The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, better known as MARTA, has been responsible for helping Atlanta natives navigate across Atlanta for over 50 years. Whether it be from the Westlake train station all the way to the Lakewood train station, MARTA is a part of Atlanta culture.
It dates back to 1965, when the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Act was first amended. The act consisted of the voting of five metropolitan Atlanta counties: Clayton, Cobb, Dekalb, Fulton, and Gwinnett. The five counties voted on whether or not they supported the idea of an affordable public transit rail and bus system. The act ended with 4 out of the 5 counties agreeing, with Cobb in disagreement.
After a final referendum in 1971, only two counties out of the original five agreed on the start of the transit system, leading MARTA to first serve the counties of Dekalb and Fulton.
The question arises: why weren’t the other three counties on board with the idea?
From the early 1960s to the 1980s, Metro Atlanta experienced a demographic shift. Over 150,000 Whites fled the inner-city neighborhoods for the suburbs of metro Atlanta to once-rural counties like Clayton, Cobb, and Gwinnett.
Many white suburbanites did not agree with the idea of creating an affordable transit system that would connect the predominantly Black inner city counties of Fulton and Dekalb with the predominantly White counties of Clayton, Cobb, and Gwinnett.
This unwillingness decades ago would have an impact on the city's struggling transportation infrastructure today, as major highways were built through Black inner-city neighborhoods for white suburbanites to avoid Black people.
On June 30, 1979, MARTA operated its first rail service between the Georgia State and Avondale stations.
Today, MARTA serves over 150 million people annually with over 101 bus routes and 38 train stations throughout Metro Atlanta. Anyone who claims to be from Atlanta is familiar with those iconic blue and orange stripes.
The MARTA collection gives just a glimpse into the transit system that makes this iconic city what it is.
