Articles

GRTA Board Shelves Bus Transit Plan

Julie B. Hairston, AJC Staff
January 15, 2004

The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority board put the brakes on a proposal Wednesday to use rubber-tired buses designed to ride like trains in high-occupancy vehicle lanes on I-75 north of Atlanta.

The board postponed a vote to establish its preferred transit option between intown Atlanta and the Town Center area of Cobb County after Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin, Sierra Club director Bryan Hager and several board members objected to the plan.

Those objecting Wednesday urged the GRTA board to reconsider an alternate option to use the same vehicles, known as bus rapid transit, running in lanes dedicated to that use. That option would route the transit line along a portion of Cobb Parkway and Marietta Boulevard before moving closer to I-75 farther north.

In a letter to GRTA Executive Director Steve Stancil, Franklin said the bus rapid transit option would support city-approved land use plans for that portion of Atlanta.

"We are concerned that the [study] work to date does not put sufficient emphasis on land use policies or recognize the significant potential to attract major transit ridership through development patterns that concentrate high density employment and housing," Franklin wrote.

But fans of the HOV bus option, which includes many residents of the I-75 corridor, stressed it is the least expensive of three options studied and said it is likely to attract the most riders.

The HOV alternative "has the best chance of receiving widespread support in Cobb County because it is the best way to meet the needs of Cobb County commuters," said Ron Sifen, president of the Vinings Homeowners Association.

The GRTA board plans a tour of the potential route and a work session on it for Feb. 3.

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