MARTA announced yesterday that it will receive between $60M-$70M of the $180M allocated for GA mass transit in the federal stimulus package.  But as we suspected, that money cannot be used to cover operating expenses, so MARTA plans to use the funds for repairs and “system preservation projects”.

Not the sort of news that gets transit-huggers all hot and bothered, though I guess it could be considered “investing in the future”.  I’m still eager to hear how the other $120M will be spent.

Meanwhile, it sounds like we won’t know for a couple months how the now much-malined (thanks a lot Harry Reid) high-speed rail money will be distributed.  The U.S. Transportation Sec. will distribute that money directly.

Johnny Issakson better get crackin’!  Here’s where you can contact him, in case you’d like to drop him a line.