Leslie Westry thinks metro Atlanta's long-range regional transit plan looks great.

She said Tuesday a good way to start creating it would be to improve the bus and train system she uses every day. She commutes on bus and MARTA train from her home in Marietta to her job near Doraville.

Each trip takes about two hours on a good day, she said. Routine delays add an extra half hour, she said.

"They need to fix the little things first and build from that," Westry said.

Westry was among about 50 people who attended a public meeting Tuesday on recommendations of the Transit Planning Board. Planners are seeking comment on proposed bus and rail lines that are to be built by 2030. Public comments will influence the shape of the final plan. The next meeting is Thursday in Lawrenceville from 4-8 p.m.

Westry's trip might be easier if the proposed system was already operational. She could ride transit from Marietta to the Cumberland Mall area. Then her route would go around I-285 to Doraville and probably transfer to a bus for the final leg of her journey.

Westry's current commute involves three buses and a train.

She takes two bus routes to get from her home on Delk Road to MARTA's Arts Center Station. Then it's a train ride to Chamblee and a transfer to a third bus for the final leg to Spa Sydell, on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard, where the 34-year-old works as a service representative handling sales and customers.

Westry said tardy buses are the biggest source of her transit woes. The Cobb Community Transit buses she rides are routinely late to transfer stations, she said. Drivers could help by dropping passengers like her, who have to transfer to another bus, at bus stops where they could easily meet their next bus, instead of taking passengers all the way to a transfer point to await their next bus.

But that doesn't happen, she said. She showed a complaint letter she said she sent CCT on Feb. 18. She said she hasn't received a response.

Westry said she likes the proposals to link suburban towns with each other. For example, one possible route would connect Marietta with Roswell and continue to Duluth and Lawrenceville. Another would run from Canton to Roswell and on to the Norcross area. A commuter train would connect Athens with the Emory University area and another would link Douglasville with downtown Atlanta.

"I think it will happen," Westry said of a regional transit system. "The question is: When?"

Rachel Heath, a senior at Walton High School, thinks she has the answer. She's heard that within a year or so she'll be able to ride a commuter train from Athens, where she'll attend University of Georgia this fall, to Atlanta, where her sister attends Georgia Tech.

Heath, 17, attended the transit meeting as part of her advanced placement government class at Walton High. She has to write a three-page paper about the meeting.

"My sister said the train might connect in a year, at least, because they've already been talking about it a long time," Heath said.

For more information go to http://www.tpb.ga.gov/.