MARTA is raising its long-term parking rates by $2 a day beginning Sept. 14, and it is cutting the free period at its paid parking facilities from 24 hours to 14 hours. For anyone who drives to a station, leaves a car and rides the train into downtown, that second change is the one that bites: a vehicle parked past the 14-hour mark now starts accruing a daily charge that previously would not have kicked in until a full day had passed.
Four stations move to $10 per day after the 14-hour window: College Park, Doraville, Lindbergh and North Springs. Five more move to $7 per day after 14 hours: Dunwoody, Kensington, Lenox, Medical Center and Sandy Springs. The increase applies to all paid long-term parking locations in the system. MARTA's free daily parking locations are not affected, and riders who use those lots will see no change.
The agency said in a statement that the higher rates support maintenance and future upgrades to its parking facilities, follow market conditions, and move MARTA's parking operation toward self-sufficiency. MARTA estimates the new rates will generate roughly $500,000 in additional annual operating revenue.
The context worth keeping in mind is how long the old numbers stood. MARTA's last system-wide increase in parking fees came in 2009 — more than a decade and a half of flat pricing while construction, labor and deck maintenance costs climbed. That makes this less a routine adjustment than a reset of a price that had not moved in 17 years.
Downtown workers and residents feel this indirectly more than directly, since the affected decks sit at the outer and mid-line stations rather than at Five Points, Peachtree Center, Garnett or Georgia State. The people paying are the commuters coming in from College Park, Doraville, Sandy Springs and North Springs — the park-and-ride crowd that fills downtown offices, courthouses and campuses each weekday. Anyone leaving a car overnight for a downtown event, a late flight out of Hartsfield-Jackson via the College Park deck, or a multi-day trip should plan on the shorter free window. Full rate details are posted at itsmarta.com/parking-fees.aspx.
Original reporting: Rough Draft Atlanta (2026-08-20)