Are you a MARTA bus? If not, get out of the new Rapid A-Line’s red lanes.
MARTA’s first new transit line in more than two decades launched Saturday, debuting speedier service in red lanes meant for buses only.
The long-delayed Rapid A-Line, which connects the downtown, Summerhill and Peoplestown neighborhoods in 15 minutes or less, is the first rapid bus project in the state and the first of several MARTA is building in the coming years.
Service started with little fanfare, with the transit agency treating this weekend as a soft launch before construction of the route is fully completed this fall.
But drumroll or not, the A-Line’s signature purple buses rolled out on a day that marks the biggest transformation of MARTA’s bus service since the agency’s 1970s origins. Launching alongside it was MARTA’s new NextGen bus network redesign, which overhauls virtually every route with a promise of faster service and more access.
For bus driver Antoinette Ragsdale, one of three operators manning the A-Line on its inaugural trips, all the changes position MARTA for the future. She hopes the new services will transform how metro Atlantans view their transit agency.
“It’s time,” Ragsdale said during her shift, maneuvering around cars and welcoming riders eager to try the rapid bus. “It’s time for MARTA to get the sun shining on it.”
Getting to this point has been a long time coming.
Atlanta voters approved a sales tax to fund transit expansion in 2016, and the Rapid A-Line is the first of those projects to come online nearly a decade later. The project was initially estimated at $58 million, but its costs have ballooned.
The MARTA Board of Directors extended the budget further last year, approving up to $122.9 million, though spending is likely to come in below that. Minus a $12.6 million grant, the remaining costs are being paid for from the More MARTA sales tax.
Construction delays and complications have largely driven the rising costs. There have been all kinds of problems since MARTA broke ground on the nearly 5-mile round-trip loop in June 2023. A former MARTA chief compared the process to peeling an onion: Every layer removed has revealed new issues.
There was the discovery of shallow household water supply lines and a surprise underground parking garage, unmarked on any blueprints. There were two sets of old trolley tracks, remnants of a bygone era, that necessitated calling out archaeologists from the State Historical Preservation Office.
And then there were the bones, now believed to belong to a horse, that required an investigation by Atlanta police.
Other issues have also set back completion. MARTA is still waiting on several of the bus station shelters, most of which will be installed after this summer’s FIFA World Cup. A recall on the New Flyer battery-electric buses bought for the line meant MARTA had to find a new fleet to service the route temporarily.
Some details meant to ensure the buses can travel quickly are still in the works.
As of today, red striping that identifies the bus-only lanes is only complete in the downtown portion of the loop. The Georgia Department of Transportation is finalizing equipment that will prioritize the buses when they approach certain traffic signals, so for now, MARTA has worked with GDOT and the city of Atlanta to install a temporary solution that will let the buses jump the queue.
Full completion of the line is expected later this fall. But the soft launch didn’t stop people from venturing out to test the route on its first day of service. Fares are free temporarily, but eventually a ride will cost $2.50, just like other MARTA trips.
Turner Fore, 16, came with his dad, Howard, to try the line. They took the train to Five Points and caught the A-Line at its stop on Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, where MARTA ambassadors offering help on launch day outnumbered passengers.
There’s nothing else like the new rapid bus line, Turner Fore said.
“It’s a big step for transit in general,” he said.
Ragsdale, the route’s driver, pulled out of the station slowly and started the route.
Rapid bus lines typically feature fewer stops and dedicated lanes that help buses bypass traffic and move faster, making their service operate more like rail than traditional buses. In some areas downtown, the Rapid A-Line shares the road with drivers, who are likely to slow it down. But about 85% of the entire route is along bus-only lanes — as long as drivers stay out.
As Ragsdale drove down Mitchell Street, she slowed to an unexpected stop near Pryor Street, where a driver had parked in the bus-only lane to pick up a man at the Origin Hotel. Ragsdale honked. The car’s driver, after helping her passenger load a suitcase in the trunk of her car, turned to the bus and blew it a kiss.
Two other cars would be in the lane on the exact same block the next time Ragsdale passed by. Hearing the bus honk, the driver of a parked car moved over.
“Thank you, thank you, Ms. Lady,” Ragsdale said. “Stay out of this lane.”
For several years, MARTA has sought legislative approval to ticket drivers using cameras on the buses. Another attempt was unsuccessful this past legislative session, so the plan now is that Atlanta Police will handle enforcement.
There’s a two-week grace period for drivers during which violations will trigger a warning, MARTA spokesperson Payson Schwin said. Enforcement will begin in earnest after all the signage, pavement markings and red-lane striping is complete.
After Fore and his dad got off at the route’s southern endpoint near the Terminal South development, Ragsdale began the loop back downtown.
At a temporary stop in Peoplestown, Douglas Martin climbed aboard.
He and his wife live in the neighborhood. He said he’s not a regular transit rider, but he likes to take MARTA for special events.
On Saturday, he was headed to the Chamblee Art Fest. Typically, he’d drive to a train station and park there. But the A-Line makes it even easier, Martin said.
“It’s nice to have something that connects directly to a MARTA station,” he said.
Ragsdale had to pause for more out-of-place drivers on the trip back. She said she expects they’ll learn fast once ticketing begins, but for now, everyone’s adjusting.
Drivers aside, Ragsdale said the first day was going smoothly. It was exciting to see people walking along the route notice the royal purple bus — the A-Line buses are specially wrapped to look distinctive — as she drove by.
“You see a lot of people looking,” Ragsdale said.
Soon, she hopes, they’ll become riders.
About the Author
Sara Gregory covers transportation for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Previously, she covered local government in DeKalb County. A Charlotte native, she joined the AJC in 2023 after working at newspapers in South Carolina and Virginia.
