The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) Board of Directors today formally approved the NextGen Bus Network, a strategic redesign of over 100 bus routes intended to deliver a smarter, faster, and better network to meet the evolving needs of the region. 

The NextGen Bus Network will significantly enhance access, equity, and mobility for the Atlanta region. When launched in late 2025, the redesigned system will nearly triple the number of people with access to frequent bus service and offer consistent seven-day-a-week coverage. The new network emphasizes a 70/30 ridership-to-coverage balance meant to improve efficiency while ensuring broad access across communities.

“This is a major step toward a more equitable and rider-focused transit system,” said Collie Greenwood, MARTA General Manager and CEO. “The NextGen Bus Network is built from the voices of the people we serve. With more frequent buses, better connections, and improved infrastructure, this redesign meets our region’s evolving needs and lays the groundwork for a stronger transit future.”

The NextGen Bus Network redesign followed four years of planning, analysis, and robust public engagement, including more than 60 public meetings and over 15,000 survey responses. Feedback from these efforts directly shaped network refinements, ensuring that community concerns, especially around access for low-income and minority residents, were addressed.

NextGen Bus Network: Smarter. Faster. Better.

The NextGen Bus Network will provide greater access to more jobs, destinations, and opportunities by:

• Expanding frequent service areas from 5 corridors to 17, making it easier for riders to reach their destinations.

• Increasing 20-minute service routes from nine existing routes to 11 planned routes for shorter wait times and quicker trips.

• Adding 12, new, on-demand service zones, offering flexible transit solutions for communities with lower population density.

• Providing seven-day-a-week service on all routes and on-demand zones, with flatter, more consistent frequencies throughout the day to meet riders’ diverse schedules.

• Streamlining fixed bus routes from 113 to 81 to create a simpler and more navigable network.

• Offering greater accessibility for residents and workers, with 74,000 more people and 76,400 additional jobs within close reach of frequent transit service that runs every 15 minutes or better. Additionally, 143,100 more residents will have access to service running every 30 minutes or better. 

Key outcomes of the NextGen Bus Network include:

• +6% increase in overall population served.

• +11% increase in minority residents near transit.

• +27% more grocery stores accessible within 60 minutes.

• +7% increase in low-income residents near transit.

• +31% increase in hospitals accessible within 60 minutes.

• +22% more jobs accessible within 60 minutes by transit.

The redesign also features new and improved transfer points with timed transfers, and infrastructure upgrades that will improve the rider experience and ensure smoother operations on redesigned routes. Additionally, the network features 12 on-demand zones where customers can use an app to call a ride to connect them to the MARTA system.

With Board approval now secured, MARTA will begin final preparations right away to prepare to launch the new network in late 2025.

For more information about the NextGen Bus Network, visit martanextgenbusnetwork.com. Customers can view the final network here, find information about individual bus routes here, and compare routes in the exiting network to those in the NextGen Bus Network here.