ATLANTA (CBS ATLANTA) -
A rally against legislation that would privatize MARTA was held Thursday morning at the Five Points station. Participants spent several hours passing out pamphlets and collecting signatures from MARTA riders.
If House Bill 264 becomes law, MARTA would have to outsource many of its services. Critics fear that could cause security and customer service to suffer.
"You start to see profits negating the need for what is really a good customer service experience," explained Ashley Robbins, Campaign Director for Georgians for Better Transit.
Rally organizers also said the legislation would also shrink MARTA'S governing board, giving more power to areas outside the city of Atlanta. They called that racially biased.
"The majority of people who are going to be running MARTA will not be local folks. The majority of those folks don't ride MARTA themselves," said Quincy Harris with the NAACP.
According to a rally press release, 75% of MARTA riders are minority.
MARTA is currently dealing with an overspending issue and looking for ways to save.
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