May 2, 2023 - Transit

MARTA moved thousands of Taylor Swift fans over the weekend

Photo: Jen Ashley/Axios

MARTA transported roughly triple the number of regular weekend riders during Taylor Swift's three-night stand in Atlanta.

Why it matters: Metro Atlanta's little-train-that-could might not go everywhere we want — there are a lot of reasons for that — but when it needs to move a lot of people fast, it can't be beaten.

By the numbers: Transit agency stats provided to Axios show that 140,000 people used four stations near Mercedes-Benz Stadium — the arena stop, Five Points, Peachtree Center and Vine City — over the weekend.

  • Trains managed to clear platforms of the throngs of Swifties "quickly and safely," the agency says, with the fastest time on Sunday (40 minutes).
  • But Friday night, which saw the highest number of riders, took roughly 90 minutes.

Of note: 425,000 people rode MARTA over the 2019 Super Bowl weekend — the highest ridership the transit agency recorded for a special event in recent history.

The bottom line: Do you really want to know where thousands of Atlantans were on April 29? Enjoying public transportation, that's where.

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