Across Atlanta, the buzziest news this week doesn’t concern what happened on Easter, the Falcons upcoming draft, or Beltline-adjacent development in high-dollar neighborhoods. It has to do with airport parking rates, which are set to (gulp) triple in some cases—and climb as high as $100 per day in others.
Atlanta’s transit authority is promoting a simple solution: Take the train, silly.
In a message similar to the one MARTA issued in February when a federal clampdown on work-from-home policies sent employees flocking back to government buildings downtown, the transit agency this week is tempting Atlanta air-travelers to skip high parking costs and traffic jams and swoop to the airport on MARTA trains before their next flight.
Roundtrip fare to the airport is $5, and parking is available at MARTA stations from Dunwoody to College Park and Decatur for as low as $5 per day, equating to the cheapest, least stressful means of reaching the world’s busiest airport, per MARTA.
The Red or Gold Line southbound leads riders directly to the airport’s doorstep.
“MARTA is one of only a few public transit systems in the world that take customers directly into the airport,” Collie Greenwood, MARTA CEO and general manager, said in an announcement today. “[O]ur fares and daily parking rates have remained the same for well over a decade… in a time of rising prices, [customers’] best option is let MARTA do the driving to the airport.”
One of the new CQ400 railcars on MARTA's tracks. Courtesy of MARTA
According to airport officials, the parking-rate increases are the first in eight years and come as the transit hub aims to modernize parking facilities while inflation rages on. Hourly parking rates will climb to at least $10 per hour (up from $3), while travelers who leave vehicles in the international hourly lot for multiple days will have to fork over up to $100 per day. Prices will hike in all domestic parking lots, too, by up to $14 extra per day, as the AJC reports.
Meanwhile, according to MARTA’s calculations, rideshare costs from downtown Atlanta to the airport average $74 per roundtrip.
Daily parking is available at nine MARTA stations for either $5 per day (Dunwoody, Medical Center, Kensington, Lenox, and Sandy Springs stations) or $8 per day (North Springs, Doraville, Lindbergh Center, and College Park stations).
MARTA is also reminding Atlantans the agency has completed extensive renovations to its Airport station that included new terrazzo flooring and platform pavers, along with concourse and track wall repairs, in preparation for a new canopy. The Breeze Mobile 2.0 app, available for download on all major platforms, also offers riders a generally swifter way to purchase train fare, per the agency.
An added bonus will be sleek new MARTA trains scheduled to start rolling out this year; as others have pointed out, maybe a good power-washing of stations throughout the system will follow.
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