MARTA (Buses & Subway), Atlanta

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Got a giggle because someone in our training class said we could use MARTA since we didn't have vehicles to use. What was MARTA? What the heck was that? Well, we became familiar with this wonderful transportation system. We used Marta to go from our hotel, to Atlanta and to visit Norcross.

Monday - Friday
6:00 am until 11:00 pm
Sat, Sun & Holidays:
8:00 am until 10:00 pm

Get a Breeze Card or Ticket. All riders must have a Breeze Card or Ticket to access the bus or train. Breeze fare can be purchased at a Breeze Vending Machine located in all 38 rail stations or at any of the MARTA Ridestores (Airport, Five Points, Lindbergh Center & Lenox stations). Learn

MARTA is an okay way to get around Atlanta. It's cheap, but doesn't run all night and you'll need to take buses to get to most places. There is a train station at the airport, and there are stations located in downtown, midtown, and buckhead. If you're staying in these places, then I suggest taking MARTA.

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This is a good way to get around the Atlanta area, which is quite large! If there is a Marta Station in the area you are staying, which there is near most hotels then try this instead of renting a car because traffic here is unreal. You can even take Marta to a Braves or Falcons game to avoid the traffic. Check out the website below for all the details.

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The MARTA station located at the airport is the southernmost in the north-south line of the system. The other line is the east-west line, and these two lines converge at the center of downtown at the Five Points Station. MARTA tickets can be purchased with cash or credit card at easy to use kiosk machines, but there are friendly attendants ready to help visitors make their purchase. I purchased a $4- ticket, providing a round trip trip to Five Points. The tickets are electronically coded and are used to enter and exit the boarding part of the station, so save your ticket carefully. However, the tickets don't appear to be magnetically encoded, and they don't go through a card reader machine. The passenger simply waves the card over a special detection machine to open the gate. Security at MARTA appears very good despite the dominant population of sometime intimidating hiphop-style African-American youth at the stations and downtown. Police security is very good. The trains still had seats during my rush hour trip to downtown. Keep moving and the street people outside the MARTA stations won't even approach you for a handout. Link below can provide route planning help.

Marta is one of the smarter ways to get to our airport from almost anywhere in the city....$2 one way fare gets you right at the Terminal and plenty of room for bags. Buses also run all over the city and schedules are online for all areas, as well as the train schedules. There are 2 main lines (north/south and east/west) and pretty easy to use---just be carefull at the furthest edges late at night.

When VT fixes the upload problem for pics, I will add some.
Marta is somewhat new, and expanded in recent year to meet the heavy load of vehicles on the highways. Atlanta now features rail lines north to south and east/west trunk lines. Buses are also part of Marta program to take you to other destinations, or dual connections.
It seems more efficient for commuters, and may be useful for tourists. One way ticket is $1.75 and can get trip passes, and other variations.

Conyers is on the outskirts of the metro Atlanta to the east. The trains only go about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way there.

I just checked on some other transit options. I have never used this service, but I HAVE seen the buses around the city from time to time. There is a company called XPress that provides service from 5 Points (on Forsyth St.), the Civic Center MARTA stop (you can get on MARTA at the airport) and Pryor Street in Atlant to East Conyers. It looks like the trip takes about 1 hour.

http://www.xpressga.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=84&Itemid=75

The fares are $3 one way or $5 round trip. You can buy a Breeze card at the MARTA station in the airport and use that for a transfer to the Xpress line as well.

Map taken from the XPress web site.

From the airport, it is very easy to get to downtown, just follow the sign to ground transportation, till you see MARTA. $1.75 token per trip can be purchased from machine. Atlanta is not under efficiency pricing system (i.e., it is flat fare regardless of length or time one travels). N-Day visitor's pass unfortunately would be only available if you are among a group of 15-20 AND prereserved X-days ago!

We travelled into Atlanta from Sandy Springs on the MARTA subway train. It runs partly under and partly overground. While on the train I was amazed to hear locals critisizing the system heavily, I don't know why. Personally I found the system clean (ish), comfortable, frequent and cheap. Of course I don't live there and don't have to use it everyday. I suppose an Atlantan could come to the UK and drop on a lucky day and think our transport was ok.
All I can say is it did the business for us.

The rail system around atlanta Is horrible. The stations are about 5 miles apart so it is not convenent unless where you are going is close to the station and where you are coming from is close to the station.