A recent investigation by Channel 2 Action News found that Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) drivers have been accruing excessive amounts of overtime to the point at which some are working double the number of regularly scheduled hours and taking home paychecks that are twice as large, according to WSB-TV. During 2010 and 2011, drivers earned $16 million for thousands of hours worth of overtime employee attendance, investigative reporter Aaron Diamant found.

"It absolutely is from a dollars and cents perspective, a problem for the taxpayers," State Representative Mike Jacobs told Diamant in an interview.

However, MARTA's bus operations head Mary Ann Jackson said the overtime is available - and necessary - because the organization is short-staffed by about 35 employees, the source reports. As a result, dozens of drivers are doubling their salaries and the highest-paid worker received $364,249.21 between January 2010 and September 2012.

This is much higher than the average salaries for mass transit drivers across the country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. National estimates for bus and transit drivers is $37,440 and even those in the top-paying states, such as New York and Washington, bring in less than $50,000 per year. 

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