant? Did city leaders learn nothing from the debacle of the Atlanta Streetcar?

In case you didn’t notice, these are pointed questions. That’s not surprising, because each of us had history on the Beltline.

City planner (and former DeKalb Commissioner) Jeff Rader helped write the 2004 “Emerald Necklace” report, which established the now-successful approach of building a people-powered greenway integrated with new and old city parks before focusing on transit. Journalist Ken Edelstein wrote a 2005 editorial urging people to vote for the tax allocation district that made the Beltline possible. Former Atlanta Planning Commissioner Mike Dobbins was a Beltline rail skeptic; he argued early on that scarce transit dollars should address riders’ needs before being exploited for a development scheme.

“Projects,” Dobbins has said, “should serve the accessibility needs of those most dependent on transit, which has the added benefit of beefing up all-important ridership.” 

Now, we found, the case for the streetcar had gotten weaker. It turns out that a streetcar was never needed to spur Beltline development. Meanwhile, fixed-rail transit ridership has been plummeting for the better part of a decade – even before COVID. At the same time, electric bikes and scooters have turned individual, green transportation into a daily reality for thousands of Beltline users.

We quickly realized we weren’t the only ones criticizing the rail loop, the first leg of which would connect the Atlanta Streetcar to the Beltline and proceed from Irwin Street to Ponce City Market.

A group of Old Fourth Ward residents were infuriated when they learned – after the decision had been made – about plans to extend the Atlanta Streetcar down their narrow streets on its way to the Beltline.

Property owners and shopkeepers were worried that a 35-foot-wide no man’s land with concrete barriers and overhead wires would make the Beltline less hospitable and their businesses less accessible.

And we kept running into ordinary people whose views on the streetcar and the Beltline went something like this: “Putting the worst idea in Atlanta on top of the best idea in Atlanta sounds crazy.”

But the project itself rolled on. Last spring, MARTA’s board placed that first leg of Beltline rail on a list of just nine projects (out of an original 73) that could move ahead with funding from the More MARTA transit infrastructure sales tax. Last summer, a MARTA contractor completed the project’s 30 percent design phase; those plans lay bare just how radically the streetcar will change the Beltline.

To find funds for the entire Beltline rail loop, which advocates themselves peg at $2.5 billion, transit projects with established ridership demand were either downgraded or put aside. Among them were projects along the Hollowell and North avenues, Northside Drive, Campbellton Road, Peachtree Street and the Clifton Corridor, as well as new and upgraded stations.

We decided it was time to recruit allies to help us get More MARTA back on track. And that’s how Better Atlanta Transit was born.

Our overall goal is twofold: Reimagine the Beltline to build on its current success as a  micromobility greenway, and focus More MARTA funds on projects that make sense for equity and ridership. At the very least, MARTA must place a hold on Beltline rail until these valid concerns are addressed.

On our About page, you’ll see that our search for like-minded people has been successful. Our Advisory Board is a diverse, civically engaged group. Some are movers and shakers. Some are transit nerds. Some are just Atlantans concerned about their community.

You can join the dialogue, too. Hundreds of Atlantans have already pressed our Join Us button and completed the simple form. Nearly 100 have offered to volunteer. That’s good because we’ll need to work together to stop this runaway train from rumbling down the Beltline.