FRESH OPTIONS
Transit & Healthy
Food: A Welcome
Match in Atlanta
The Fresh MARTA Markets bring locally
grown produce to area food deserts.
A
By Leah Harnack
ccording to Feeding America’s
Hunger in America 2014 study,
more than 300,000 residents
within the Metropolitan Atlanta
Rapid Transit Authority’s
service area lack reliable
access to suffi cient quantities
of aff ordable, nutritious food.
Launched in 2015, the Fresh MARTA
Markets provide convenient alternatives
for fresh, aff ordable, locally
grown produce. Stands operate at
four stations, a diff erent station each
day, Th ursday through Friday, spring
through fall.
Th e markets are managed in partnership
with the Community Farmers
Market, Atlanta Community Food
Bank/Food Oasis-Atlanta, South
West Atlanta Growers (SWAG) Cooperative
and Organix Matters.
Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit
Authority General Manager and
Chief Executie Offi cer Keith Parker
said, “It’s better seeing a kid get off a
bus or train, grab a peach and a fresh
smoothie than the typical candy bar
and soda that they do almost everywhere
else. Us playing a role in that,
I think is really neat.”
10 | Expo Daily | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | OCTOBER 9, 2017
The Fresh MARTA
Market stands
have storage
on the back
for additional
produce.
At the Fresh
MARTA Market,
Haylene Green
“The Garden
Queen” sells fresh
hibiscus juice,
ginger beer and
soup at the West
End Station on
Tuesdays.
The Fresh MARTA Markets give
people chances for fresh fruit
and vegetables in the food
deserts of Atlanta.
The Start of the Market
Th e market started as a pilot for four
months the fi rst season in 2015, as a
table-top market.
Passengers were surveyed: Would
you support a fresh produce stand at
the station? How oft en do you buy
fresh produce? Where do you shop?
Are you price sensitive? What’s the
range of prices you would pay?
“All of the information from the
survey was very, very positive,” said
MARTA Manager, Retail Development
& Concessions Planning Denise
Whitfi eld. “We wanted to confi rm the
need and that survey confi rmed it.”
Th e fi rst year, another indicator
of success was that they sold 8,000
pounds of fresh produce and had
3,500 people stop by.
A Community Need
Another partnership Whitfi eld talked
about is with SNAP, the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program. “With
SNAP, fresh for less here in Georgia,
they can get two for one.
“With their $10 certifi cate, they
can come here Fresh MARTA Market
and get $20 worth of produce.”
She mentioned they are currently
20 to 40 percent SNAP sales.
“A lot of times we see because of
low incomes, that you don’t have an interest
in being able to eat more healthy,
but it is not true,” Whitfi eld stressed.
“On any of these blocks, you’ll see …
fast food; you won’t see this.
“Before we started, you might see
here and there, people selling what-
Photos by Leah Harnack/Mass Transit
