Over at Bloglanta Joe Winter has an excellent analysis of the MARTA budget, explaining exactly why service seems to be deteriorating.

Put simply, MARTA's spending priorities are set by the state. It must spend half its money on improving the system, so there's not enough left to run trains and buses, thus fewer trains and buses.

I'd always wondered why the authority spent a ton of money last year, at my nearby East Lake Station, tearing things up so they could put in a half-dozen handicapped spaces. Trees were removed, concrete was poured, sidewalks were replaced, all for spaces that are now used mainly by MARTA cops.

And it's about to get worse, he notes:

A few years ago, two bills were passed in the state legislature allowing some flexibility for MARTA. One bill changed the 50-50 sales tax split to 55-45. That's 55% going toward MARTA's operations. The other bill allowed MARTA to use interst income from its capital surplus to go toward operations. These two commonsense measures are about to expire.

For those who depend on MARTA -- most of whom aren't poor, and many of whom are not black -- a disaster is looming.

Maybe Nathaniel Ford quit because he knew the state was about to kill the transit system he had worked so hard to maintain? Think so?

We'll know in January.