Friday, February 1, 2002
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Friday, February 1, 2002 |
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Business leader says MARTA cuts will hurt South Fulton By JOHN
THOMPSON
MARTA officials announced this week that many of the bus routes the authority wanted to eliminate would stay in service. While South Fulton generally escaped the transportation agency's plan of cuts, one route's elimination is causing consternation for Patrick Stafford, executive director of the Fulton Industrial Business Association. MARTA decided to eliminate the number 173 bus route, which is a spur of the 73 route and helps deliver workers to the industrial Fulton Business Industrial corridor from South Fulton County. "It just doesn't make any sense to me when you've got 30,000 potential customers for this route," Stafford said. The 73 route delivers workers to Fulton Industrial from a MARTA train station on the west route and is one of the company's most highly used routes, Stafford said. The 173 helped funnel workers from South Fulton cities to Fulton Industrial, he added. "When this goes into effect in March, it's going to be much more difficult for a worker who lives in Union City to get to his job at Fulton Industrial," Stafford said. Stafford's main complaint with the process is that residents in South Fulton were never given the chance to tell MARTA officials their preferences in services. "There was a meeting scheduled, but it was cancelled because of the snow. MARTA never rescheduled it," he said. The business leader is a big backer of the transportation system and hopes that he can find alternatives to help workers get to their jobs after the March cutback in service. "We're working with legislators to try and find some sort of alternative funding for the system," he said. Stafford also is exploring the option of running four commuter vans to Fulton Industrial from outlying counties, such as Fayette and Douglas. "If we can prove to MARTA that the need is there, maybe they'll get the message," he said.
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