MARTA shows some signs of its problem

Atlanta GA - In an editorial piece in of all papers, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, they point out the waste in MARTA's costly proposal to rename 4 of their rail stations. They also point out the mixed up priorities in the proposal. I'm still in shock that the AJC sees the light in terms of the waste and screwed up priorities in this proposal from Atlanta's transit provider.

The cost of renaming the 4 stations along the MARTA rail route is close to $1 million. Details of the story can be found in the 2/28 edition of the AJC.

The reason for this wasteful and incorrectly placed priority? Officially the claim is to make the stations reflect the neighborhood they run in. Unofficially it is to kiss up to the MARTA Board of Directors who four of their past members will be honored with a station named after them (i.e. give them their legacy).

The claim that by not changing the names, people outside of the area will be confused is strictly spin to make the change seem more important than it is. Most of the time, these types of name changes of stations and routes are strictly political in nature and do little besides confuse riders until they get used to the changes and of course waste money.

While MARTA isn't planning on rushing out to redo its system maps and schedules like most operations would if it changes the name, it still is a very expensive change that isn't needed.
MARTA has problems as do all transit systems. They need to be focusing on correcting their problems rather than finding ways to waste money.

This name change proposal is strictly wasting money. While the money is capital money which can't be used for operations (I've heard that line so many times it isn't funny), it is still tax money that shouldn't be wasted. That $1 million could be used for other issues that could be paid for out of the capital fund which are far more critical to improving the operation.

MARTA earns a Lance for clearly showing how mixed up their priorities are and for finding yet a new way to waste taxpayer's money.

Note: You may need to be registered at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution to view the links in the story. You may be able to pull up the source stories from Google News.