ATLANTA — As Swifties prepare to descend on Atlanta this weekend, Janet Jackson fans will also be flooding into State Farm Arena on Friday night after her concert was postponed on Thursday night. It happened after the Hawks pulled off a last-minute win over the Celtics pushing the playoffs to a Game Six, which was played Thursday night inside State Farm Arena.
This set up a wild scenario in Downtown Atlanta. There's potential to be close to 90,000 fans between both venues on Friday night. Mercedes-Benz Stadium was expecting in the range of 180,000 fans for Taylor Swift who will be taking the stage on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
With parking sold out, both venues and the city have been encouraging concertgoers to ride MARTA.
On Thursday, 11Alive's Cody Alcorn spoke with MARTA's Director of Rail Operations, Jorge Bernard, to see how they're preparing for the massive crowds.
"We started preparing for this actually weeks ago to see what we needed, how many trains we're going to need and that sort of thing," he said.
Bernard said MARTA is prepared to add up to six additional trains to make sure they keep the crowds moving smoothly.
He pointed out the tough part isn't getting fans to the venues but it's getting them out and back to their vehicles, homes or hotels.
"What's going to be interesting is what time the two concerts let out. If they're going to be letting out at the same time or not," Bernard explained.
He noted they are increasing the number of MARTA police officers and adding staff to high-traffic platforms to help load and unload passengers.
"We'll have additional staff not only to operate the trains, but we have additional staff at platforms to assist and direct the customers where they need to go," Bernard said.
Bernard added MARTA has a system of about 20,000 cameras. He said they'll be keeping a very close eye on those back at their Operations Center.
"We can pretty much see anything that's going on in our system," he said.
Safety, of course, is MARTA's number one priority. Bernard said besides just being patient, make sure you're aware of your surroundings.
"It's important no matter where you're at, whether you're taking MARTA, you know, walking downtown, just being attentive, paying attention to everything that's going on. And, if you see something, report it," Bernard said.
If you plan to take MARTA, consider downloading their new Breeze Mobile 2.0 APP. It allows you to pay on your app and avoid the lines at the stations.
Also, don't forget about MARTA's See and Say 2.0 security APP. It allows you to report safety concerns discreetly and anonymously to MARTA Police, chat with MARTA Police and share your location with friends.