Marta Development
The Two Maps shown demonstrate the lack of development in the MARTA system sense it’s beginnings in the 1970’s to the present. This lack of development so interesting because currently and in the past the MARTA system has been unsafe and often times unreliable (Pajet-Sikens). According to Stay Shelton with the AJC the original plan for the MARTA was to stretch hundreds of miles and connect 5 countries by 2000, however the MARTA system has not extended past 48 miles and has remained primarily in Atlanta(Shelton). This Lack of expansion is due to several reasons; the first being a lack of Federal funding. The Atlanta city council has consistently voted to deny the increase in a sales tax to support the MARTA and previous governors have made funding for the MARTA a low priority (Shelton). This makes it nearly impossible to expand a system that runs smoothly and efficiently. Another reason for the Lack of growth in this aspect of public transportation is the rejection of the idea from many suburban areas. After the end of the civil rights movement many White people fled to suburban areas away from poverty in the cities. The suburban Areas of Cobb county were predominantly white and affluent, many people wanting to keep it that way. In an attempt to keep low income African Americans from reaching suburban areas cobb county voters, who were 95% white, denied the chance to join the MARTA operation in 1965 (Pajet-Sikens). Similar rejection to support and fund the MARTA system has been seen from the beginning of the MARTA system to present day that has made it nearly impossible to expand and very difficult for low income people that rely on public transportation systems to move from a small area in Atlanta.
Paget-Seekins, Laurel. “Atlanta: Unsafe at Any Speed: Transit Fatality Raises Issues of Race, Poverty and Transportation Justice.” Race, Poverty & the Environment, vol. 19, no. 1, 2012, pp. 22–24. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41762530.
Shelton, Stacy. "MOBILITY 2030: METRO ATLANTA'S 25-YEAR TRANSPORTATION BLUEPRINT: END OF THE RAIL\ METRO TRANSIT, MARTA'S ROLE BEING SCRUTINIZED." Atlanta Journal-Constitution [Atlanta, GA], 27 Sept. 2004, p. F1. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A122522332/ITOF?u=uga&sid=ITOF&xid=db041076. Accessed 13 Nov. 2018.