Hundreds of thousands of soccer fans are about to meet MARTA for the first time — and as of this week, the system finally has a front door built for them. MARTA launched a fully redesigned mobile app and a new set of web-based rider tools on Tuesday, per Rough Draft Atlanta — landing two days before the tournament kicks off and the FIFA Fan Festival opens at Centennial Olympic Park.
The new app, built by civic technology firm Reflexions, is live now for both iPhone and Android. Just as important for a city about to host visitors from six continents: the same tools run in any web browser, no download required. Land at Hartsfield-Jackson, open a browser, and you can plan a trip to the Fan Festival without installing anything.
What the new tools do
- Real-time arrivals for buses and trains, drawn from MARTA's live transit data feeds — sharper predictions than the old app delivered.
- Trip planning built on Open Trip Planner, the open-source routing system used by transit agencies around the world.
- Service alerts and system status, so you know about a delay before you're standing on the platform wondering.
- Safety reporting baked directly into the app. MARTA folded its former See & Say platform into the new tools, routing rider reports of suspicious activity and incidents straight to transit police and service teams.
Accessibility got real attention, too. The tools were designed for riders with visual, auditory, and mobility-related disabilities, and they support Spanish, Chinese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Korean, French, and Arabic — a meaningful upgrade for a host city about to greet fans in every one of those languages.
"MARTA is committed to improving the customer experience, whether it's on our buses and trains, or when riders use our website or apps," said Jonathan Hunt, MARTA's interim general manager and CEO, in the launch announcement.
Why the timing matters
Atlanta's rail system is heading into the biggest stress test of its nearly 50-year history. This week Urbanize Atlanta asked readers point-blank whether MARTA is ready for an influx it pegs at 300,000 to 500,000 additional visitors between now and July 15 — with crowds funneling through downtown stations for the Fan Festival starting today and Friday's USMNT opener against Paraguay right behind it.
The agency's answer has been to staff up: extra undercover and uniformed officers from MARTA and Atlanta police, real-time monitoring across roughly 12,000 security cameras, and an expanded MARTA Hope outreach program, per Urbanize. The new app adds one more layer — a reporting tool in every rider's pocket, exactly when the platforms will be at their fullest.
What's still coming
MARTA says a redesigned agency website is in development, and integration with the Breeze mobile payment app is planned — which would finally close the loop between planning a trip and paying for it. For now, fares still run through Breeze cards and the Breeze app, and at $2.50 a ride, MARTA remains one of the best deals of the entire tournament.
If you're headed downtown today — or any match day between now and mid-July — the playbook is simple: skip the car, tap a Breeze card, and let the new app tell you exactly when your train arrives. Downtown's stations are about to be the busiest rooms in the city, and MARTA just put its best tool for navigating them in your hand.
Source: Rough Draft Atlanta (Rough Draft Staff, June 9, 2026). Additional reporting: Urbanize Atlanta (Josh Green, June 8, 2026).