BY KIMBERLY BRENNER
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Atlanta Georgia, known for the Braves, Coca-Cola, and CNN, is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. It is also home to the ninth largest transit system in the U.S. The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) provides bus, rail, and paratransit service for 550,000 residents and visitors each day. According to the Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC), the primary cause of Atlanta’s growth is its strategic location in the air, rail and highway networks of the southeastern United States. It is vital that these transportation networks keep the pace with the latest technology. To this end, MARTA has plans to convert the current token and magnetic stripe-based fare collection systems into a contactless card-based system.