After a ballot measure approved the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority's (MARTA) expansion into a suburban county outside of Atlanta, the transit agency could set precedent on how to effectively adapt to sprawling suburbs.
In a 1971 referendum, Clayton County (an adjacent county south of Atlanta that houses the city's enormous airport) rejected MARTA's service, as its white residents feared the transit system would make it easier for blacks to reach their suburbs. However, four decades later, with Clayton County's bus service collapsing, 74 percent of the county's diverse, largely working-class voters approved a measure to join MARTA and pay for the service with a new sales tax.
As discussed on The Week by Jacob Anbinder, MARTA is the only transit agency in the country that does not receive state-government funding. Despite a growing population in the last four years, between 2010 to 2013, the agency saw a 6,000-person decline in transit commuters, the most of any American city.
Moreover, Atlanta's commuting patterns are not the typical hub-and-spoke style. Anbiner discusses how, "Atlantans need to go from suburb to suburb more than they need to go downtown. Four in five Clayton commuters work somewhere other than Atlanta; at the same time, four in five people who work in Clayton County don't live there. Like Atlanta's aptly named Perimeter Center Mall, the new center of MARTA's network may well be at the perimeter."
Read the full story: How public transportation can adapt to suburban sprawl
MARTA Scales Back Expansion Plans
Atlanta’s transit agency is slowing its plans to extend its bus and rail lines, prompting criticism from city officials.
Atlanta Transit Plans Stall Due to Budget Concerns
With MARTA facing a potential billion dollar shortfall, the agency says it can’t fulfill its system expansion plan.
Commuter Rail From Clayton County to Atlanta Planned by MARTA
The Atlanta region could soon gain a commuter rail line similar to those found in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
Amtrak, CN end decades-long dispute with eight-year agreement
The new operating agreement establishes an updated framework for the companies to work together, including processes to resolve disputes.
Northwest rail fans eager for Sept. 30 debut of Amtrak’s Airo fleet
Get ready for that new train smell and more seats. But they won’t go faster or run more frequently on the Cascades route in Washington and Oregon.
St. Louis Metro to test if single-car trains can reduce operating costs, maintain rider satisfaction
The pilot program will run from October to spring 2027, and begin with one single-car train operating on Metrolink’s Red and Blue lines.
Pennsylvania is building data centers in abandoned mines
Housing data centers in mines provides an alternative to destroying local forests and may spare residents from data centers’ noise and air pollution.
If Corpus Christi can’t revive desalination plant project, it may owe Texas $235 million
Earlier this month, city officials declined to pursue developing the plant for the second time in a year.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Thousand Oaks
City of Wisconsin Rapids
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello