Atlanta's MARTA Lacks Leadership, Severe Service Cuts Likely

"There's a sense of urgency on my part because we are dying on the vine," says Nathaniel Ford, MARTA's general manager. "It's almost like a slow death with 1,000 cuts." Instead of an outpouring of aid for MARTA, state and local leaders are spending their time nitpicking and criticizing the system. Here is an agency that has cut 725 positions in the last three years and reduced its annual budget by more than $5 million. It has done that while investing nearly $1 billion in its infrastructure, trying to overcome years of neglect and deferred maintenance.