With the escalator-collapse chaos following a massive Beyoncé concert at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in summer 2025 still fresh in his head, a reader reached out this week with concerns MARTA might not be fully prepared for five straight concerts of similar scale at the same venue, beginning tonight. 

The music fan, who requested anonymity, joined others who’ve expressed concerns about MARTA train frequency, with five nights of Usher and Chris Brown’s The R&B Tour on tap. He wrote via email: 

“Usher/Chris Brown are having a concert at The Benz on Thursday. The concert will probably be over after 11 p.m. with over [50,000] people, and MARTA decides to run North/South trains 24 [minutes] apart. They had to have known about this concert months in advance.”

That, according to MARTA, isn’t accurate. 

Usher and Chris Brown performances are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. tonight, with additional shows Friday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Downtown Atlanta Inc. is anticipating an attendance of 70,000 people each night. 

According to Payson Schwin, MARTA’s acting senior director of communications, the transit agency plans to run regular rail service throughout the concert’s five-night run downtown. 

Starting two hours before each concert, according to Schwin, “we will insert a shuttle train from Five Points to the SEC District Station to move crowds to the show,” he wrote via email. “After the concerts, we’ll add additional trains on both the East/West and North/South lines to get fans home.”

Other plans include posting additional staff to assist with crowd control at SEC District, Vine City, and Five Points stations, according to MARTA.  

Photo by Amit Kamma

We asked for information on headways, or the amount of time between trains at specific platforms, in the offing for concert days and nights. It’s a bit complicated for a simple answer, per Schwin, who provided this more in-depth breakdown: 

Pre-event service at stations (heading to concerts):

  • Red/Gold Lines (North-South): Regular peak service, with trains arriving every five minutes at Five Points;
  • Blue/Green Lines (East-West): Regular peak service with trains arriving every five minutes at Five Points;
  • Additional shuttle service: The extra shuttle train will operate continuously between Five Points and SEC District Station (formerly GWCC/CNN Center). It drops off passengers, routes to a pocket track between SEC District and Vine City stations to turn around at King Memorial, and loops back to Five Points to pick up more riders.

Post-event service (leaving concerts): 

  • Blue/Green Lines (East-West): Regular off-peak service, with trains arriving every 20 minutes at Five Points. Extra trains will be inserted at Vine City or SEC District, depending on crowd size, with most trains running eastbound to accommodate transfers at Five Points. These extra trains will run to Indian Creek;
  • Red/Line Lines (North-South): Regular off-peak service, with trains arriving every 20 minutes at Five Points. Extra trains will be added after the concert, depending on the crowd size, to help clear the Five Points platforms, according to MARTA. 

Other major downtown events this weekend include an Atlanta Hawks vs. Washington Wizards game on Friday (when Usher and Chris Brown are taking a night off), marking a return to State Farm Arena for former Hawks phenom Trae Young. 

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