NOVEMBER 2015 BCBusiness 37 BcBusiNEss.ca
tlanta was named by Time
magazine as having one of the
United States' 10 worst tran-
sit systems in 2011 and one
of the few to lose ridership.
In 2012, its voters rejected a
referendum pitching a new
one per cent sales tax that
would pay for $7.1 billion in
improvements. Voters, by a
two-to-one margin, said they
just didn't trust government
to spend the money well.
Three years later, a new
CEO—hired ˆve months after
the referendum failed—is
earning praise for how he
has changed the image of the
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid
Transit Authority (
MARTA).
Keith Parker has been cred-
ited with all kinds of miracle
work: stabilizing the agency's
ˆnances, achieving a new, har-
monious relationship with the
often-opposed Republicans in
state government, improving
How to ... x a broken business model
as TransLink continues to rebuild after last spring's disastrous referendum, Vancouver's
transit authority might look to america's deep south for inspiration by Frances Bula
