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MARTA bus stops expand, bus shelters lag in Clayton

Bus stops to expand in Clayton, but not bus shelters
A man waits for a MARTA bus in Clayton County

FOREST PARK, GA -- A metal sign fastened to a concrete sidewalk marks the MARTA stop on Forest Parkway near Phillips. It and many others on MARTA bus route 55 in Clayton County are austere spots -- no bench, no roof, and "no shelter on this road, period," said Renee Watts, a Clayton County MARTA user.

"It be real hot out here on some days," added Ray Brooks, another MARTA user. "So if they put that bench and that shelter up, that'd be a lot of help."

Of the 190 bus stops in Clayton County, MARTA says only four have shelters. MARTA is about to more than triple its bus stops here in an August expansion, and another in December. But it won't expand its bus shelters nearly as quickly.

Clayton County MARTA riders will have plenty of company in MARTA's other two counties. Ninety percent of MARTA's bus stops in Fulton and DeKalb counties don't have shelters either– which cost some $15-20,000 each to build.

"We would love to see shelters in as many places as our customers would want them," said MARTA spokesman Lyle Harris. "But again, it's a very expensive process. It's a time consuming process."

Harris says the transit agency can't build shelters in Clayton until it gauges ridership on its new routes.

"We want to look for places with high ridership because we want to shelter as many people as we possibly can," Harris said.

Harris said MARTA would survey Clayton County riders about locating bus shelters after it expands bus service in December.

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