Students seek alternatives to rising MARTA fares

        For ordinary riders, MARTA fares increased 25% with the start of October and will now cost riders $2.50 for a one-way ticket.

MARTA spokesman Lyle Harris said that without the fare increase, MARTA would risk running a deficit in the coming years, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The last fare hike was in 2009, when prices went from $1.75 to $2.00.

The MARTA Breeze card payment system that presently works for its bus and train lines will also be accepted on its latest project, the Atlanta streetcar.

        Set to open in 2013, the construction of the streetcar has already diverted seven downtown bus lines.

The first line stretches from Centennial Olympic Park to the Martin Luther King Historic Site. The federal government granted the city of Atlanta $47 million for the streetcar project and the Downtown Atlanta Improvement District is paying another $25 million.

MARTA granted Georgia State a one-month grace period, so the monthly pass available for students from Auxiliary and Support Services will increase from $41.00 to $61.00 beginning in November.

         According to MARTA, the fare jump will reduce ridership by 9 percent. The fare increase leaves many commuter students wondering whether or not MARTA is worth the money and looking for alternative methods of getting to campus.

"I am going to be driving because my friend works at one of the parking garages. So, it'll be a lot cheaper as far as saving money," said Kelechi Nwogu, a social work major. "MARTA just doesn't make sense anymore. It'll be defeating the purpose of financial convenience and it won't be helping me as a college student with no job."

       Senior Barrington Martin II lives in Decatur and parks his car at the MARTA station. He says even with the increase, MARTA is still worth the fare increase. "I'm still taking MARTA because it's convenient. Fifty cents more is a big jump, but I still think it's worth it," Martin said. "I only come two days a week, so I pay daily instead of monthly, but if I came more I wouldn't mind paying the extra $20.00. I'd rather avoid the traffic."

        Downtown Atlanta has some of the lowest daily parking prices in the nation, according to Colliers International 2011 North American Parking Survey. The national average is $9.12-$24.24 a day, where in Atlanta the range is $5-$22.

Georgia State offers free parking for students at Turner Field where they shuttle them to campus.

"I am driving and parking at Turner Field the two days a week that I come to campus because MARTA prices are going up," junior Regional Rhodes said."I don't even like MARTA and it's definitely not worth the money you pay."

"Prices keep going up, but I don't see any results from it."

MARTA Fares

Single trip

NOW $2.50          WAS $2.00

Round trip

NOW $5.00         WAS $4.00

10 trips

NOW $25.00       WAS $20.00

20 trips

NOW $42.50       WAS $34.00

7-Day Pass

NOW $23.75     WAS $17.00

30-Day Pass

NOW $95.00   WAS $68.00

U-Pass

NOW $61.00   WAS $41.00