ATLANTA — The Atlanta Streetcar is shut down for maintenance. That pause, eight years into its lifespan, revives questions about the project's value.
There's one particular question arising: Who will actually notice that it's shut down?
"The end result is, no one uses it," said Johnny Martinez, an owner of the Georgia Beer Garden and Joystick Gamebar, just steps from the streetcar line on Edgewood Avenue.
MARTA said the streetcar’s weekly ridership is about 3,500 passengers. However, Martinez said he doesn't see it.
"I would say the streetcar has contributed nothing, zero, to the success of our business," he said.
Eight years ago, the Atlanta Streetcar opened with great fanfare – its construction, funded almost entirely by the federal government. It started out on the same 2.7 mile loop it ran until last month – from Centennial Olympic Park to Sweet Auburn and back.
"I will be a frequent rider," downtown resident Dorthey Hurst told us in 2014. She said she rode the streetcar about once a week pre-Covid, but not as much now.
Though Hurst said her use of the streetcar has slowed, she’s still a supporter.
"There is value to to it. It just can’t be that one little piece that stands alone. There have to be connections to it," Hurst said Friday.
And eight years ago, officials were already promising those connections.
"My goal is to connect it to the Atlanta BeltLine and other neighborhoods and connect it to other parts of the city," then-mayor Kasim Reed told reporters at the launch.
Yet eight years later, that still remains in the planning stage.
"I think if you took that and expanded it to where people actually live, then you might see a difference in how people actually use it," Martinez said.
MARTA said repairs will keep the streetcar off the streets through March of 2023 -- in time for spring and summer, when Atlanta tourists tend to boost the streetcar’s ridership.