Key Stops of MARTA

By Paul Jung

I have profiled about important stops of Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transportation Authority. MARTA has nearly 100 stops in metropolitan Atlanta. From those 100 stations, there are a few key stops such as shopping centers, tourists’ attraction, education services, and other significant landmarks of Atlanta. These stops include stops reached either by the MARTA railroad stops or MARTA bus stops.

Metropolitan Atlanta is well known for its city infrastructure which has shopping centers that surrounds the city. MARTA covers the transportation of these shopping centers. Specifically, MARTA has a stop on Lenox Mall, which is a shopping center which has an area of 154,500 square feet, over 250 retail stores on 4 stories along with the food court. Lenox mall is one of the main shopping center of Atlanta. On top of that there are more retail stores around walking distances of Lenox mall, which are all major brand name stores such as Dicks Sporting Goods, Filene’s Basement, and Borders. The stop at Lenox Mall adds convenience to those who has to depend on public transportation to get to a shopping center.

MARTA stops on many education services as well. Just to name a few, MARTA has stops in Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Oglethorpe University, University of Georgia (transferring to Southeastern Stages), and Emory University. Figuratively, the number of students who attend Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Emory University, and University of Georgia combined is 100,286 students. Also, including employees and faculties of these institutions will make this figure greater. This means that over a hundred thousand of students can commute to their schools by using MARTA.

Some tourist’s attractions are accessible through MARTA. MARTA stops on “Peachtree Center” which is one of the major tourist attractions in downtown Atlanta. Peachtree center consists of many blocks of structure built with modern style including hotels, athletic facilities, retail stores, restaurants, and sky decks connected with a network of sky bridges. By having stops on major attractions, even tourists who do not reside in Atlanta can utilize MARTA to get to where they need to go.

Lastly, MARTA has special shuttles dedicated for special events. It has shuttles to the Atlanta Braves (Major League Baseball Team), Turner Field, and Atlanta Hawks (National Basketball Association’s Team), Philips Arena, and Atlanta Falcons (National Football League Team), Georgia Dome. These Atlanta franchises have many fans all around the city of Atlanta. Surely, some of these fans can take MARTA to watch their favorite teams play and not pay for parking or waste time in heavy downtown Atlanta traffic in their private vehicles.

In a metropolitan Atlanta, there are not many services or area that MARTA does not reach. Although many people living or working in the city of Atlanta has access to other modes of transportation other than MARTA, usually cars, to those who are dependent on public transportation, MARTA is a solid mode of transportation.