Atlanta

ATLANTA — MARTA said that the Authority has achieved an operating budget surplus for the second year in a row – recording $12.1 million in additional revenues for FY07. This marks only the second time in 20 years that MARTA has recorded an operating budget surplus for two consecutive fiscal years. MARTA also ended FY07 with $117.4 million in capital reserves. The capital program funds additions and improvements to infrastructure and supports the Authority’s bonding capacity. “Thanks to a strict fiscal management plan, strategic cost containment measures and improved financial performance in recent years, MARTA has achieved this significant accomplishment,”

ATLANTA – From July to December 2006, MARTA’s passenger counts grew by 7.2 percent and passenger revenue increased by 3.8 percent over the same period last year.   Nationwide, public transit ridership grew by 2.9 percent from 2005 to 2006. “MARTA is working hard to improve service and attract more riders to the system and we are pleased to see the positive results of our efforts,” said General Manager Richard McCrillis. “We hope to sustain this trend through the multiple renewal and improvement efforts we have underway – including our rail car rehabilitation project, increased service levels, and heightened focus on

ATLANTA — MARTA, metro Atlanta’s mass transit system, is reviewing the so-called station gaps, the distance between subway stops, according to a report in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Officials hope adding more stations to the 48-mile line will attract more riders. Extending the rail line would cost roughly $100 million per mile, while building the “infill stations” might be a cheaper approach. “MARTA’s approach has always been to extend the line, and once they’ve built that, development would come,” Lara Hodgson, a member of metro Atlanta’s regional Transit Planning Board, told the newspaper. “But what if you did the opposite?” she