It’s a 40‑year, $2.7‑billion transit wish list.
Atlanta voters overwhelmingly approved the More MARTA half‑penny sales tax in 2016, creating a first‑of‑its‑kind partnership between MARTA and the City of Atlanta. In 2018, the MARTA Board of Directors formally adopted the program and approved a project list that ultimately shrank from 70 projects to 17.
Touted as a historic investment by city leaders and MARTA officials, the program was designed to expand transit and meet the city’s growing transportation needs, including:
- Service expansion to 126 Atlanta neighborhoods
- Improved job access for roughly 350,000 positions across the city
- Greater transit access—a 61% increase—for communities with large minority or low‑income populations
- Connections to 77 medical facilities, 83 grocery stores, and 115 schools
Now, the Atlanta City Council has unanimously backed a resolution authorizing Mayor Andre Dickens to renegotiate that agreement. It marks the first major legislative move from newly elected Councilmember Thomas Worthy.
Worthy says one of the biggest changes he wants is a formal input from the council in the intergovernmental agreement: “Clarity, accountability, transparency, and a role for council… Those are my guiding principles in this effort.”
