MARTA shatters single-day ridership record as 220,000 rail riders flood system for World Cup

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 21:00:00 -0400

MARTA shattered its single-day rail ridership record Wednesday as fans streaming to the Morocco-Haiti World Cup match pushed the system to 220,000 rail customers — roughly 2.3 times the agency’s typical weekday volume.

It was the busiest day in the transit agency’s history, and officials said it validated months of planning that many riders and critics had questioned heading into the tournament.

By the numbers

Since the FIFA World Cup kicked off in Atlanta on June 11, MARTA has transported approximately 1.7 million passengers to matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the FIFA Fan Festival at Centennial Olympic Park, and related events across the city.

Westside Trail–Segment 4 opens, creating the BeltLine's longest continuous paved corridor to date

Wed, 25 Jun 2025 17:00:00 -0400

The Atlanta BeltLine marked a long-anticipated milestone Wednesday afternoon when Westside Trail–Segment 4 opened to the public, closing the last gap on the Westside corridor and creating 6.7 continuous miles of paved trail — the longest uninterrupted stretch in the BeltLine’s history.

The 1.3-mile segment runs from Pittsburgh Yards in the south to Blandtown in the north, connecting a string of west-side neighborhoods that have waited more than a decade for the trail to fully arrive.

Transportation on WACN 21 News

MARTA shatters single-day ridership record as 220,000 rail riders flood system for World Cup

By the numbers

Westside Trail–Segment 4 opens, creating the BeltLine's longest continuous paved corridor to date