Breeze equipment is now fully installed in rail stations and bus installation is expected to be finished by the end of the summer.

MARTA customers can now pre-order free Breeze Cards, which will be made available in mid-September. The Breeze Card, which can be used for up to four years, is designed for all MARTA customers and provides a variety of convenient features including balance protection, reloading capabilities, Web services and more convenient fare programs. The Breeze Card, embedded with a microchip, also acts as a transfer eliminating the need for cumbersome tokens and paper transfers.

Customers can pre-order a Breeze Card until September 1st online at www.breezecard.com and order forms are also available at MARTA RideStores. Free Breeze Cards will also be available for at least six months beginning in September when customers sign up for balance protection, which ensures that the value on the card is secure if the card is ever lost or stolen.

For more information about Breeze, please visit www.breezecard.com or call 404-848-5000.

MARTA played a critical role in both attracting the Centennial Olympic Games to Atlanta and supporting the millions of spectators and visitors to the city. Highlights of the Authority's involvement included:

• Serving as the first "official" transportation system for an Olympic games. The cost of transportation was included in each sporting event ticket — attendees could simply flash their ticket or pass to gain entry into the system. As there was limited to no parking at any Atlanta-area venue, nearly all attendees used the transportation system.
• Moving 17.8 million passengers between July 19 and August 4 — that's a month and a half worth of customers in two weeks. So many people rode MARTA during the games that the ozone level fell to almost 50%% below the normal level for Atlanta during that time of year. At the time, Atlanta was the 10th most polluted city in America.
• Redeploying five hundred administrative employees to rail stations and park-and-ride lots.
• Borrowing 1,000 buses from systems throughout the country with the help of the Federal Transit Administration, opening five extra bus garages, and building the largest Compressed Natural Gas facility in the country.
• Initiating twenty-four hour service and removing seats from rail cars to create more standing room.
• Creating special commemorative tokens and TransCards to celebrate the games.

Customers at MARTA's Five Points Rail Station are now enjoying the ease and convenience of 12 new self cleaning restrooms. Located on the concourse level of the station, the high-tech units are free to use and include the following features:

• automatic soap dispensing, water, and hand drying
• automatic toilet flushing after each use
• automatic toilet seat washing and drying after each use
• safe and secure electronic door locks
• user friendly operating instructions and signage
• voice message instructions to guide the user through the toilet's operation
• automated floor washing

As the transfer point between MARTA's North/South and East/West lines and a hub for numerous bus routes, Five Points Station is one of the system's most heavily trafficked locations. Traditional restrooms currently available to patrons are not as accessible and also require significant resources to clean and maintain.

MARTA decided to install the restrooms after seeing positive results from a pilot program at the Hamilton E. Holmes rail station where over 400 customers a day have used a similar unit for the past two years.

The automatic self cleaning restrooms, which were manufactured by Hering Bau, are one of many improvements underway for MARTA's customers including the new Breeze fare collection system, rebuilt rail cars, track rehabilitation, upgraded security and communications systems and additional clean fuel buses.

MARTA will host a series of public hearings on July 24 and 25 to receive comments about the Breeze fare collection system and associated changes.

Information sessions will be held prior to all public hearings to highlight the new features that will soon be available with the Breeze Card including balance protection, reloading capabilities, and more convenient fare programs. Customers will also have the opportunity to pre-order free Breeze Cards, which MARTA will begin to distribute in September.

For more information on the public hearings or Breeze system, please visit www.breezecard.com or call customer service at 404-848-5000.

Public hearings will be held at the following locations and times. Information sessions on all days will begin at 5:30.

Monday, July 24, 2006
7:00 p.m.
Maloof Auditorium (Downtown Decatur)
1300 Commerce Dr.
Decatur, GA 30030
Riding MARTA: Walk one block west of the Decatur Rail Station.

7:00 p.m.
South Fulton Service Center
5600 Stonewall Tell Rd.
College Park, GA 30349
Riding MARTA: Bus route 180 from the College Park Rail Station.


Tuesday, July 25, 2006
7:00 p.m.
Downtown Atlanta
Atlanta City Hall
55 Trinity Ave., Atlanta, GA 30303
Riding MARTA: Bus routes 10, 21, 49, 55, 97 from the Five Points Station.
Special Bus Shuttle will be provided from the Five Points Station.

7:00 p.m.
North Fulton Service Center
7741 Roswell Rd., Sandy Springs, GA 30350
Riding MARTA: Bus route 87 from the North Springs Rail Station.

MARTA will hold a series of meetings in early August to present the results of the BeltLine transit alternatives analysis and receive feedback from the public. The results come after months of study and public input regarding potential route alignments and transportation technologies.

The meetings have been scheduled for the following dates and times. All are open to the public and interested citizens are encouraged to attend. A presentation about MARTA's study is available for review at www.itsmarta.com.

Monday, August 7, 2006
6:00 p.m.
Peachtree Branch Library
1315 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30309
Riding MARTA: Arts Center Station

Tuesday, August 8, 2006
7:00 p.m.
East Lake YMCA
275 East Lake Boulevard, Atlanta, GA 30317
Riding MARTA: East Lake Station

Wednesday, August 9, 2006
7:00 p.m.
Mozley Park Recreation Center
1565 Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive, Atlanta, GA 30314
Riding MARTA: Bus Route 3 from West Lake, H.E. Holmes or Candler Park Stations

Thursday, August 10, 2006
7:00 p.m.
North Avenue Presbyterian Church (Broyles Auditorium)
607 Peachtree Street, Atlanta, GA 30308
Riding MARTA: North Avenue Station

Those who cannot attend one of these meetings but would like to register comments can do so by sending them to:

PEQ
6067 Roosevelt Highway
Union City, Georgia 30291
770/306-7754 (fax)
contact_peq@bellsouth.net

A number of MARTA's bus routes are being modified to improve overall service and on time performance. The changes, including two new routes, will all go into effect on Saturday, July 22, 2006. Bus service in the Five Points area is being adjusted due to a Georgia Department of Transportation project, which will close Peachtree Street between Alabama and Marietta Streets until 2008. Please visit www.itsmarta.com or call 404/848-5000 for a list of bus routes and service changes.