Roughly a year ago, before the Covid-19 pandemic, we had a charrette, and what I think became apparent to us was that we struggled with being able to separate out a redesign for Atlanta versus a redesign for the system. Initially we looked at just the City of Atlanta network. Jarrett’s team and the success that he’s had in other parts of the country, it just seemed like a really strong fit.
Conversations around this led to the notion of redesigning bus service. One of those areas of focus was increasing access to frequent transit service. While Collie Greenwood worked on rebuilding the bus system and improving customer service, the City of Atlanta created its department of transportation to align with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s One Atlanta plan, which laid out a roadmap and goals for transportation in the city. It didn’t feel to me like we’ve used the heavy rail and our bus system as equally important assets. In the MARTA organization, the bus system was treated a bit like a second-class citizen. We’ve made a lot of incremental changes along the way, there wasn’t an overall objective to what we were trying to do. And to some degree, our bus network here in Atlanta has been unchanged probably since post-World War II. Jeff Parker: I share your sentiment, that buses here in Atlanta have been historically a bit of an overlooked resource. Why pursue this initiative? Why now, and why choose Jarrett and his team? This conservation has been edited for clarity and length. Atlanta magazine spoke with Walker and Parker to learn more about the project. Do they want buses to come more frequently, or do they want to see buses to serve more people? Both options have trade-offs. The firm will then present a proposed overhaul to Jeff Parker, MARTA’s general manager and CEO, and its board. Led by Jarrett Walker, a bonafide booster of buses and one of transportation planning’s sharpest minds, Human Transit will spend a year speaking with riders, residents, businesses, and others about what they want the bus system to do for them and their communities. Late last year, MARTA hired Jarrett Walker and Associates, a well-regarded transit planning firm based out of Portland, Oregon, to re-imagine the system’s entire bus network. The vehicles play a key role in metro Atlanta’s overall transit network, yet they receive nowhere near as much attention from the public. Every week, more than 400 MARTA buses shuttle roughly 500,000 passengers across Fulton, DeKalb, and Clayton counties. This article appears in our January 2023 issue.Buses are the workhorses of transit-not as flashy as rail but just as impactful, if not more so. “We’re still negotiating how much longer,” added Teresa. After 50 years, does Coy plan to retire? They both smiled. “A true transit professional.”Īfterward, a band played, and the Dumases greeted well-wishers. “I had the pleasure of being trained by Coy,” said ATU president Britt Dunams. A miniature version-more portable-was produced next, along with a custom jacket from the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 732. (aviators included), that will hit the road with the rest of the fleet. They met along Coy’s bus route, naturally they’ve been married 45 years.Īt the ceremony, MARTA’s board of directors unveiled a gift: a city bus, wrapped in the visage of Coy Dumas Jr. Shiny aviators complete the Dumas uniform.
#Marta bus drivers professional#
The professional look has become something of a signature for Badge #1: Dumas arrives for every shift in a crisply pressed uniform, a flurry of pins affixed to his vest, and a sharp black driver’s cap astride an abundant head of curls. “When they see that professional look about you, that’s already raised their level of confidence.” First impressions, he learned, are everything.
#Marta bus drivers driver#
Passengers were sometimes reluctant to board, unsure whether their driver was old enough-but he won them over soon enough, cultivating a beloved community of regulars. At 21, he was the youngest in his trainee class, and he looked it: “They used to call me Baby Boy,” he recalled. “By God’s grace,” he added jovially at a banquet held in his honor in November.ĭumas began driving a bus in 1972, back when MARTA was Atlanta Transit. International accolades aside, his legend is secure at home: Dumas has ferried three generations of Atlantans around town, trained a not-insignificant portion of MARTA’s driving corps, and done it all without a single traffic accident. He could even lead the world twice, in millions of bus miles traveled (two), and millions of passengers driven (nearly three)-MARTA’s still looking into it. “We think he might hold a Guinness world record,” says MARTA spokesperson Stephany Fisher.
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