From the outset, I’ll admit to having not done any research before writing about this subject, so this will be brief. Hopefully.

As mentioned in this week’s Loaf, MARTA is to the point of changing bus routes on a monthly basis. However, there are better ideas:

Caleb Racicot, a former city of Atlanta planner, says the lack of sensible routes is the product of MARTA’s attempt to provide door-to-door service. By that logic, a single bus route can travel down as many as 30 different streets. To make matters worse, few bus stops display a map of the routes — or even the route number of the bus that stops there.

Racicot says there’s a simple solution: bus routes that go up and down major corridors, such as Peachtree Street, Moreland Avenue, Ponce de Leon Avenue and Memorial Drive.

That approach might have people walking a bit more, because only the bigger streets would have bus service. But riders would have a far easier time navigating a more grid-like system as opposed to a collection of routes that resembles a plate of spaghetti.

This is a great start. When reworking the entire system, MARTA, and all of the local governments that fall within MARTA’s service area, would benefit from a more focused approach to bus routing than what’s been done in the past.

Weaving the urban fabric is an important function of MARTA. It sounds like some corny phrase, I know, but it basically means enhancing the connections that make an urban environment strong. With well-designed bus and rail routes, MARTA’s economic impact could be measurable and significant.

According to Otis White, transit and cities go together like cake and icing (can you tell I’m hungry as I write this?):

Transit ridership is good for cities. It allows more density, which encourages neighborhood retail, which then allows streets to become more active and safe . . . which encourages even more transit ridership — thus creating what social scientists call a “virtuous cycle.”

[Look for the story titled, “How do you get people on a bus?”]

What’s been mentioned (and lamented upon) time and again is that some of MARTA’s revenue comes from a 1 percent sales tax. However, out of this lemon, there is a way to make pie. (Just call me a starving writer, because I’m still hungry as I write this.)

In recreating its entire bus system, MARTA should begin with a formula. Create bus routes that follow the major roads in the service area. Identify both regional and local commercial centers within the service area. Coherent, walkable commercial centers such as Atlantic Station and Little Five Points should service as primary connection points.

In designing each route, apply this simple formula:

C_o < (e * .01) + F + A

Where:

• C_o = The operating cost of the route
• e = The projected economic impact of the route
• F = Projected fare revenues from the route
• A = Projected advertising revenues from the route

So, the operating cost of the route should be less than one percent of the projected economic impact, plus fare revenues, plus advertising revenues.

By including a route’s projected economic impact as part of the route planning process, MARTA can maximize the potential benefit to local governments and communities. MARTA could serve more riders more conveniently and more reliably.

This is only a start to route planning: coherence, economic impact. But it shouldn’t end there by any means. If this approach doesn’t create additional room for providing service for the transit-dependent (within reason), then there will be no proof in the pudding, especially for the concept of a dedicated transit sales tax.