May 2, 2023 - Transit

MARTA moved thousands of Taylor Swift fans over the weekend

Thomas Wheatley

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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MARTA moved thousands of Taylor Swift fans over the weekend

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