- 2 days ago
The World Cup is coming to Atlanta in June, and MARTA CEO Jonathan Hunt joined The Steakhouse to discuss how the agency is preparing for this massive event. They also reviewed the ways that they are working tirelessly to improve the service in our city.
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00:01Hey, it's 10-23.
00:04We're going to get the big man some headphones over here as well.
00:07Let him hear all the magic that's happening here.
00:11We tell our crew out there, not that he's not going to, you know, he can hear me fine.
00:16100%. Is my mic live?
00:17Yeah, his mic is live and you got them good pipes.
00:21And obviously thrilled to have a leader segment here with Jonathan J. Hunt,
00:26who is the interim GM CEO of MARTA.
00:30You've had all kinds of impressive, like you're like a lawyer by trade and all that, right?
00:34Yeah, I'm a PK. I'm a lawyer by trade.
00:37So the sound of my own voice soothes me.
00:39Yeah, no, you got great pipes, brother.
00:41You sound great.
00:43But yeah, lawyer by training before that.
00:45I grew up framing houses, working in kitchens.
00:48Where'd you grow up?
00:50Massachusetts most of my life.
00:51Oh, I didn't know that. I can hear it now.
00:52Yeah, yeah.
00:53Occasionally, Berica.
00:55Berica.
00:55Yeah.
00:56Tommy Glavin.
00:57Tommy Glavin's hometown.
00:58Absolutely.
00:59Absolutely.
00:59I went to school with his younger brother.
01:01Oh, okay.
01:01Nike, yeah.
01:02You remind me of Jermaine Wiggins, who went to Georgia, who's from East Boston.
01:07And it's not always you see these big black guys with these big Boston accents, right?
01:12100%.
01:12We're there.
01:13And I can hear it, right?
01:14We're there.
01:14No doubt.
01:15So it's great to have you here.
01:18It's a big job that you have.
01:19How do you end up with a job as the CEO of MARTA?
01:24Because you grew up on the T, I assume, right?
01:25I did grow up on the T.
01:26You and I grew up taking the T everywhere.
01:28Yeah, A.L. White Station was my station, 100%.
01:30I was Brookline Village or Newton Center or whatever it is on the Green Line.
01:34What line were you on?
01:35Red Line.
01:35Red Line.
01:36Okay.
01:36Red Line.
01:36So you're super familiar, because we grew up where public transportation was everything.
01:41And it.
01:42Yeah.
01:42Like, there wasn't even a thought.
01:44Me and my buddies, everything we did, we're going to Fenway Park or do whatever.
01:47You know, you're on the T and doing that whole deal.
01:49So you know when it's done right, relatively speaking, the impact it can have, right?
01:55It's amazing.
01:55We are workforce development.
01:57We are housing.
01:59We are transportation.
02:01In transit, I like to think of transit as choice.
02:04And we're trying to give people as many choices as possible.
02:07We're not fighting against G.Dot or the Waymos or the Ubers of the world.
02:13You need to have choice.
02:15Yeah.
02:15And we support all of it.
02:16So how do you end up in that seat, the seat that you're in?
02:19So I was serving as, then, the basically general counsel, give us a simple name, of the authority.
02:28When the predecessor, my prior boss, decided to leave, the board took a look around.
02:35And I don't know, so I'm not in their head.
02:38But with all the projects that we have coming online and have come online over this next year,
02:44it had been very difficult for somebody outside the authority and outside of Atlanta to come in, step in, and
02:51be effective.
02:53And part of that was one part of the decision.
02:55The other part is the good Lord and blessed.
02:59And sometimes you just don't know.
03:00But I'm in the chair now and leading the best ability that I can.
03:05Well, you have a presence about you.
03:07I know you've done a lot of things in this city.
03:09But somebody that, listen, I look at Marta as like, he's that first-round pick that hasn't totally flourished just
03:18yet,
03:18but has all the potential to just dominate.
03:23Because when you get to talk to folks in other cities, they're just like,
03:26you can get your train goes right from here, right into the airport.
03:31We're the most connected transit agency.
03:33You've got an hour and 45 minutes to drive from there.
03:36But you can just hop on a Marta, get on your phone, and be there in 37 minutes or whatever
03:40it is.
03:40Depending on where you're coming from, 100%.
03:43Downtown, CNN, neighborhood, what was it?
03:46Whatever that center is.
03:47The center.
03:47The center, right?
03:49I mean, the access and the opportunity to make us a city that thinks more about public transportation is ripe,
03:59right?
03:59100%.
04:00We just need coaching.
04:00We need coaching to shoot 500 jumpers every day after practice and turn Marta into a powerhouse.
04:06I love the sports analogy.
04:07I played sports, love sports.
04:09We're going to take Marta from good to great.
04:12Not good to perfect.
04:14Nothing in this world is perfect.
04:15But from good to great.
04:17So we're looking this year to go to be, at the end of the year, they do the awards, the
04:21most improved player.
04:22Yeah.
04:23Nikhil Alexander-Walker, you want that award.
04:25At 100%.
04:27So let me ask you about World Cup.
04:29Because there are huge stories in other cities about what they're charging people to get to games, right?
04:35Yeah.
04:36Your old neck of the woods in Fox, bro.
04:38What happened in Fox, bro?
04:38Charging me $35 to go for a...
04:40One way.
04:41Yeah.
04:41One way.
04:42One way.
04:42That's ridiculous.
04:44In Jersey.
04:44I lived in Jersey.
04:45Yeah.
04:45In Jersey transit in New York.
04:47They're 90.
04:48$90 to get on a train and get to MetLife-ish?
04:51Ish.
04:52Ish.
04:52Because you still got to get on a bus.
04:54Oh, double trouble.
04:55You got to get on, too.
04:55We got five rail stations and less than a third of a mile of MBS.
04:59Garnett Station, Five Point Station, Vine City, SEC District Station, and Peachtree Center.
05:05All within...
05:07Less than a third of a mile.
05:09From where the world comes.
05:10MBS and the Fan Fest.
05:12And our airport station, as you noted earlier, is the most connected in the country.
05:17So you can get on.
05:19That's why Atlanta's a hub city.
05:21We expect fans to come here, get their Airbnbs, stay, eat.
05:25But if they're following Brazil, they'll go get on our train.
05:29Yeah, 100%.
05:30Take it to the airport to the most connected and busiest airport in the world and fly wherever in the
05:35country.
05:35In under two hours.
05:37They don't even think these international travelers of anything but hopping on a train.
05:40No, they don't.
05:41They just tell me where it is.
05:42And it's like, oh, let me just look here.
05:44I'm going to Airbnb and I'm in Vine City or I'm in wherever I am.
05:47I'm in downtown.
05:48And they'll get on the bus.
05:49Right.
05:50They'll get on the bus.
05:51Or you're staying over there at the Signia Hotel.
05:53Right?
05:54100%.
05:54Thousand rooms.
05:56So what is...
05:57So give us the format for World Cup.
05:59What's going to change and how much more do we have to pay during that time?
06:03100%.
06:03Let's talk with pay first.
06:05Okay.
06:05We're not changing our fares.
06:07Wow.
06:08It's $2.50 one way.
06:10To get to a game.
06:12To get to a game.
06:12$5 round trip.
06:14What we're focused in on is operational reliability.
06:18So on game days and the major fan fest, because there's going to be fan fests all over the region.
06:23If I can quote Atlanta's mayor, World Cup is going to be something that happens with Atlanta and not to
06:28Atlanta.
06:29Yep.
06:29So there's going to be stuff all over the place.
06:32Not just at MBS and the fan fest at Centennial Olympic Park.
06:37It's going to be all over the region and we're servicing that.
06:39We're going to have transit ambassadors.
06:42Nearly 1,000 will be deployed.
06:44We have another additional 100 volunteers from FIFA that they've provided to us.
06:4812 regional police forces are going to help our police force to increase safety and security and we're boosting multilingual
06:57messaging and iconography in our wayfinding, which is a fancy way of saying pictures on signs on the ground to
07:03make it easier for people who don't speak our language to get around.
07:06It's an enormous opportunity for Atlanta.
07:08Governor Kemp has been here.
07:10Andre is obviously a good friend and co-hosted.
07:12They all recognize what this can do for the region, getting corporations to think more and more about Atlanta.
07:18Have you been to a World Cup match or gold medal or Premier League?
07:23I've been to, you say gold medal?
07:25I was here for the Olympics.
07:26Yeah, yeah.
07:26So I got to, I mean the Olympics was crazy because, and people think there's an analogy.
07:30There's no analogy between the world in terms of attendance.
07:34The reality was Atlanta disappeared during the Olympics and you could get anywhere and it's all corporate.
07:39You could drive up to a Georgia Tech swim event and get in.
07:42And there aren't fans in the same way.
07:44This is fans.
07:45These are fans.
07:46These are people that are going to live, eat, drink.
07:49The restaurants were empty during the Olympics.
07:51The bars were empty during the Olympics.
07:53I remember.
07:54All those vendors that thought they were going to do well.
07:56World Cup is going to be totally different in terms of the energy.
07:59That's why on our rail system we're going to five-minute headways from the start of service till 1038.
08:03at night so that we can continue to serve our Atlantans on those match days and those major fan fest
08:09days.
08:10Yep.
08:10So that you don't have to abandon anywhere.
08:13Live your life.
08:14Go to work.
08:15We can handle it.
08:17Jonathan J. Hunt is here.
08:18He's the general manager, CEO of Marta.
08:20So I want to get to what people say concerns they have over the years with Marta.
08:26You can address it.
08:27But let's stay positive for a second.
08:29The new trains, right?
08:31I've been looking at it.
08:32So tell us about the new trains and why that's going to be a pleasure for folks.
08:36Love to have you out to our reveal of that.
08:37When is that?
08:38June 4th.
08:39They go into revenue service.
08:40Okay.
08:41The new trains are open gangway.
08:43We have good trains that lasted us for 40 years.
08:46But let's make no mistake.
08:47Atlanta's got the oldest trains in the nation.
08:49And we're going from the oldest set of trains that were good to the most technologically advanced trains in the
08:55nation.
08:55What does that mean for a passenger?
08:57That means open gangway.
08:59So if you don't feel comfortable, that perception of safety, our trains are a football field long.
09:04You can get up and walk a football field away from whatever you don't like and not have to leave
09:09the train.
09:09You don't have to get off and wait for another train set.
09:12We're introducing a train patrol unit.
09:14We've heard from our patrons.
09:15So there's going to be an officer or a field protective specialist on every single new train as they come
09:20into revenue service.
09:21So talk about safety because that is, I hear, the number one complaint over the last 30 years of being
09:29here.
09:30People sometimes don't feel safe on MARTA.
09:34Some of it is, you know, their own paranoia.
09:38Some of it has been legitimate.
09:39Social media, obviously, anything happens on a train.
09:42It feels like people are obsessed with anything on an airplane or a train.
09:44We want to push that.
09:46I'll let you know.
09:46100%.
09:46Right.
09:47They're crazies.
09:47So talk about safety and MARTA.
09:50First, you have, on Lantans, the metro region, you have an incredibly safe system, one of the safest systems in
09:56the country.
09:57Last year, all crime, not parsing, not major crimes, not robberies, all crimes, from nuisance up to the real negative
10:08stuff, serious stuff, down over 25%.
10:11Year over year, today, we're down over 27% over last year.
10:18We're talking robberies or about three robberies this year, period.
10:23We have an incredibly safe system, but numbers don't tell the full story because people do have a perception or
10:30may feel unsafe.
10:31So you've heard that.
10:32Oh, 100%.
10:33And more important than hearing it, we're addressing it because a lot of that comes from folks who may be
10:38non-destination riders, and that's unhoused or folks going through a mental crisis or a chemical dependency issue.
10:44So we partnered.
10:45Atlanta has a great program in Atlanta Hope.
10:48We have a MARTA Hope program, which is an outgrowth of that.
10:51We have caseworkers who work our system every day to do outreach and touch base and try to get services
10:58to these folks.
11:00What I would tell folks is whatever, and I used to hear this about downtown, right?
11:05It's not safe downtown.
11:07You go two blocks from Phillips Arena.
11:10And I was like, dude, have you ever been to a big city?
11:14I've never had, and I've been to more games than anybody listening right now.
11:19Never had an incident downtown.
11:21Do you have to be a little bit careful like anywhere else in a major city?
11:24Like do you want to be a city of 7 million people, metro, or do you want to be Charlotte?
11:28Well, I want to be Atlanta.
11:29I don't want to be Charlotte.
11:30No, not at all.
11:30So that's part of what exists.
11:32Next time you're thinking about trying to navigate a Saturday night with four events downtown at Bruno Mars, a playoff
11:39game and all that, and you're sitting in traffic,
11:42think about you could have been in MARTA and in 18 minutes been there and not have a stress and
11:46had a nice martini in your hand, right?
11:48Absolutely.
11:48Especially since we have an open container district in south downtown, all the great work John Birdsong and Soto was
11:54doing.
11:54I went to Tad Thai and had some Thai food that blew my mind, and I got off our brand
11:59new bus rapid transit route that we just launched on April 18th to do it.
12:04You can have an open container in that downtown area.
12:07100%.
12:07I like...
12:09And let MARTA drive and you won't get a ticket.
12:11So you can enjoy that open container.
12:13Yeah, and by the way, do you know what, what are they called in Uber and Lyft when it's those
12:20spiked times?
12:21Yes.
12:22Dude, I see my Uber bills when I'm traveling.
12:25Well, I got one better.
12:26Why don't you try MARTA's Uber-like service?
12:27We call it MARTA Reach.
12:29So there's 12 zones around the region.
12:32In those zones, you can hail a MARTA vehicle, which you can do through an app, via the website, or
12:40call.
12:41You can grab a MARTA vehicle to get you from point A to point B.
12:44Right.
12:44So in the zones, it'll pick you up from your house or wherever you are, and it takes you to
12:49the rail or to one of our new fast, frequent bus routes.
12:52But if your destination is within that zone, it'll take you door-to-door.
12:58That's awesome.
13:00For $2.50.
13:01That's awesome.
13:02No search price.
13:03What's the...
13:04Where do you learn all this stuff?
13:05Because there's a lot of info.
13:06www.itsmarta.com
13:08MARTA, MARTA, MARTA, MARTA, my dad...
13:10It's MARTA to ride MARTA.
13:11My dad, the biggest Boston accent ever.
13:14I say, Dad, I'm going to pick you up.
13:16You're 68 years old.
13:17I'm going to take the MARTA.
13:19You and my mother love taking the MARTA.
13:20My wife jokes about it all the time.
13:23Like, they don't know otherwise, and they'd be like, don't pick us up.
13:26We love it.
13:26It's in the airport.
13:28You just tell us.
13:28Depending on where we were living, they'd come right there.
13:31You've got to come back next couple of months.
13:32I'd love to come back.
13:33We've got to kick it around.
13:34Love everything that you've done.
13:36Yeah.
13:36And keep the recommendations coming.
13:38Well, yeah.
13:39I've got some food stuff.
13:40I've got Mother's Day recommendation.
13:41Okay.
13:41Well, yeah.
13:41Listen, you better come to me soon if you want me to hook you up.
13:44Yeah.
13:44I've got about seven mothers that I've got to take care of.
13:47My wife, my mother-in-law, my mom, my grandmother.
13:49God bless.
13:51She's over 102.
13:52Stop.
13:53No.
13:53So I'm blessed.
13:54So she was doing the longevity thing before anybody knew about it.
13:57Exactly.
13:57Was she doing cold plunge?
13:58What did she do?
13:59No, she's doing bourbon and bad decisions, and she's over 102.
14:03Anytime someone's like 100 or 90, I say, please tell me you drank vodka your whole life.
14:08Please.
14:09Yeah.
14:09Don't tell me you've been working out for 60 years.
14:11Hey, great to have you here.
14:13We'll do it again.
14:13Thanks for having us.
14:14Sooner rather than later.
14:15Absolutely.
14:15All right.
14:16Great.
14:16We'll come back.
14:17Mike Conti will pop in, Sports Radio 92.9 The Game.
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