MARTA’s chief maintains that the transit system is safe and secure following several high-profile violent incidents.
In letters to the Federal Transit Administration and Georgia House and Senate leaders on Wednesday, MARTA Interim General Manager and CEO Jonathan Hunt reiterated that the agency has reduced crime, hired more police officers and modernized the system.
“While MARTA has positive and improving crime statistics,” Hunt wrote, “we realize that if our customers don’t perceive the system to be safe, they will not ride.”
MARTA officials were given until this week to answer questions about safety for riders and employees after the particularly gruesome fatal stabbing of 66-year-old Margaret Swan last month.
Hunt also said in the letters that MARTA welcomes an FTA audit, and he outlined plans to make the transit line safer, including assigning a police officer to each of its new trains when they come into service, hiring more case managers to help homeless individuals and implementing new technology to expedite the identification of people who break the law.
