The seats on MARTA might be hard plastic now, but when the system first opened, they were padded, just like BART and the Washington Metro. The floors were also carpeted too.

As an Atlanta native and one who rode MARTA rail when it opened in 1979. I love it. Truth, MARTA trains doesn't travel outside Fulton and DeKalb counties because of racism. The citizens of the largest five counties were given a choice of voting for MARTA in the early 1970s. Gwinnett, Cobb, and Clayton declined, thus no MARTA or rail services. Clayton joined MARTA in 2017. Gwinnett declined again in 2020. Cobb and Gwinnett are among the most traffic choked in the metro area. Only one interstate runs through Gwinnett with nearly 1 million residents!! It's not MARTA fault at all with the traffic problems in Atlanta!

Even as a metro Atlanta native it took me 20 years to finally get around to using MARTA. After a while, it got on my nerves having everyone tell me it's dangerous and crime infested (as if this only affects transit systems), so I went sorta out of spite. Overall I was pleasantly surprised! Paying $5 for a round trip definitely beats the traffic crunch and exorbitant $20 downtown parking.

That escalator at Peachtree Center is one of the longest in-service escalators in the world, and if it seemed to be running slower than normal, that is by design: it runs slower so people's ears have longer to adjust to the pressure gradient. Really love that station, too. There used to be signage on the platform explaining the challenges of the station's construction, but they were removed in advance of the Olympics, probably for space reasons. The system was heavily used and VERY crowded during the Games, hence the slogan "I made 17 million new friends on MARTA."

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is named after former Atlanta mayors William B. Hartsfield and Maynard Jackson. Maynard Jackson was the first Black mayor of Atlanta and of any major city in the South, serving as Atlanta's 54th mayor of Atlanta from 1974 to 1982, and again as the 56th mayor from 1990 to 1994. Jackson was mayor when MARTA secured the funding and built its heavy-rail system, helped Atlanta win the 1996 Summer Olympics in 1990 and was in Barcelona to receive the Olympic flag in 1992, and in the context of the airport, he helped arrange for the upgrade of the then-William B. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport's Midfield/Domestic Terminal to modern standards! So when he died in 2003, the airport added Jackson to its name, and named the International Terminal after him as well when it opened in 2012! The Mercedez-Benz Stadium at 7:41 is quite the cool stadium with an epic retractable roof consisting of eight panels! Activated by the push of a button, they appear to rotate when opening but actually move in unison along 16 linear tracks. Closing the roof takes slightly less time than opening the roof, since the roof has to disengage the seals at the start of the opening procedure and slow down towards the end to prevent the panels from getting derailed. When opened, the panels are designed to create the illusion of a bird's wings extended, to reference the Atlanta Falcons of course (the stadium's facade was also inspired by a falcon's wing)! Architect Bill Johnson explained that the circular opening in the roof was inspired by the Roman Pantheon. The roof was designed to be made of a clear, lightweight polymer material that can adjust its opacity to control light, and much of the exterior is clear polymer or glass to allow views to the outside. The middle concourse and upper bowl were eliminated in the east end zone to allow for an unobstructed view of the skyline!

Welcome to Atlanta! Thanks for covering my city! Marta may have its flaws, but we love it regardless.

MARTA has the best airport rail connection

As you mentioned, the lines on MARTA didn't get color-based names until 2009. The original names for the lines are reflected in the station codes you mentioned at the airport. The Gold Line used to be known as the Northeast Branch (and in 2006, the Northeast-South Line), and so the stations on the Gold Line-only section in the northern part of the system have station codes beginning with NE, like Doraville's station code being NE10. The Red Line was known as the North Branch (and later North-South Line in 2006), so stations on the northern Red Line section have station codes beginning with N like North Springs's code being N11. But the Green Line is different in that its station code doesn't reference a compass direction. Bankhead's station code begins with P because the Green Line used to be known as the Proctor Creek Branch (later Proctor Creek Line in 2006) of the East-West Line and it wasn't supposed to terminate at Bankhead but rather was supposed to be the North Line, meant to serve places such as Northside Drive in Brookwood Hills, serving the Perry Homes projects. You didn't get to see it, but Five Points has a facade from an old building that they chose to keep during the construction! The facade they kept in Five Points is from the Eiseman Building. The Eiseman Building was constructed in 1901 to house a haberdashery and clothing store. It was the idea of John Carlsten, an Atlanta architect, to incorporate the turn-of-the-century sculpture into Five Points station! Peachtree Center is a cool station! Peachtree Center was built by tunneling through solid gneiss, a granite like rock formed of layers of quartz and mica. It is the Stockholm Metro station of the MARTA system! Like deep sea divers, construction workers were required to undergo 30 minutes of compression/decompression when entering or coming out of the tunnel. This was due to the air pressure of the devices that held the rock walls until permanent supports were built!

Atlanta's airport is extremely busy for different reasons! The airport got its start when Coca-Cola founder Asa Griggs Candler donated the land on which the defunct Atlanta Speedway sat for the purpose of creating an airport. So from the very beginning, business leaders of the state realized the importance aviation was going to have on the economy. Atlanta has a growing economy with lots of corporate traffic, companies headquartered in the city include Coca-Cola, Home Depot, and UPS! When the airport first opened in 1936, it was known as Candler Field! Atlanta was fertile soil for flight. For one thing, the airport had room to expand, and it was set about 10 miles south of downtown Atlanta, close enough in to be quite serviceable to the city’s core but far enough out to grow as needed! As cities get larger, typically, they have more than one airport that is serving them, but not Atlanta, which adds on to Atlanta being so busy! Delta in 1955 was the carrier that created the hub and spoke network. So they were the innovators of that concept, using the spokes to bring all those passengers into a hub, allowing them to transfer” on to other destinations, so nearby medium-sized cities get access to the rest of the world and the US with Atlanta as a regional hub. Growth helped, too. Through mergers, Delta Air Lines could expand internationally. Atlanta occupies a strategic eastern point in the United States, acting as a major entry point for international traffic. Hartsfield-Jackson has a large catchment area with competing airports quite a distance away. Airports such as Nashville and Charlotte are about 250 miles (400 kilometers) away, too far away to provide a whole lot in the way of competition. So people drive a long distance to use Atlanta because there’s really no other viable airport in the area. Atlanta is in something of a sweet spot. It’s within a two-hour flight of 80% of the US population, according to the airport, but it’s not jammed up too close to other major metro areas!

The unfortunate thing for MARTA is that it's so anemic. Atlanta is a very large sprawl and a lot of the more populous suburbs aren't served by the rail system. I hope one day it's allowed to expand and really grow into a system that can serve Atlanta. Everyone knows the traffic is god awful there.

MARTA was one of the reasons I ended up moving to Atlanta last summer! On top of getting a job and going to school downtown, it gave me the perfect opportunity to rarely have to drive anymore (and deal with Atlanta traffic) by taking the train to and from work/school everyday! It definitely has its faults, but seeing the “rush hour” traffic of 75/85 beneath me going home in the evenings reminds me how much I appreciate getting to take the train every day.

I live in the Atlanta area and I ride the MARTA trains fairly often. They are useful for when I want to get downtown. Atlanta is a difficult place to build public transit both geographically and politically. Most people need to get from one suburb to another and there are a lot of NIMBYs preventing the system from expanding outside of Fulton County. I personally would love to see the system expand out to Norcross and it seems like it would be a good fit as people might want to commute from there to jobs in the city.

Working at the airport I use to take MARTA from North Springs to the airport. While it was nice to be able to cruise by the traffic, it actually took longer to get home from the airport due to the Red line stopping at Lindbergh after 9 pm. I still use it regularly to get to Atlanta United matches downtown

Wide seats is probably a good idea in the southern us

That station you were in at the end is very cool looking. I always love seeing natural rock in rail systems

Welcome to Atlanta. I live here and ride MARTA on random occasion. I rode the system shortly after it opened 40+ years ago. (aging myself here). The seats used to be padded and the floor carpeted. The second train car you rode in during the video was one of the original on the system, with the short seat handles! The whole system was upgraded with new running gear and all of the existing rolling stock had the interiors redone about 12 years ago. I hope you enjoyed your trip here!

I live north of the North Springs end of the Red Line. Free parking + $5 round trip is a no brainer vs driving/gas/parking ($40 for major events) when going downtown. Train goes directly to the Arts Center, Mercedes Benz Stadium, State Farm Arena, GWCC and so so so much more. And for the airport it's a straight shot to the terminal, and $8/day parking.

What a beautiful system!!! Especially peach tree center station. The idea of every station being alittle unique gives the system character; it’s just as valid to intentionally make each station architecturally diverse as it is to make them uniform like DC!

I really like the rock wall at the Peachtree station.

I visited a friend in Atlanta in the late 1990s; my parents dropped me off on their way to South Carolina. My friend worked during the day but I had no problem getting around the city and back to my friends Apartment using MARTA. Fun times.

I've been waiting for this one. MARTA really does feel and look like a strange combination of WMATA and BART. Thanks for the video! (Also yeah Atlanta having the largest airport is wild to me, I think the reason is just due to it being a hub for multiple airlines... Still weird!)

I love MARTA and I ride it whenever i visit the midtown neighborhood (which is my fave btw) but it could be SO MUCH BETTER. It has not grown significantly since its debut and Atlanta has experienced massive growth since then. I believe there are plans for a new light rail system along the beltline which would circle the city which sounds like it would be awesome.

The Trains on the MARTA sound like the R143 trains in NYC

The Five points Atlanta Station is undergoing extensive renovations they are trying to complete in time for the World Cup. It's possibly because of this construction that it's currently so confusing to get around the station to transfer trains. Some parts of the station have been closed off.

Rode this last month and the MARTA trains sound exactly like BART's original fleet that just retired. The train interior features and station architectures also reflect the climate of Atlanta as supposed to cities that are generally cooler and dry like SF or snow.

As a kid, I remember seeing a picture of MARTA in a book and wondering why is a DC Metro train in Atlanta 😆 They have a good system down in Atlanta and I hope they get the expansion that they desperately need.

Looks like a fun trip. I've been to Atlanta once when looking at colleges, and I drove on that migraine inducing 15 lane freeway downtown, swearing never to do it again. I need to ride MARTA next time... I read somewhere that the green line was supposed to go to Druid Hills and Emory Univ. It's a shame those plans were blocked.

I rode marta as a kid a little over 10 years ago. Definitely a very interesting system. I spent a lot of time growing up in Atlanta since I had family there. I used to railfan down there too (never Inman or tilford yard tho unfortunately). Atlanta is a very special city to me. Also my guess for the airport being so busy is the fact that a lot of businesses are headquartered in Atlanta, like more than any other city I've been to by a long shot.

This train brings back a bit of self-deprecating nostalgia for me. Had an overnight layover while traveling with my aunt at 10 years old. As we were heading back to the airport in the morning, the train came to a full stop right near ATL to wait for another to pass. Having recently become fascinated with planes, my naive little suburban FL self who had never been on a metro train in his life got up to look at a jet on final approach in the other window. Of course at that exact moment our train took off again, and I learned the valuable lesson not to stand up in a transit vehicle without holding on to something 🤣

I was in Atlanta for my cousin's wedding back in January. He lives down there. I took MARTA from the airport to Peachtree Center and then transferred to the streetcar to go to our hotel. Unfortunately, due to how small the MARTA rail system is, it's really only good for getting from the airport to downtown. It's still better than having nothing but it just needs to be more expansive. There was briefly a plan recently to extend the green line from Bankhead, north to Vinings, but Vinings is in Cobb County, not Fulton, DeKalb, or Clayton Counties, which means it's out of MARTA's range. You see, when they initially planned MARTA, they wanted it to also serve Cobb, Gwinnett, and Forsyth Counties as well, but due to NIMBYs in those counties, it was scaled back to Fulton, DeKalb, and Clayton Counties. Now Cobb, Gwinnett, and Forsyth Counties have their own bus networks that don't even connect with each other and don't even connect to MARTA, unlike Chicago where CTA, Pace, and Metra are fully integrated with easy connections between each system

10:20 I believe they put the all signs up there on the walls back to back so that all people in the train can look out and always see what station they're at at all times when the train is stopping.

I'm so glad that Atlanta, got the train Network in the airport. Given that Atlanta would become the most busiest airport in the world, that was a wise investment.

This was a very interesting video. I hope that the MARTA will expand to try to help Atlanta’s horrible traffic problem. That would be awesome!!!

Great video. The Five Points station is undergoing a massive re-design. Should be ready for the world cup. Also the four new MARTA infill stations are situated where the beltline streetcar connects.

Thank y’all for taking the time to visit and vlog the MARTA adventure… My criticism of MARTA is that every line is a “local”, no express service, think of the “A” train in NYC…

The main reason Atlantas Airport is so busy is because it serves as a connecting hub for the Southern U.S. and the North and West. Alot of connecting flights from one part of the country to another pass through Atlanta. It’s a major freight rail hub and gets a ton of through highway traffic for the same reason basically.

I respect the choice to change the name of the line because of the backlash, but I do wish that Seattle did something similar instead of changing the entire naming system to numbered trains. Colors are much more easily identifiable, and for people who are visually impaired or just not fully aware of their surroundings, a numbered system may cause confusion. For a rapid transit system, ease of use is important, and simply changing the color of the red line to some other arbitrary color would have been a much better solution for all parties. Excellent video!

MARTA is the ONLY reason why I will visit my uncle, he lives in North Springs, and it takes 3 hours by car to get to the airport! One by the MARTA, this thing is a godsend for the people of Atlanta, if only it had more stations

First time catching a premiere! Looks like a great video!😊

Brilliant video sir, good to see Lyndsey keeping an eye on you too!

Wow. That was fun ! Thank you for your quiet and observant intuition. You spoke to us, as if you were helping us out, as tourists. The system looks sleek and very 1970s. The stations are bright and clean.Never been there, but the city looks as if, it's in an old forest. Hello from Tel Aviv.

I enjoyed riding MARTA when I was in Atlanta last year. It is the most convenient way from the airport to downtown for sure.

I love how they sound. They sound almost identical to the DC metro in the 90s and early 2000s

3:45 Wow, I never even noticed the numbers all the times I rode MARTA! That's cool

my favorite vid of yours yet since this is sorta in my backyard. hope Atlanta can continue to push forward with the Beltline and become less of a car city

We've ridden on Marta a lot in 2017. We rode from our airport hotel to 5 points and to Doraville for an awesome lunch!

Yay! Finally you got to go to Atlanta for once to ride the public transportation system there. That’s the closest subway from where I live even though it’s a couple hours away which isn’t bad. And I know that airport is the busiest in the world which I talked to my mom about the other day because she was there to make a connection back home from Philadelphia. I plan on going back to Atlanta in a couple months when I can ride the trains there again.

Rode MARTA to work almost every day for 31 years until I retired. Bought a house in 1984 for its proximity to a then planned expansion. Much better than driving in Atlanta traffic.

A big positive was missed when they skipped on the idea of expanding into Cobb County (Northwest of Atlanta). Would've saved soooo much auto traffic.

I rode MARTA several years ago during a visit to Atlanta, and the trains were absolutely filthy. From your video it appears that they’ve cleaned up their act.

Bankhead Station was originally the beginning of a line that was supposed to run further north. Same of the east where a line was supposed to go into north dekalb.

I can't wait till them new CQ400's stadler metro cars arrive. Them things look amazing also the open gangway feature they have is divine😁.

Safest Buses in North America for years now,like over 30. The busses act as a feeder system to get around metro atlanta and surrounding cities and their bus lines are incorporated into the MARTA system.

I used this when at Momocon! I loved riding on a train for the first time lol

As a kid growing up in the DC area I remember traveling to ATL and thinking how similar the Marta was to the Metro. Lol what a doofus I was… Marta has barely (if any) changed over the last 20 years. Why they haven’t built out their current lines further into the suburbs is beyond me. Not to mention ATL has a beautiful green belt just begging for a tram connecting lines.

I live in the Bay Area so I do take BART all the time and it does look similar to the DC Metro and Atlanta MARTA

Thanks for the video. I always understood that the MARTA rail system was originally partially planned as developmental or "build it and they will come" often going to places that were rather desolate at the time but have since become more dense such as the Lindbergh station. Also keep your eye on the Beltline which is first turning abandoned railroad right of ways into walking paths that are connecting and energizing vast areas of the central city and will likely also have trolly lines. One comment regarding comfort: When Marta first opened they had cushioned seats on the trains. Unfortunately, vandals quickly destroyed them with cutting and graffiti and they were replaced with the resistant ones they have now.

I first rode MARTA in 1986 going to a bowl game. All I can remember is the up escalator at Peachtree (11:35) was broke. We had to hoof it up many flights worth of stairs. I've since ridden DC Metro, Montreal and NYC subways but spread out over decades so its hard to compare.

Beautiful video as always thom

Heyyyy Welcome to my city! Hope you had a great time here. We are also getting the new cq400 trains from stadler later this year or early next year. They already did virtual tours of the new car design and are implementing an open gangway similar to the 8000 dc trains. So more similarities for the future. Also the problem with expanding marta is that they originally had plans to expand further up north but the NIMBYs in Gwinnett and Cobb county cancelled the expansions so the money instead went to BRT projects and a proposed streetcar extension which isn’t great. Hopefully we will see more in the future.

This is a beautiful system!!!

Great presentation! I especially loved the "Marta" song you opened with. Always great to see Lindsey in the videos! The new cars with the big colored route lights on the front end seems like a great idea. Of course, I'm from Chicago where the L trains have (little) colored route marker lights on the front end. They originated so the towermen could switch the trains the right way at the junctions, but then they discovered that passengers were using them too to make sure they boarded the right train. Ps. I don't think there's anything wrong with how you say "Atlanta." I say it the same way you do.

Great video; looking forward to the one on the streetcar! I haven’t gotten the chance to ride MARTA yet, but the station announcement chimes are wonderful; I’m pretty sure they’re the same as the chime in Miami (at least on the MetroMover)

MARTA buses are great too. They get a bad rep at times. I go to school outside the perimeter at a small state college and I live close to the West End station. I'm able to get on the train and connecting bus to get to Clayton State University by the 193 bus pretty easily.

Not from ATL, but i love MARTA. I wish more people could ride it.

Really glad that you guys got to enjoy our city. I definitely can tell you that those Stadler cars are definitely coming in 2025. They had an event here a few months ago showcasing the new cars. When they come, you should definitely check them out. They will have open gangways and a few other European features.

I'm glad you finally did the Marta, I'm assuming you also rode the famous ATL Planetrain and Sky train as well

Thank you for your honest and in depth review. MARTA is not what it could be (potential), but it's a lot better than most people think. I take MARTA from the North Springs station to the airport frequently for work trips. I've never been on the green line. I know a lot of residents in the metro use MARTA for daily work purposes, and suburbanites like myself use it to get to State Farm Arena/Mercedes Benz stadium as well as the airport. There is no better way to get to a Hawks/Falcons/United game than with MARTA. I can't wait for the new trains!

MARTA was a good start , but reluctance of suburbs to participate kept the system from being what it should be. So they live with some of the most clogged expressways in the country.

I went to school there and rode the train for 2 years until I moved on campus and didn't need it. It was great back in 2002 - 2004 and still is. You just have to know how the system works and how transfers work. You can get to Alpharetta in 45 minutes from downtown which takes about 35 minutes by car (10 minutes difference! ...or longer in traffic). And yes I am a white dude.

Everytime I visit Atlanta and ride the Marta, that loud air brake jolts me

Looks like MARTA has brighter lighting than WMATA's subterranean gloom. Maybe that's to keep you awake during the long waits!

That’s my old home metro system! Also, it’s just a theory, but I think Atlanta’s airport is so busy, because unlike other large cities, it only has one major commercial airport.

Marta is the pinnacle of southern humor; If you fall asleep on the train you wake up at the airport!

Really cool video the reason why they were accessible from day one it has to do with the architectural barriers Act of 1968 requiring any projects to be accessible from day one. Atlanta MARTA stock same 1970s stock as San Francisco and WMATA but Propulsion of NYC R188 R142A R143 Boston Type 8 Trams Mitrac 1508C. Looking at the Washington Metro 2000 3000 and 6000 propulsion its Alstom ONIX 1990s version NYC R160A R160B Alstom R142 some Warsaw trains.

I really enjoyed this video. Those trains really look similar to the DC Metro, but I think we have the nicer trains in DC. I’ve never really had time to explore Atlanta, I’ve only been to the airport. I’ll be at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson in June as a connection to my destination in Lima, Peru. I think they’re the busiest airport because it’s a connecting airport more than it is a destination airport.

I developed a strange and weirdly specific fascination with MARTA ever since I saw the movie 'Escape from New York' by John Carpenter. Several scenes were actually shot in Atlanta, specifically some of the MARTA stations. In the original (deleted) opening sequence, Kurt Russell's Snake Plissken and his partner, make their getaway using the USART (United States of America Rapid Transit) system, which MARTA stood in for. The metro stations they shot those scenes at the time were brand new and looked very futuristic and spage age, which was perfectly suited to what the film crew was looking for.

reminds me of the old BREDA and ROHR WMATA fleet, esprcially the beige interior and the exact same sounds!!!

I love MARTA. Rode it last year February

Functional, for sure - whilst they won't go the whole distance to solve the wayfinding issues, the colour-coded train fascias will be a publicity winner - look forward to seeing them \m/

I’m always gonna be happy to see some UIC merch! Excited to see the new Stadler cars on MARTA.

Atlanta is probably the busiest airport due to the many internal flights in the USA and it's location makes it a good place to change to places further north ,west and south.I think that Dubai is the busiest for international flights although the UAE must have internal flights too.

Marta is a great transit system, Marta should expand NW towards Marietta/Braves Stadium, West to Six Flags, and to International Terminal of the Airport

At one time Marta had a negative joke about what it stood for. Also Peachtree center station was used in a movie. Called the heavenly kid.

To me, something about the slanted walls reminds me of the interior of an Imperial Star Destroyer. If the walls weren't so beige, I would bet Darth Vader would ride MARTA!

Love your vids

TRA is back!

The Plane Train makes for an interesting comparison with the connections between terminals in DFW.

At 12.30 thou mentionedst “the original bedrock.” That bedrock is gneiss, which is the German word “Gneiß” (ß = ss). It’s pronounced the same as “nice.” We Atlantans wish the subway went farther, but it goeth indeed not farther.

I'd love to see you make a video discussing Marta's need to upgrade their outdated machines, especially in East Point. They're always malfunctioning and in desperate need of an overhaul for the entire system.

I loved the video. That is my hometown took Marta all the time, I loved the system. It was supposed to be more expansive than it is now but the political landscape of the time prohibited it from growing and it is the only system in the country that receives no state funding. So for them to keep the system vital is impressive in and of itself. The system has potential but it needs people with vision.

I enjoyed the video👍👍

To those complaining that I used the population of the city instead of the metro area: you’re getting so hung up on a technicality that you’re missing the point. I used the population simply to show that Atlanta is not that large from a global perspective. Had I used the metro area, that wouldn’t change. There are still dozens and dozens of metro areas worldwide much bigger than Atlanta. In fact, New York doesn’t even make the top 10. Those who got that point were able to offer helpful explanations about why despite Atlanta’s low global ranking in terms of population, it still has the busiest airport. Things like it being a hub, having only one airport, etc. But to those of you who never made it past the city proper / metro area debate: I understand that this is KZfaq, but stop immediately jumping to comment on a perceived mistake.

ATL is the busiest airport in the world because it's also the HQ for the largest airline in the world, Delta. Every day, more than 800 Delta flights depart Atlanta to over 30 countries. That accounts for more than 3/4 of the total departures from the airport. ATL is the biggest simply because Delta is the biggest.

When MARTA trains first started running back in 1979 the interior were different if I had a way to show you the original interior and looks of the trains from the early 80’s

Drives me nuts that this should have been done in Seattle. The Sound desperately needs this kind of metro. :-/

Cool video, I was hoping to see which stations you got off on. I was shocked to see get off at Ashby station!! You gotta catch the midget train at 5 Points not Ashby. Ashby is in the hood one of the worst stations on the line. Truly exploring things around Marta will take more than a day. When you come back explore the surroundings of Decatur, Midtown, CNN Dome & Inman Park stations. Youll need a few hours to explore each.

I bull shitted the marta for a school projethct and yours has way more information than mine lol good job bro!!!

I spend some time in Atlanta going to college there and used MARTA frequently when necessary. Mostly stayed on campus, in fact you got off at Ashby which was were my college was located. Perhaps you heard of the Atlanta University Center on the announcements on your way there. It's a nice system and it should be more expansive than it is. They'll get there one day, I hope. It's a growing part of America and they'll need it.

I hope the new Stadler trains will arrive soon