A MARTA bus runs a light on Peachtree. A rider goes down on a wet platform at Five Points. An escalator at Lindbergh stops without warning. A passenger is thrown across the aisle when a driver brakes hard in Downtown traffic.
In each of those situations the injured person usually does the reasonable thing: they get treated, they wait to see how the injury settles, and they call a lawyer a few months later. By then, in a disturbing number of cases, the claim is already dead.
Suing a transit authority in Georgia is not like suing a driver. The deadline is dramatically shorter, the notice has to go to a specific person in a specific way, and the evidence that proves what happened is routinely overwritten within days.
Quick answer
Claims against MARTA are generally subject to a six month ante litem notice requirement, far shorter than Georgia’s usual two year personal injury deadline. The written notice must describe the time, place, extent of injury and the negligence complained of, and it must reach MARTA’s designated agent for service of process.
Serving the notice does not replace the lawsuit deadline. You still have to file suit within two years. Miss the notice, though, and the case is over regardless of how badly you were hurt or how clearly MARTA was at fault.
The Clock Starts the Day You Are Hurt
Georgia governments are protected by sovereign immunity. The legislature has waived that immunity in limited circumstances, and every waiver comes with conditions. The most important is advance written notice of the claim, called an ante litem notice.
MARTA claims are generally treated as falling under the six month municipal notice rule at O.C.G.A. section 36-33-5. Because the precise authority and its application can be contested in a given case, the only safe practice is to treat six months as a hard outside limit and to serve far sooner than that.
A sufficient notice has to set out:
- The time of the incident, including the date and, where it matters, the hour.
- The place, identified specifically. A station name, platform, bus route number and direction, or an intersection, not a general area.
- The extent of the injury, meaning the nature and severity of what you suffered.
- The negligence complained of, meaning what MARTA or its employee did or failed to do.
- A specific amount of monetary damages sought. Vague or open-ended demands have sunk claims in Georgia, and the figure you state can cap what you recover, so it needs a real damages assessment behind it rather than a placeholder number.
Service matters as much as content. MARTA publishes its agent for service of process on its own website, currently the Interim Chief Legal Counsel at 2424 Piedmont Road NE in Atlanta. Confirm the current designation before you serve, and use certified mail or statutory overnight delivery so delivery is provable. Filling out a comment form on the MARTA website is not notice.
Our broader guide to the ante litem rules for suing the City of Atlanta and other Georgia governments explains how the six month, twelve month and two year deadlines interact.
The MARTA Claims We See Most
MARTA runs heavy rail, a bus network rebuilt under the NextGen plan, the Atlanta Streetcar, the Rapid A-Line and MARTA Mobility paratransit. Each mode produces a different kind of case.
| Type of incident | Who is typically responsible | Evidence that decides it |
|---|---|---|
| Bus collision with a car or pedestrian | MARTA through its operator, and often the other driver as well | Onboard and forward-facing video, telematics, operator schedule and training file |
| Passenger thrown or fallen inside a bus | MARTA, under the high duty a common carrier owes passengers | Interior camera angles, braking data, operator statement, route conditions |
| Slip, trip or fall at a station | MARTA, and sometimes a cleaning or maintenance contractor | Station camera footage, inspection and cleaning logs, prior incident reports |
| Escalator or elevator injury | MARTA and the equipment maintenance contractor | Maintenance and inspection records, published outage history for that unit, parts history |
| Platform, gap or track incident | MARTA, and potentially a signaling or design contractor | Platform video, operator logs, gap measurements, prior complaints |
| Assault at a station or parking deck | MARTA on a negligent security theory, plus the assailant | MARTA Police call history for that location, lighting and camera condition, staffing records |
| Parking deck vehicle or pedestrian incident | MARTA and any contractor operating the facility | Deck surveillance, maintenance records, lighting surveys |
Why the Evidence Problem Is So Severe
Transit video is the single most valuable evidence in these cases, and it is also the most perishable. Bus and station recordings are typically retained on a short rolling cycle and then overwritten automatically. Nobody at MARTA is obligated to set your footage aside unless someone asks.
The same is true of the records that matter in a maintenance case. MARTA publicly posts elevator and escalator outages on a rolling basis, which is genuinely useful for showing that a particular unit had a history, but those postings expire. Capturing them while they are live can be the difference between a notice-based claim and no claim at all.
Practical steps in the first week:
- Report the incident to MARTA and get an incident number. For a crime or an assault, call MARTA Police. Their non-emergency line is 404-848-4900 and the emergency line is 404-848-4911.
- Write down the specifics before you forget them. Bus route number, direction of travel, vehicle number, station name, platform, time of day, train car position.
- Photograph everything. The spill, the broken step, the missing handrail, the lighting, the signage.
- Get witness contact information at the scene. Transit riders are nearly impossible to find later.
- Have a preservation letter sent immediately. This is the step that actually saves the video, and it needs to go out in days, not months.
- Get medical care the same day. A gap between the incident and treatment is the first argument any adjuster makes.
MARTA Is Often Not the Only Defendant
Identifying every responsible party matters more here than usual, because different defendants carry different deadlines. A private company has no ante litem protection at all.
- Another driver, where a car caused or contributed to a bus collision. That part of the claim follows ordinary car accident rules and the normal two year deadline.
- A maintenance or cleaning contractor, in escalator, elevator and fall cases.
- A property owner adjacent to a station, where the hazard was on private land. That is a premises liability question, and our post on whether you can sue a store for a slip and fall in Georgia covers the proof.
- A rideshare company. MARTA partners with Uber and Lyft on first and last mile trips, and a crash during that leg brings the coverage layers described on our Uber and Lyft accident page into play.
- Your own insurer, through uninsured motorist coverage, if the at-fault driver in a bus collision fled or was uninsured. See our hit and run practice.
For the operational side of bus collision claims generally, see our Atlanta bus accident practice.
Fault and Damages Still Work the Normal Way
Clearing the notice hurdle gets you in the door. It does not win the case. Georgia’s modified comparative fault rule still reduces your recovery by your share of fault and bars it entirely at 50 percent, and public entities argue comparative fault aggressively. Expect to hear that you were not holding a handrail, that you were looking at your phone, or that the hazard was open and obvious.
Transit injuries are frequently severe, particularly falls on hard platform surfaces and escalator entrapments. Cases in this area regularly involve traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, complex fractures and other catastrophic injuries. When a rider or pedestrian is killed, the family may bring a wrongful death claim, subject to the same shortened notice rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a claim against MARTA?
Treat six months from the date of injury as a hard outside limit. MARTA claims are generally handled under the six month ante litem notice rule that applies to Georgia municipalities, and a late or defective notice can bar the claim no matter how serious the injury. You must still file suit within the ordinary two year statute of limitations as well.
Who do I send a MARTA ante litem notice to?
MARTA publishes its agent for service of process on its own website. As of October 2026 that agent is the Interim Chief Legal Counsel at 2424 Piedmont Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30324. Because the agent can change, confirm the current designation on MARTA’s site before serving, and send the notice by certified mail or statutory overnight delivery so you have proof of delivery.
I fell on a MARTA bus when the driver braked hard. Do I have a case?
Possibly. A common carrier owes its passengers a high degree of care. The question is whether the braking was an ordinary incident of traffic or the result of negligent operation, such as following too closely or speeding. Onboard video is usually the deciding evidence, and it is often overwritten within days.
What if I was hurt by an escalator or elevator at a MARTA station?
These claims turn on maintenance and inspection records and on whether MARTA had notice of the defect. MARTA publicly posts elevator and escalator outages, which can help establish a history for a specific unit. The maintenance contractor may also be a separate defendant alongside MARTA.
Can I sue MARTA if I was assaulted at a station or in a parking deck?
A negligent security claim against a transit authority combines the six month notice requirement with Georgia’s heightened premises standards after SB 68. You would generally need evidence of prior substantially similar crimes and actual knowledge, which makes early access to police call data essential.
Is a MARTA claim worth less than a regular car accident claim?
Not inherently. The damages rules are the same. What differs is procedure: the short notice deadline, the public entity defendant and the evidence preservation problem. Cases are lost on those procedural points far more often than on the value of the injury.
Related Reading
- Suing the City of Atlanta After an Injury: The Six Month Deadline Most People Miss
- Atlanta Bus Accident Lawyers
- Hit While Crossing Buford Highway: What Georgia Law Says About Your Claim
- How Georgia’s SB 68 Tort Reform Changed Negligent Security Claims
- How Long Do You Have to File a Personal Injury Claim in Georgia?
- Injury Resources
Talk to an Atlanta Transit Injury Lawyer This Week, Not Next Month
Thomas Kennedy Sampson & Tompkins LLP has represented injured Georgians for more than 50 years across Fulton, DeKalb, Clayton, Cobb and Gwinnett counties. If MARTA, a MARTA bus or a MARTA station was involved in your injury, the clock that matters is already running and the video that proves your case is already being overwritten.
Call (404) 688-4503 or request a free consultation. You pay nothing unless we recover for you.
Sources and References
- Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, official transit agency site including service, police and facility information: itsmarta.com
- MARTA, published designation of its agent for service of process: itsmarta.com
- Justia, published text of the municipal ante litem notice statute O.C.G.A. section 36-33-5: law.justia.com
- Justia, published text of the Georgia Tort Claims Act notice provision O.C.G.A. section 50-21-26: law.justia.com
- Justia, published text of Georgia’s apportionment statute O.C.G.A. section 51-12-33: law.justia.com
This article is general information about Georgia law and is not legal advice. Notice requirements for transit authorities are strictly enforced and fact specific. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.
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