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The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) announced this week that it posted a $12.1 million operating budget surplus for fiscal-year 2007, which ended June 30 — the second-straight year the agency has recorded a surplus and only the second time in more than 20 years it recorded a surplus for two consecutive fiscal years.

“Thanks to a strict fiscal management plan, strategic cost-containment measures and improved financial performance in recent years, MARTA has achieved this significant accomplishment,” said MARTA General Manager Richard McCrillis in a prepared statement. “We will continue to reinvest surplus revenues into system improvements and sustaining our strong financial outlook for the future.”

In particular, MARTA plans to reinvest funds into “enhancing the quality of service for customers and sustaining upgrades and maintenance to the system,” the agency said. MARTA, which ended FY07 with $117.4 million in capital reserves, has increased bus service, added security, cleaning and customer service personnel, and invested in capital improvements, such as the Breeze fare collection system and rail-car rehabilitation program. The service improvement efforts have contributed to a 4.3 percent increase in passenger revenue during the past year, the agency said.