MARTA bus service to be cut as COVID-19 sparks staffing shortage

Staffing shortages brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic are forcing Atlanta’s city transportation system to cut its bus routes starting in December.

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority plans to move 96 of its 113 routes to a Saturday schedule beginning Dec. 18. The agency has seen ridership drop to about half what it was before the coronavirus pandemic, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Eleven of MARTA’s most-used routes will keep regular schedules, and six routes that don’t operate on Saturday will also keep a regular weekday schedule. No routes will be eliminated, and there will be no changes to rail service.

“This is not something we want to do,” CEO Jeffrey Parker told the MARTA board of directors Thursday. “This is something we believe is a rational and appropriate thing we want to do under the circumstances.”

Read more: https://www.wabe.org/marta-bus-service-to-be-cut-as-covid-19-sparks-staffing-shortage/