The four pillars for Atlanta Streets Alive are Transportation Options, Civic Pride, Living Streets, and Health. This community program serves to elevate the conversation around the importance of safe streets for all and the advocacy work we do at Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. 

On July 25, we learned from MARTA that the logistical challenges -- primarily, the lack of a street grid with alternative streets and lack of a rail station nearby -- prevent a viable re-routing of the 71 Cascade Road route from Beecher Street to Cascade Springs Nature Preserve. Route 71 has approximately 430 riders on an average Sunday during the times of our proposed road closures. Typically, MARTA re-routes bus service during Atlanta Streets Alive to nearby streets, minimizing the impact on bus riders. Also, for most of our other routes, the ridership numbers are dramatically lower, affecting fewer people.

This level of disruption to bus service would be out of step with the Transportation Options pillar of Atlanta Streets Alive and would not be in keeping with our mission and values as an organization advocating for ease of mobility. We want to make the mobility experience better for today's bus riders, not worse. We revised the route to avoid disrupting MARTA bus service or making the commutes of bus riders any more challenging than they already are.