# Atlanta, GA



## MattW (Sep 1, 2012)

I think I'll start by saying how to get to Atlanta's Amtrak station.

Get to the Arts Center Station. This station is on both the Red and Gold line so any northbound train between the airport and Arts Center, and any southbound train from Lindbergh will work. On weekdays after 7:00pm, and some weekends when track work is being done, the Red line only runs south as far as Lindbergh station, so anyone coming from or to between and including Lindbergh and North Springs would have to transfer to a Gold line train during these times (remain on the platform, either center island, or right-side platform when looking south).

Once you're at the Arts Center station, look for the route 110 bus going Northbound (Lenox Station-Buckhead) and get off just after the bus crosses the highway. The Amtrak station is on your left across the street.

MARTA

Riding MARTA is fairly simple. Fare media is the Breeze card which costs $1 just for the card. MARTA fare is $2.50 with free transfers between all rail routes, MARTA bus routes, and most other metro Atlanta bus services (Cobb Community Transit, Gwinnett County Transit, XPress service). The Xpress buses and express bus service of the local operators may have a higher fare, and I can't confirm if they allow free transfer from MARTA ($2.50) to the express services (~$3-$5) without the difference available on your card, but it does work the other way around.

As briefly mentioned, the Red line will only run between North Springs and Lindbergh after 7:00pm every day, and during periods of "single tracking" on the weekends, may run this shortened route all day. During these times, for continuing southbound, simply transfer at Lindbergh Center Station to a southbound Gold line train, and for going northbound, simply transfer from a Gold line to Red line train. For going the same direction, either platform should work (normal southbound track has a platform on each side).

The Green line to Bankhead operates as far as Edgewood-Candler Park during the morning and evening commute times, and to the King Memorial station during midday. After 7:00pm, the Green line operates only between Bankhead and Vine City, and some weekends during single tracking, may only operate between Bankhead and Ashby.

Transportation Connections

Outlying metro Atlanta bus systems and Xpress bus service can be accessed from several MARTA stations.

Mega Bus stops at the north end of the east side of the Civic Center MARTA station (Red and Gold lines).

Greyhound has a station underneath the Garnett MARTA station (Red and Gold lines).

The Hartsfield-Jackson International airport is the southern terminus of both the Red and Gold lines.

Dekalb Peachtree airport can be accessed from MARTA bus route 19 from the Chamblee station (Gold line).

Various organizations and institutions provide shuttle services from various MARTA stations.

Attractions

Underground Atlanta is directly accessible from the Five Points MARTA station.

Philips arena, CNN Center, Georgia Dome, and Georgia World Congress center are accessible from the Dome-GWCC-Philips Arena MARTA station, one-stop West of Five Points on any westbound train.

The southern end of Centennial Olympic Park is the fourth block due west of the Peachtree Center station or 0.2 miles Northeast of the Dome-GWCC... MARTA station.

The Georgia Aquarium, World of CocaCola, Atlanta Children's Museum, and the northern end of Centennial Olympic Park are in the fourth block due west of the Civic Center station.

MARTA bus routes 1, 51, and 32 all serve the Five Points station and have stops at the south end, and along the west side of the park. 32 also serves the Civic Center station directly.

The Atlanta Cyclorama and Zoo can be accessed via MARTA bus route 32 either directly from Five Points, or from a block south of the Georgia State Station (Blue and Green lines).

Stone Mountain Park is accessible via MARTA by taking the Blue line to the Kensington Station (second to last station) and riding MARTA route 121 to Stone Mountain Village and walking into the park. However, the bus route is fairly long, and renting a car may actually be considerably faster.

The Fox Theater is across the street to the north from the North Avenue MARTA station (Red and Gold lines).

The Gwinnett Civic Center is accessible via Gwinnett County Transit route 10 from the Doraville MARTA station (Gold line).

The Atlanta High Museum of Art and Woodruff Arts center are directly east of the Arts Center MARTA station (Red and Gold lines).

The Cobb Energy and Performing Arts Center can be accessed via MARTA bus route 12, or Cobb Community Transit route 10 from the Arts Center station (Red and Gold lines).

Colleges and Universities

Georgia Tech is accessible from the Midtown MARTA station on the Red and Gold lines, via a campus-provided trolley. There does not appear to be a fare for this service.

Emory University also provides "Cliff" shuttles from the Decatur MARTA station (Blue line, east of Five Points) and occasionally to Georgia Tech as well.

The University of Georgia in Athens can be accessed via Mega Bus (reservations required) from the Civic Center MARTA station (Red and Gold lines).

Southern Polytechnic State University can be accessed from the route 10 Cobb Community Transit bus (free transfer from MARTA, or $2.50) from the Arts Center MARTA station.

Agnes Scott College is about a half-mile south of the Decatur station and accessible on the west side by MARTA route 123 and the east side by MARTA route 15.

Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College are near the Vine City and Ashby MARTA stations (Blue and Green line) and there are a large variety of MARTA bus routes and several campus shuttles running through the campuses.

Malls and Shopping Centers

Atlantic Station runs a free shuttle from the Arts Center station.

Lenox Square Mall and Phipps plaza are accessible from the Lenox or Buckhead Stations (Lenox may be slightly closer) on the Gold and Red lines respectively. MARTA Bus route 110 also runs between these two stations (and down through the Arts Center Station and Atlanta) and there is a free "Bucride" shuttle that operates in the Buckhead area with two separate routes.

Perimeter Mall is accessible from the Dunwoody MARTA station on the Red line.

Gwinnett Place and Discover Mills Mall are accessible via Gwinnett County Transit route 10 from the Doraville MARTA station at the northern end of the Gold line.

Northlake Mall is accessible via the MARTA bus route 30 from the Lindbergh station (Red and Gold lines).

Cumberland Mall and Cobb Galleria Mall are accessible via Cobb County Transit route 10 from the Arts Center station, MARTA bus route 12 from the Midtown Station, and various CCT and Xpress buses (commute-hours only).

The Mall at Stonecrest is accessible via MARTA bus route 111 or 116 from the Indian Creek MARTA station.

North Point Mall can be accessed via MARTA bus route 140 from the North Springs MARTA station (Red line).

Atlanta area transit websites

http://itsmarta.com/ MARTA

http://dot.cobbcountyga.gov/cct/ Cobb Community Transit

http://www.gwinnettcounty.com/portal/gwinnett/Departments/Transportation/GwinnettCountyTransit Gwinnett County Transit

http://xpressga.com/

http://bucride.com/ Buckhead Shuttle

http://www.asap-plus.com/transit Atlantic Station Shuttle

http://transportation.emory.edu/transportation/cliff/index.html Emory Cliff Shuttles

http://pts.gatech.edu/ride/routes_schedules/Pages/TechTrolley.aspx Georgia Tech Trolley

Note: I've tried to make this post as extensive as possible, but I've tried to limit destinations that are reachable by a single bus ride after leaving the MARTA rail system.


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## acelafan (Sep 1, 2012)

Thanks for posting this comprehensive reference - maybe one day transit on the Beltline will be part of the mix, too.


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## crescent2 (Oct 19, 2012)

Add Georgia State University to that mix. I don't recall the address.


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## MattW (Dec 22, 2013)

MARTA now runs the Green Line and Red Line their respective full routes until 9:00pm.

I'll also add that normal weekday MARTA headways are 15 minutes until 7:00pm when they drop to 20 minutes till end of service. Weekend headways are 20 minutes. Weekday rush hour headways are probably going to drop to 10 minutes a few months into 2014.


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## MattW (May 6, 2014)

Even better news for MARTA rail riders. Starting May 17, rush hour train headways drop to 10 minutes with 12 minute headways midday. Early evening service will be 12-15 minutes then 20 minutes the rest of the evening.

Weekend service is still 20 minutes and unreliable.


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## xyzzy (May 8, 2014)

If someone is going to the older part of the Georgia Tech campus, just get off MARTA at the North Avenue station. It's a short walk.


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## MattW (May 31, 2014)

MARTA is now running increased train frequencies! From 7 to 9 AM, and 3 to 7 PM, trains will run once every 10 minutes. Between 9 AM and 3 PM, trains run every 12 minutes. Also, the green line has been extended from Bankhead all the way to Edgewood-Candler Park during midday. Except for the Bankhead Station, this service overlaps Blue Line service from Ashby to Edgewood-Candler Park but runs with two cars instead of six (Bankhead cannot support more than two cars right now).


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## 221BMike (Jan 28, 2018)

Took a Megabus from Knoxville aiming to pick up the Crescent. The bus arrived forty minutes late, and sauntered through gorgeous historic country till we stopped for a late lunch at Chattanooga. The driver suggested we stop at another place for a coffee break, at which point I explained I had a train leaving from Atlanta at 8. She polled the passengers about the stop, and only one guy refused: I bribed him with a fine bar of Lindt chocolate.

Approaching Atlanta, the driver realised that there was a game on, and the traffic was terrible. She let me bail out and catch a cab: a twenty-dollar bribe to get to the station before departure time that a crazy, but friendly Ethiopian achieved.

The train was a half hour late.


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## cirdan (Jan 29, 2018)

To get to the Amtrak station, I think you don't actually need to catch the MARTA train first as the number 110 bus actually serves downtown. At least it did when I was in Atlanta several years ago. I rode the bus all the way which is maybe a tad slower but less hassle when you've got luggage.

We visited the Coca Cola world. I found that rather disappointing as it was really just a massive advertising do and not really a museum in the normal sense.

The downtown area has some nice bits, so its well worth just strolling arond and discovering them,.

the streetcar wasn't running when we were there but i would like to go back and do it.

We found all the people we talked to there to be extremely friendly and helpful. This included a bus driver who went out of his way to explain to us how to get around and to point out items of interest.


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## dogbert617 (Aug 15, 2018)

221BMike said:


> Took a Megabus from Knoxville aiming to pick up the Crescent. The bus arrived forty minutes late, and sauntered through gorgeous historic country till we stopped for a late lunch at Chattanooga. The driver suggested we stop at another place for a coffee break, at which point I explained I had a train leaving from Atlanta at 8. She polled the passengers about the stop, and only one guy refused: I bribed him with a fine bar of Lindt chocolate.
> 
> Approaching Atlanta, the driver realised that there was a game on, and the traffic was terrible. She let me bail out and catch a cab: a twenty-dollar bribe to get to the station before departure time that a crazy, but friendly Ethiopian achieved.
> 
> The train was a half hour late.


Whoa at that story! Glad the driver was nice and let you bail out of the bus early, and to get a cab to the Atlanta Amtrak station. I bet there are some drivers who wouldn't have allowed you to do that, sadly to say.




For the record, you probably do know that if you missed that Crescent train, that you could've applied the money spent for that train towards fare for the Crescent train the next day if you hadn't had made that train in Atlanta on time.


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## cpotisch (Aug 30, 2018)

dogbert617 said:


> For the record, you probably do know that if you missed that Crescent train, that you could've applied the money spent for that train towards fare for the Crescent train the next day if you hadn't had made that train in Atlanta on time.


Nope. Unless he had a Flexible fare ticket, missing the train would have resulted in him forfeiting the whole amount. He would not gotten the fare back or been able to put it towards a ticket the next day.


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## dogbert617 (Jul 9, 2019)

cpotisch said:


> Nope. Unless he had a Flexible fare ticket, missing the train would have resulted in him forfeiting the whole amount. He would not gotten the fare back or been able to put it towards a ticket the next day.



Ah yeah, that's right it's only Flexible where you can cancel the fare before the train is scheduled to leave the station, and put that amount onto an e-voucher.


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