Wednesday, March 20, 2002
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Wednesday, March 20, 2002 |
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Fayette nixes GRTA buses By JOHN THOMPSON
The Fayette County Commission rejected the Georgia Regional Transportation Agency's offer of $1.2 million to get on the bus last week, but left the door slightly ajar for bus service down the road. GRTA had offered the county between $12-14 million if it joined a regional express bus service the transportation agency wants to start in 13 counties in the Atlanta region. In return, Fayette County would contribute $1.2 million to pick up some of the costs of operating the bus system for three years. The commission rejected GRTA's proposal unanimously and chairman Greg Dunn said, "There's just not a lot of support for bus service in the county." But Dunn said the county was always willing to take another look at the proposal in the future, when the public might be more receptive to bus service. Many of the commissioners said they had received nothing but negative attitudes from the community. Other reasons cited for the rejection included the costs for the taxpayers. "The state is intimidating this county. It's insulting for me to pay $1.2 or $1.4 million for us to get our tax dollars back," said Commissioner Herb Frady. Dunn added GRTA's proposal has been problematic from the beginning, since there was no study conducted to see if there was an interest in bus service for the county. "I just object to this one size fits all mentality," he said. The chairman also emphasized that road building will continue in Fayette County. The only benefit the GRTA program would have offered the county is that some of the projects would have been moved up on the construction calendar. Fayette joins Cherokee as the only two counties that have officially rebuffed GRTA's offer.
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