Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority History - 1968 Referendum

1968 Referendum

MARTA began work on developing a new 4 county rapid transit plan. In 1967 the agency published a new plan, titled Special Report - Rapid Transit for Metropolitan Atlanta, a 54-mile (87 km) rapid transit rail system, at a cost of $190 million more than the previous 66-mile (106 km) MATSC plan. Fears about the cost of the plan were published in a counter-proposal by Robert Somerville of the Atlanta Transit System, titled Rapid Busways, challenging the MARTA plan. Rapid Busways called for the creation of a 32-mile (51 km) network of busways at a cost of $52 million as an interim plan to Atlanta's transit needs.

MARTA consultants worked to update the original MATSC plan into a smaller 40-mile (64 km) rapid rail system, however this report was not published until September 1968. In November 1968 a Fulton County, DeKalb County, and city of Atlanta referendum allowing MARTA to move into capital programs failed to pass, receiving only 44.5 percent voter support. The failure of the funding referendum to pass has been attributed to many reasons:

• The continuing controversy over the use of rail transport over busway transit
• The decision of local transit unions to campaign against the referendum because it did not contain collective bargaining provisions
• Conservatives claimed that the plan was financially irresponsible since Federal government financial support was not guaranteed
• Low income and suburban homeowners objected to the use of property tax to fund MARTA
• Voters on the edge of the system objected because they felt that residents of the city of Atlanta would receive more benefits
• Atlanta's black community complained it had not been involved in the planning and would not receive adequate service
• Local officials in the region were not involved in planning
• Publicity of the plan by MARTA was poor