Many workers are worried about the future of their Atlanta transportation jobs.

Officials at MARTA, Atlants’s public transportation system, are currently facing a $24 million budget. One option to close that gap would be cutting service to six days a week. However, workers are worried that move would make it too hard for MARTA to stand as their full-time, and also would reduce tourism and convention traffic in the city.

According to an article by The Associated Press, MARTA recently asked the state Legislature to pass a bill that would allow them to use capital reserves in order to continue operating seven days a week. Despite MARTA’s request, lawmakers finished their recent session without approving the legislation.

“There is no reason for this train wreck to have to happen,” MARTA Cheif Executive Beverly Scott said in the article. “There is no need to end up having the economic devastation and the personal hardship that is going to wind up happening to thousands of people.”

In order for the legislation to be approved now, Gov. Sonny Perdue would have to call lawmakers back to Atlanta for a special legislative session. Perdue has not yet announced whether he will attempt that move. In the meantime, MARTA has requested a meeting with Perdue.

MARTA currently has a $65 million reserve for capital projects, but state law prevents the transportation authority from using that funding to offset the $24 million shortfall.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 1:28 pm and is filed under jobs, Transportation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.