Statistics

MARTA is responsible for creating jobs across the state.

• According to a May 2007 UGA study by the Carl Vinson Institute, MARTA is directly and indirectly responsible for the creation of over 20,000 jobs in Georgia.

According to an October 2009 report by the American Public Transportation Association, every $1 billion invested in public transportation capital and operations supports an average of 36,000 jobs.

MARTA has a significant economic impact and spurs growth in the state. 

• According to a May 2007 UGA study by the Carl Vinson Institute, Georgia realizes a $2.1 billion impact to the state's economy because of MARTA.
• According to an October 2009 report by the American Public Transportation Association, every $1 billion invested in public transportation investment also yields $3.6 billion in business sales and generates nearly $500 million in federal, state and local tax revenues.

• MARTA provides 500,000 daily passenger boardings - 54 percent of those are customers going to work and 10 percent use it to get to school.
• About 46% of MARTA customers report they do not have another readily available transportation option.

• Riding a transit bus is 91 times safer than travelling in a car.
• About 13 percent of residents over 55 years old in MARTAs core service area (Atlanta, Fulton and DeKalb counties) intend to ride MARTA when they can no longer drive.

• MARTA takes more than 185,000 cars off the roads each day.

• If MARTA stopped running, annual traffic delays in Atlanta (already second only to Los Angeles) would increase by 1.25 million hours and cost an additional $245 million in congestion costs (i.e. gas consumption, tardy deliveries and employee productivity).

All of our state and Metro Atlanta federal transportation funding depends on meeting mandated air quality standards. Without MARTA, the region would risk losing its eligibility to qualify for billions of dollars in future transportation investments.