MARTA Honors King Family Legacy with Special Bus

In partnership with the King Center, the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) has unveiled a special bus honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. This is the first of several special bus designs planned as MARTA launches a yearlong celebration of Atlanta civil rights leaders.

“Transit is a place where all are welcome, and, like the civil rights movement, where inclusion and equality serve as the foundation for opportunity,” said Collie Greenwood, MARTA general manager and CEO. “MARTA is proud to have played a role in the rich history of the City of Atlanta and the civil rights movement and recognize the impact of Dr. King and Coretta Scott King, and the road they traveled as they changed the world.”

MARTA is a majority-minority employer, with more than 90 percent of staff identifying as a race other than white, including its GM/CEO and members of the executive leadership team. In addition, MARTA has developed business practices that align with an ongoing commitment to diversity and inclusion, such as launching a multi-year initiative to increase participation of its largest vendors in Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) programs—creating a more level playing field on which minority-owned firms can compete for MARTA contracts.

As it has done in years past, MARTA will stage its 1955 historical bus directly across from the King birth home at 501 Auburn Ave. on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Jan. 15. Throughout 2024, the agency will continue to honor civil rights icons with specially designed buses—to be announced during Black History Month, February.