Economic impact of a crippled MARTA would be substantial
Unless a miracle occurs by June 30, MARTA will be forced to make severe, even crippling cuts in services that tens of thousands of Georgians rely on heavily in their daily lives.
And that miracle better be a big one.
According to MARTA Chairman Michael Tyler, the agency expects operating revenue from sales taxes, fares and other sources at $316 million for fiscal 2011. (The system’s sales-tax revenue has taken a particularly hard hit in the recession.)
However, at current service levels MARTA’s operating expenses are projected to be $436 million, which creates a looming shortfall of $120 million.
The service cuts needed to reduce the budget by a quarter will have far-reaching ramifications to the economic health of metro Atlanta and Georgia.
MARTA, after all, is infrastructure. It is supposed to be permanent, and many people have built their lives and businesses around the expectation that the system will be there.
For example, many of its customers are low-income workers with no other means of getting to their workplace. Sharp reductions in service may push some of them into unemployment, and the businesses that employ them may face the loss of good workers.
Other riders are totally dependent on MARTA to access medical care, grocery stores and other necessities of daily life. The tourism and convention business, including hotels, are also highly dependent on MARTA, as is the airport.
“I think everyone understands the gravity of the situation,” Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said last week. “I think everyone understands that, without any change in MARTA’s funding, it goes broke…. That can’t stand from a competitive standpoint. It would devastate the Georgia World Congress Center. So there are multiple competitive reasons that MARTA needs to function well.”
All in all, MARTA will provide more than 140 million trips this year; for almost 50 percent of its riders, the transit system represents their sole means of transportation.
(And despite what you hear from some at the state Capitol, MARTA is generally a well-run agency that’s respected nationally. That criticism is largely offered to excuse the state’s continued neglect of MARTA.)
There’s also no sign that the looming service reductions would be temporary. Gov. Sonny Perdue has proposed legislation allowing metro Atlanta to tax itself for transportation, but even if that proposal becomes law, the money can only begin to flow by 2013 at the earliest.
“That makes for three very difficult years for MARTA,” says Chick Krautler, director of the Atlanta Regional Commission.
According to Tyler, the system’s best hope for a miracle lies with the state Legislature. But while state leaders talk a lot about trying to preserve jobs and improve our competitiveness in these tough economic times, there is little sign they will be willing to help.
Perdue, for example, has proposed selling bonds to raise $300 million for transportation projects this year. Unfortunately, that money is earmarked only for projects that move freight, not people. For example, it includes $10 million in taxpayer subsidies for state-owned freight lines, most of which are in south Georgia.
Yet not a penny for MARTA.
In fact, in a meeting last week Krautler acknowledged that no one on the governor’s staff had even contacted the metro Atlanta planning agency for input into how that $300 million might best be spent.
“The challenges are so big that we need to work together right now,” Reed warned legislators last week. “We can deal with the stuff between us later. But right now Georgia’s dominance as the capital of the South is threatened.”
And we do nothing.
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464 comments Add your comment
Normal
February 2nd, 2010
8:04 am
Sonny could do it like China, only thre fat catsm get cars and the rest of us get bicycles
Normal
February 2nd, 2010
8:07 am
The fat cats…soeey
I Report :-) You Whine :-( mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
February 2nd, 2010
8:09 am
MARTA must not be very cost effective, just sayin…..
Just another subsidy that benefits only a few.
joe matarotz
February 2nd, 2010
8:09 am
You raise fares, just like the rest of the world does. This is not rocket science.
NRB2
February 2nd, 2010
8:09 am
You liberals just don’t get it.
Reliance on anything designed by government dooms you to failure.
Rely on government for retirement? Enjoy that dog food.
Rely on government for your health care? Enjoy waiting 24 months for a routine physical. And no, you can’t have that medication it’s too expensive.
Rely on government to get you to work? Hope you can handle walking ten miles.
Jay, you cannot continue to demand that productive people just continue to throw their hard earned money into bottomless pits like Marta. It never ends.
And that’s the problem with socialism: eventually, you run out of everybody elses money.
I Report :-) You Whine :-( mmm, mmmm, mmmmm!
February 2nd, 2010
8:12 am
Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Danny Williams is to have heart surgery in the United States later this week, a press conference this morning is expected to confirm.
Media reports last night suggested the popular 59-year-old Premier has opted not to remain in his home province or country for the scheduled surgery, opting instead for treatment at a U.S. institution
Just sayin….
Does it get any more sillier than this?
Gale
February 2nd, 2010
8:13 am
Most of the people who rely on public transportation cannot afford cars, so to solve Marta’s problems, they raise rates. Marta and the Atlanta transportation folks want to encourage people who do own cars to use Marta, so they reduce routes. What’s wrong with this picture. Management at Marta perhaps?
NRB2
February 2nd, 2010
8:15 am
You raise fares, just like the rest of the world does. This is not rocket science.
———————————————
Right, but why ask that the people who use it actually pay the going rate for it?
We would end up with Lowerly and Jesse Jackson protesting in the streets, and the AJC running front page editorials on why it’s the government’s job to make sure that theives, druggies, and prostitutes get their cheap transportation.
Outhouse GoKart
February 2nd, 2010
8:15 am
“I think everyone understands that, without any change in MARTA’s funding, it goes broke…. That can’t stand from a competitive standpoint.
This ill-run fiasco never could and never will stand, from a competitive standpoint. Just another in a long list of costly govt boondoggles that are doomed to failure or consistently burder the business and individual taxpayer. All this moaning about persons who rely on Marta…well take a cab or learn to rely on oneself…thats a novel idea eh?
Hey…purchase an automobile!! I know I know…if one cant ride in a Mercedes then whats the point…ya. Well ya have to start somewhere.
*FLUSH* Marta.
Mick
February 2nd, 2010
8:17 am
NRB2
**Reliance on anything designed by government dooms you to failure**
Please make sure not to collect social security and medicare and leave it to others.
NRB2
February 2nd, 2010
8:18 am
Mick: I’d be more than happy to do that once the government let’s me stop paying into it.
ty webb
February 2nd, 2010
8:19 am
hey mick, who do you think pays into Social security? why do you think they pay into social security?(they have to, in the form of taxes). What kind of return on your investment do you get from Social security? get back to us in a month or two when you come up with some answers.
USinUK
February 2nd, 2010
8:19 am
what a flippin’ waste – Atlanta needs to build MORE access to mass trans, not cut back the service it currently has. the best, most modern cities in the world have mass trans that serves all its people (particularly the elderly and those who can’t afford car ownership) – it reduces traffic congestion and improves quality of life.
Finn McCool
February 2nd, 2010
8:21 am
NRB,
If you aren’t going to rely on the government to protect your “stuff” you might want to hire your own police force
If you are going to rely on the government to put out the fire on your “stuff” you might want to set up your own fire department
If you are going to rely on the government to protect your “stuff” you might want to set up your own court system including penalty infrastructures for incarceration and the like.
david wayne osedach
February 2nd, 2010
8:21 am
Can’t we get any Federal help on this?
USinUK
February 2nd, 2010
8:23 am
Finn –
don’t forget about his sewage, his water supply, his safe drug and food supply …
USinUK
February 2nd, 2010
8:24 am
“What kind of return on your investment do you get from Social security?”
a much better one than most people got on their 401Ks this time last year.
NRB2
February 2nd, 2010
8:25 am
Of course, the mentally ill liberal faction will injectLEGIT functions of a healthy government into the conversation because even they cannot logically argue in favor of providing costly transportation to a bunch of panhandlers.
Finn McCool
February 2nd, 2010
8:25 am
You just can’t cut out pieces of the infrastructure because it isn’t something YOU use. If you own stock in a business that employs people who use public transportation, you better hope they chip in to help solve the problem. Otherwise, the company won’t be able to run it’s business as efficiently and your stock price will go down.
If you and your wife work long long hours and you rely on a nanny who uses public transportation, you should be helping to solve this problem. Otherwise, how much will it cost you in the long run to have your spouse quit her job cause you can’t get a nanny to your house?
In other words: If you live in a house surrounded by dogs, you have to throw the dogs a bone every now and then or else the dogs will get hungry and come into the house uninvited to get the bone and they wont stop with the bone: they will take the whole leg, and the body, and the house.
Corey
February 2nd, 2010
8:25 am
NRB2, rely on the military to fight wars and defend the nation, rely on Social Security getting grandma and grandpa their checks to them every month, rely on air traffic controllers safely guiding pilots and passengers safely through crowded skies in bad weather, rely on Medicare to pay grandma and grandpa medical expeses, rely on inspectors making sure you eat uncontaminated, food and drink clean drinking water, rely people who make sure you travel on safe highways and bridges, rely on the postal service to deliver your piece of mail all the way across country for .44 and place it in the recipient’s mail box, rely on the Coast Gaurd to protect our shores. No government isn’t perfect; there is room for improvement, but Reagan is dead and the sloganeering about government this and government that is so 20th century.
NRB2
February 2nd, 2010
8:26 am
a much better one than most people got on their 401Ks this time last year.
—————————————————–
How about over a 30+ year period, champ?
USinUK
February 2nd, 2010
8:27 am
NRB – you were the one who said that gummint can’t do anything right (”Reliance on anything designed by government dooms you to failure”)
… sorry that you can’t handle the fact that your “argument” (such as it is) doesn’t hold water.
Outhouse GoKart
February 2nd, 2010
8:27 am
would love to visit the Marta Home Office, if there is such a thing, just to see all the waste that has occurred over the years. The mismanagement, the inferior/stupid employees whose mental capacity wouldnt allow them to work sanitation but oh you cant bet Marta will hire them.
The layers upon layers of upper, middle, lower mgmt who strut around all day like prized sideshow freak, the supervisors who beat the workers into that constant drone of “Im sorry for the inconvience Sir.”
Its just mindboggling…
ty webb
February 2nd, 2010
8:27 am
Last time I checked, the federal government didn’t force people to pay into 401K’s. People have a variety of choices to prepare for their financial future, 401k’s are not their only choice.(yeah, I’m pro-choice).
USinUK
February 2nd, 2010
8:28 am
NRB –
“How about over a 30+ year period, champ?”
I’m sure that long-term thinking really helped the people who say 50% of their retirement funds disappear last year just as they were going to leave work.
Outhouse GoKart
February 2nd, 2010
8:28 am
NRB2
February 2nd, 2010
8:25 am
HERE HERE…*APPLAUSE*
NRB2
February 2nd, 2010
8:29 am
I’m fine with the existence of marta. But stop taking tax dollars to fund it, and start charging the market rate for tokens in order to keep it going.
You know, operate it like….a….*gasp!* business?
Of course, what can you do when these same whiners would balk and complain at ten dollar marta fares. They’d rather not have it at all, than to simply pay for it.
Outhouse GoKart
February 2nd, 2010
8:30 am
“I’m sure that long-term thinking really helped the people who say 50% of their retirement funds disappear last year just as they were going to leave work.”
Well Im sure they still have enough to get by and whoever said life was fair. Everyone experienced losses in stocks, retirement funds etc hence a bogus argument.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
February 2nd, 2010
8:30 am
Well, this is what happens when the guvmint runs anything. The fares ain’t anywhere close to paying the cost of riding MARTA. You can ride MARTA 24 hrs. a day for 60 bucks a month. Heck, most of us pay more than that just for insurance on our truck. And they sock people a extra penny on the dollar for buying anything in Fulton or DeKalb.
So I got a little deal for all the people that ride MARTA: Pay for it yourself. Just raise the fare to 100 bucks a month and your problem is solved. And if you’re too cheap to buy a monthly pass, then pay 3 bucks a ride, instead of 2.
We got more things to do with our state money than to pay for rides for a bunch of Those People and city dwellers. If they want to bring their crime out to where we live, let them pay out of their own pocket for a change. Once we catch them and put them in jail, they won’t be needing MARTA no more anyway.
Anyhow, best I can recall, they ain’t our kids and we don’t need to pay their expenses. And I’m sick of hearing about how Atlanta is our economic engine. Ain’t one person that rides MARTA ever done anything for the rest of us except to raise our taxes to pay for their welfare.
That’s my opinion and it’s very true. Have a good day everybody. And I’m not charging nothing for my advise.
Huckabee The Next POTUS 2013
February 2nd, 2010
8:32 am
I’ll see your social insecurity and medifraud and raise you a TSA and a USPS as well as VERY LIGHTLY used oval office.
NRB2
February 2nd, 2010
8:32 am
I’m sure that long-term thinking really helped the people who say 50% of their retirement funds disappear last year just as they were going to leave work.
—————————————————-
Anyone who was invested that much into stocks a year before retirement got what they deserved. By age 55, you should be almost 90% invested into bonds and fixed instruments, not stocks.
But let me guess, retirement is a “right”, even though its a fabrication by the government over the last 50 years.
Outhouse GoKart
February 2nd, 2010
8:32 am
Perhaps our Pro-Tax Progressives might take some compassion on this colossal failure aka Marta and “pass the hat?” Take up a collection so to speak?
EH?…*crickets*….Anyone…liberals…progressives…*crickets*……..
USinUK
February 2nd, 2010
8:32 am
Outhouse – the question wasn’t whether or not you can have losses in the marketplace, the question was about the return of SocSec. No, the long-term returns aren’t as good, but at least the money is guaranteed. marketplace, not so much.
Outhouse GoKart
February 2nd, 2010
8:34 am
“Anyone who was invested that much into stocks a year before retirement got what they deserved. By age 55, you should be almost 90% invested into bonds and fixed instruments, not stocks.”
“…Rap on brutha, rap on…”
HERE HERE!!! *APPLAUSE*
Doggone/GA
February 2nd, 2010
8:34 am
“But stop taking tax dollars to fund it, and start charging the market rate for tokens in order to keep it going.”
Sounds like a plan…but why stop with MARTA? Let’s apply it to our roads and highways too. After all, if I never drive on Atlanta streets and highways why should MY tax dollars go to paying for them? Let’s make all streets, roads, and highways toll roads. You want to use this road? You gotta pay for the privilege.
Then there’s the sidewalks. Let’s make them toll too. You want to walk here, you gotta pay for it.
Granny Godzilla
February 2nd, 2010
8:34 am
Oh, hell. Just ban cars that don’t get a minimum of 50 miles per gallon with in the metroplex. See public transportation get better.
TaxPayer
February 2nd, 2010
8:34 am
I heard that the Republicans have a free market solution in the works as we flail away at the keyboards — a coupon for one year’s worth of free labor for oil changes on each purchase of a new KIA.
USinUK
February 2nd, 2010
8:35 am
Outhouse – maybe you and NRB should get a room and have some “special time” …
NRB2
February 2nd, 2010
8:36 am
but at least the money is guaranteed. marketplace, not so much.
——————————————————————
Why not just let people keep the 7% of their income to keep in a savings account then, as opposed to letting Uncle Scam play mom and dad by sticking it into a piggy bank?
Seriously, liberals are like 5 year old kids. “But people would spend the money and not save it!” So friggin’ what…it’s THEIR MONEY!
USinUK
February 2nd, 2010
8:36 am
NRB -
“By age 55, you should be almost 90% invested into bonds and fixed instruments, not stocks”
I guess you didn’t happen to notice the record widening of spreads this time last year …
Outhouse GoKart
February 2nd, 2010
8:37 am
USinUK
February 2nd, 2010
8:32 am
I see your point. However, taking chances on the market place can pay-off. Think I will take both!!! YA…thats it!
Finn McCool
February 2nd, 2010
8:37 am
You get rid of social security, you adversely affect alot of other industries. Too bad you are so short-sighted NRB.
The safety net provided by social security completely changed the landscape of the US. For example, prior to SS, where did people who were no longer able to work live? With one of their kids. So you are talking two families in one house. If you sell houses would you prefer to have one customer or two? SS allowed those older folks to move out of the house. Now you not only have two houses: you have two tv’s, two refrigerators, two cars, two sets of washers and dryers.
i love my parents and they can move in with me if it comes to that, but I hope it doesn’t come to that. NRB, I hope your spouse likes your parents.
USinUK
February 2nd, 2010
8:37 am
NRB – that’s how SocSec is set up – we pay for today’s retirees … kids will pay for us.
Mick
February 2nd, 2010
8:38 am
ty webb
Social Security should be supplemental for retirement but for many it is the only means of existence. Sad but true, where would this country be without it? When your time comes, I don’t think you’ll be refusing it, yes?
USinUK
February 2nd, 2010
8:38 am
Outhouse – 8:37 – and that’s my point.
NRB2
February 2nd, 2010
8:39 am
Well Finn, I think it’s heartwarming that the government steals 7% of my paycheck so that you don’t have to take care of your parents. I think thats the grandest justification for SS that I’ve ever read. I’m going to print that out, frame it, and hang it in the living room.
Jay
February 2nd, 2010
8:40 am
So I guess that all you macho independent types who don’t rely on government for anything don’t use the roads and highways, right?
And no, roads don’t pay their own way either. To cite just one example from the column, that $300 million bond issue pushed by Perdue mainly to allow easier freight movement on our roads will be repaid through general taxes, such as the state income tax and sales tax.
It’s also fascinating how Outhouse would love to visit MARTA headquarters, yet even without doing so he already knows what he would find. The fact is, as I state in the piece, MARTA is one of the best-run and efficient transit agencies in the country. It doesn’t get credit for that fact because it is more convenient for many to preach the stereotype, as Outhouse does here.
Finally, a lot of good, honest decent people work very hard all their lives and never make a lot of money. I see them everyday on MARTA, and those of you who dismiss them as leeches, etc.,… your momma didn’t raise you right.
ty webb
February 2nd, 2010
8:40 am
SS money is guaranteed? yippee! As someone in their mid thirties, I can rest assured that when it comes time, my modest return will be there… well, minus the interest, but I guess that’s better than nothing. Now when was that projected SS deficit supposed to take place? Can I just go ahead get a key to the “lock box”?
Outhouse GoKart
February 2nd, 2010
8:40 am
In Martas dismal failure of a history has it ever generated a profit or just broke even?
Kamchak
February 2nd, 2010
8:40 am
If households and businesses have to pay down all their debt at the end of every month, why shouldn’t the federal, state and local governments pay down all their debt by the end of every year?
This folksy metaphor is repeated so often that its absurdity is rarely noticed. In reality, households and businesses do not balance their budgets every month, or even every year. Both households and businesses take out loans and pay them down over many years.
Do deficit hawks understand that real households and businesses do not follow the “pay-go” rules that they advocate for the government — on the supposed model of households and businesses? Are deficit hawks really deficit dodos?
[...]
Maybe the deficit hawks don’t believe a word of the dodonomics they spout in public. Maybe they have learned that they can get public support for their irrational crusade against government borrowing for legitimate purposes (like averting a depression) when they repeat the cliché that “government should balance its budget the way that families and businesses do.” Maybe they are confident that most Americans will never reflect on the absurdity of this statement, and never question equally illogical claims about “intergenerational equity.”
Maybe it’s just propaganda.
If so, then the real dodos are not the disingenuous deficit hawks themselves, but the politicians who parrot them, and the voters whom they gull.