Can MARTA Convince People To Choose Transit?

“They have stores in Union Station,” said MARTA spokeswoman Rhonda Briggins Ridley. Union Station in Washington D.C. is like a half-train station, half-mall. You can buy clothes and cosmetics there. You can get a burger or a bagel or a burrito.

The only thing to do at a MARTA station is get on a train.

“If we’re talking about the experience, we’re talking about expanding, if we’re talking about becoming a different MARTA, then we have to look at things differently,” said Ridley.

To do that, state law has to change. Now, MARTA must give concession contracts to the lowest bidder. To attract better concessions, MARTA officials want to be able to look at experience and investment, not just cost.

Either way, MARTA may not exactly be on a Union Station-like track. But Sebastian Terry, waiting for a train at the Lindbergh station, said he’d enjoy concessions.  

“I like to eat, so I would go to concession stands every day,” he said.

But Terry’s not one of those choice riders MARTA is after. He’s already at the station.

Unlike Marina Brand. She’s a Georgia Tech student and lives in Buckhead. She says she rides MARTA to class sometimes, or takes it to the airport. She was at Lenox Mall, and had taken Uber there. But she’d welcome stores at MARTA.

“It’s always nice when you can have your Starbucks while you wait for your train,” Brand said.  

Another thing MARTA is working on is better bathrooms. There was even a special news conference to introduce them. But the publicity isn’t convincing Ricky Nunez, who was waiting at Lindbergh and more concerned about punctuality.

“I don’t really use the bathroom here,” Nunez said. “I mean I try not to. Everyone in their right mind would.”

But there are problems beyond perceived bathroom filth and a lack of snacks. 

“If they would bring it to Conyers, I would ride it every day,” said Nancy Kelley. “I don’t care about the bathrooms. I would hold it.”

MARTA’s first new bathroom is in Lindbergh station.

The transit agency plans to push for a change to the concession rule during the upcoming legislative session, which begins in January.