If you've been dealing with those annoying station closures and detours lately, here's your payoff. MARTA's long-promised Better Breeze system goes live March 28, and the main attraction is contactless payment. No more digging around for your Breeze card when your phone or credit card will do just fine.
The new faregates are supposedly safer and more reliable than the current ones, though anyone who's been through Five Points during rush hour might wonder what the bar was set at. The phased rollout means some stations will still be using the old system while others get the upgrade, so don't toss that Breeze card just yet.
This is one of those changes that seems obvious in hindsight. Cities from New York to London have had tap-to-pay transit for years, and Atlanta's finally catching up. For a system that's been struggling with reliability and ridership, anything that makes getting on the train easier is a win.
