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MARTA outlines FY26 budget priorities: ‘safe, clean and reliable’ with $561 million capital plan
Summary
MARTA told the Transportation Committee its FY26 proposal centers on safety, cleanliness and reliability, with a $561 million capital program that includes station rehabs, new railcars and continued investment in MooreMARTA projects.
MARTA presented its FY26 operating and capital budget priorities to the Atlanta City Council Transportation Committee, saying the agency’s guiding principles are to be "safe, clean and reliable." The agency submitted its proposed FY26 budget to the MARTA board on May 9 and held public hearings on May 13 and an additional hearing planned in Riverdale.
The capital plan for FY26 was described by MARTA leadership as approximately $561,000,000. Greenwood said the capital program continues to fund rail-station rehabilitation (including 5 Points, Indian Creek and Airport Station), procurement of new CR400 railcars, bus replacements, track renovation and major MooreMARTA projects. The agency listed $148,000,000 proposed for MooreMARTA Atlanta and $26,000,000 for MooreMARTA Clayton in the capital outlook.
On operations, Greenwood cited safety-related investments including police pay increases and pay-scale compression to recruit and retain officers; a fare-gate modernization (AFC 2) to reduce fare evasion; cleanliness investments; and continued reliability work that includes improved rail headways in the core trunk.
MARTA also flagged a fare-collection reporting issue that led to underreported rail taps earlier in the year; Greenwood said a contractor-supplied thumb-drive process had failed to hold and transfer some tap data but the vendor has pushed a fix. Greenwood estimated fare evasion as a roughly $7 million-per-year exposure and said the new fare-gate system is aimed at reducing that loss.
Why it matters: The FY26 budget frames service levels and capital sequencing for an agency responsible for transit across metro Atlanta. The plan anticipates continued investment in major multimodal projects while protecting core service levels.
Details: Greenwood said there is no expected reduction in planned service levels for FY26 and in some cases modest increases. The proposed capital highlights included continued station rehabilitation and projects such as Rapid A, 5 Points transformation and Cleveland Met ART. Greenwood emphasized the role of grant funding and federal requirements (noting GASB accounting for lease and subscription software) when describing how capital items are recorded.
Next steps: MARTA will continue public hearings and bring the FY26 budget through board approval processes; committee members asked for additional details in follow-up questions about specific projects and program sequencing.
