Midtown Station

MARTA CEO Beverly Scott announced Thursday that the transit agency’s Yellow Line will be renamed the Gold Line. MARTA is making the switch in response to complaints from some Asian-American advocacy groups who said that the word “yellow” still carries the connotation of a racial epithet.

The route was known as the Doraville Line until October 2009, when MARTA changed its rail line names to colors to make them easier for riders to navigate. 2000 Census data put the percentage of residents of Doraville and neighboring Chamblee who identified themselves as “Asian” at 12.7 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

Scott told the AJC that the re-renaming will be phased in over an as-yet-unspecified time period. Electronic train arrival boards in stations already reflected the change Friday while the agency’s Web site still refers to the “Yellow Line.”