Public Hearing Held to Discuss GRTA Xpress Service

Representatives of Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) Xpress commuter bus service met with Paulding County officials last week in Dallas at the Watson Government Complex. The purpose of the meeting, termed a public hearing, was to discuss current and future bus service to Paulding County and what Director Scott Greene characterized as “the gloomy funding outlook for Xpress.”  

In partnership between GRTA and 12 metro Atlanta counties, Xpress provides commuter service to the Atlanta region Monday through Friday, and is designed to provide workday commuters an alternative to driving their vehicles alone to work.

GRTA representatives addressed questions from county officials and helped them to understand the benefits and costs.

Greene was among county officials in attendance on Monday and explained the timing for the meeting and why the bus service faces some funding issues in its future.

“Paulding County contributed $510,000 in December 2003 for the start-up of Xpress. (In return, the state committed $15 million for the currently under construction.) The start-up funds and other federal sources are ‘drying up’ to the point that GRTA Xpress operations are not sustainable,” Greene said. “The governor and legislature provided stopgap funds of $5.8 million for the budget year beginning July 1, 2011 (fiscal year 2012).”

But Paulding is not in a position to help this year and the issues raised by GRTA are not part of the , Greene said. As the county deals with funding shortfalls locally, GRTA understands the county is not expected to take any formal action on supporting Xpress until next year, he said.

Last week’s meeting was timed to allow more than a year of preparation before any action is taken on FY2013 funding commitments, Greene said.

FY2013 will be a pivotal year on the future of GRTA, Greene explained and therefore, GRTA representatives are meeting with all involved jurisdictions to solicit future funding support through direct local contributions, potential Transportation Investment Act (TIA) fund [via] a 1-percent regional tax, and continued allocation of Federal Transit Administration (FTA) funds.

“Transit funding in Georgia has always been a county responsibility. Xpress, from its inception, has been funded by the counties. Using county funds and fare-box revenues to leverage federal funds, we’ve created successful regional commuter service,” said Jannine Miller, GRTA’s executive director. “We hope to continue to build on that model, with the counties taking advantage of the opportunity to work together with the state to provide access to jobs and an alternative to driving alone that helps reduce congestion on our region’s highways.”

Of the 20 metro counties, Paulding County has the highest percentage (76.5 percent) of workers who leave their home county each day, according to data contained in a GRTA document provided at last Monday's meeting.

“This is a less than favorable no. 1 ranking, which the county is addressing through job growth initiatives,” Greene said. “Money is not available to widen roads to carry the current, much less future, traffic demand. One of the ways to deal with road capacity is to put more people in each vehicle, including carpools, vanpools and buses.”  

Paulding residents access the Xpress at Acworth, Douglasville, Hiram and Powder Springs. The initial stop was in Powder Springs, which became too crowded during the gas price increases of 2008. GRTA extended the route to the parking lot of with a shared parking arrangement that did not require any significant cost other than adding buses. GRTA later purchased some of the land at Hwy 278 Movies and both parties share parking space.

GRTA’s Xpress Routes are expanded based on demand and available funding. Currently the program carries more than 1 million riders each year for a total of 50 million passenger miles, according to the GRTA document. Roughly 0.7 percent of Paulding commuters use Xpress and the ridership has remained steady since the price of gas spiked in 2008.