The MARTA Army wants YOU

When Georgia Tech PhD. student Simon Berrebi moved to Atlanta from his native Paris three years ago, he was shocked at the city’s tangled mess of public transportation. Now the self-described transit nerd wants to help transform MARTA into a world-class transit system by making small yet impactful changes.
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?Enter the MARTA Army, a new grassroots organization whose goal is to enhance the MARTA experience for its riders. With the help of a handful of Georgia Tech graduate, undergraduate, and Ph.D. students, riders and residents are being given a chance to reclaim ownership of the system by volunteering and engaging in “strategic boots-on-the-ground interventions.”
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?Changes are already being made through the adopt-a-bus-stop project, where residents are responsible for hanging laminated signs with bus schedule routes and times at designated stations, and by adorning different stations with art from local artists.
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????Rohit Ammanamanchi, a Georgia Tech undergrad, hinted that these steps are only the beginning. He said he hopes that volunteers will have the ability to “own” bus stops and spruce them up by adding a bench or scrubbing off unwanted graffiti.
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?“Right now people are kind of repulsed to ride MARTA,” Ammanamanchi said. “We want to make it favorable.”
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?The idea originated at last year’s annual Transportation Camp, an “unconference” with attendees working to merge technology and transportation, held on Georgia Tech’s campus. Berrebi said MARTA Spokesman Lyle Harris asked a bunch of attendees what it would take to improve the transit system. They told him. In April, Berrebi got a call from Harris saying he was pitching the idea to the MARTA board.
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?“We never thought it would happen because it’s a huge risk for MARTA to let a bunch of randos use their logo and mess with their property by putting these signs on their property — it’s a huge liability and it’s a huge public image risk,” said Berrebi.
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?But the transit agency and its board is confident with leaving the innovation and modifications in the hands of the army, which is its own own private venture. Under the leadership of CEO Keith Parker, the transit agency has made strides and embraced exploring new ways to attract new riders and please the current ones.
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?MARTA has authorized the use of its official logo but all funding for the group is done through crowdsourcing. Berrebi said Harris even bought the laminating machine that the MARTA Army lugs from event to event on “his own dime.” The organization is currently in the process of securing non-profit status.
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?Ammanamanchi said the community’s response within launching the program in the last couple weeks has been overwhelmingly positive.
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?Brantley Eaton, a volunteer and a staff trainer for Georgia Tech who moved to Atlanta from Fort Collins, Colo., said “one of the biggest social ills of our city is the public transportation and the lack thereof.” When he heard about the MARTA Army, he said he jumped at the opportunity to “make something that can be great even better.”
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?The group held its first official meeting two weeks ago in Old Fourth Ward. Before that get-together, members had promoted the initiative at other functions held throughout the city. Berrebi says the army will continue hosting events to pass out signs, recruit new members, and brainstorm ideas. The grassroots organization has already tallied more than 100 members.
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?The next big event is to be held at the Carver Neighborhood Market in South Atlanta on Oct. 29 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Members will also meet on Nov. 2 at Georgia State University. To sign up and join, visit the MARTA Army’s website.
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