MARTA's glorious free-rides period is coming to an end

The spring of free MARTA rides is coming to a close. 

The extended, fare-free customer grace period (it was originally scheduled to end May 2) will officially close Saturday (that’s tomorrow), as new fare gates are fully activated at rail stations, emergency doors close, and fares will be required to ride the transit system. 

Moving forward, customers will have to tap to ride MARTA transit with a bank card, mobile wallet, or new Breeze card or ticket. One-way fares will remain $2.50, with four free transfers allowed in a three-hour period, per MARTA. 

MARTA opened gates and removed fare requirements in early April, allowing customers time to get acclimated with the agency’s new better Breeze system and to obtain new Breeze cards.

The new Breeze system remains under construction at some stations. There, old fare gates or nearby emergency doors will remain open to ensure access, but MARTA still advises riders to buy fares to avoid getting trapped within the system at other stations.

(MARTA officials also send a reminder that tampering with or forcing open new fare gates is illegal, noting: “The MARTA system is equipped with hundreds of cameras and fare gates are monitored remotely. Fare evasion and vandalism are punishable by law.”)

The updated fare gates accept credit and debit cards, mobile wallets, and virtual Breeze cards in Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, and Samsung Wallet, as well as physical Breeze cards and tickets. Ticket vending machines are available at nearly all rail stations today, per MARTA officials. 

Old Breeze cards and the former Breeze Mobile 2.0 app no longer work, but balances can be transferred to a new account over here. 

“The installation of our better Breeze system was not as far along as we’d hoped at the end of the customer transition period on May 2, so for the last several weeks, we have left open gates and doors to ensure riders could easily access the system,” Jonathan Hunt, MARTA interim general manager and CEO, said in an update Thursday. “Now, with the installation of more ticket vending machines systemwide, we feel we’ve made significant enough progress to close these open gates and doors and begin requiring fare.”

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Special note: 

Eager Atlantans have been asking where they might catch MARTA’s new state-of-the-art CQ400 trains as they’re scheduled to go into public service Thursday afternoon.  

On that topic, MARTA senior director of communications Stephany Fisher sends the following today: “We will have more details on the exact time the trains go into revenue service next week, and I will be sure to share that so you can pass the good word along.”

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• Images: How upgrades for MARTA’s easternmost station turned out (Urbanize Atlanta)