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Thursday, August 16, 2007
On the bus: Cool, clean and plenty of seats
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I’m sure you’ve seen Gwinnett Transit System buses on our roads with three, maybe four, passengers on board.
Well, on Wednesday, I was one of those riders. I hopped on Route No. 30 and took a round-trip ride from the transfer center, located behind the defunct Gwinnett Place Cinemas on Satellite Boulevard, to downtown Norcross and the Technology Parkway area.
The bus was clean, its plush seats comfy and it’s temperature cool. The only annoyance was the sound of the engine, or something mechanical, whenever the driver slowed or made a stop. The passengers were a solemn lot. They looked straight ahead, stared out the window, made little eye contact. More on that later.
First, a little history. The Gwinnett Transit System was formed to provide express, local and para transit services to county residents. The Gwinnett-to-Atlanta express service debuted in November 2001, and soon became popular with commuters who liked zooming downtown in HOV lanes. The local routes, like the one the Badie Tour experienced, began operating in November 2003 with two routes, amid mixed public reviews. It now has five routes.
The idea of county public transit has been a long time coming. Decades ago, public transit equaled MARTA in the eyes of many, something some leaders and residents couldn’t envision. In 1999, the city of Snellville sent a resolution to the County Commission opposing mass transit. It would “have a negative impact on the quality of life of Snellville citizens,” the resolution stated.
Other reasons were wrapped up in a lot of spoken and whispered hullabaloo about local control, city versus suburbs, and truth be told, race.
One thing about growth, traffic and congestion, though: It makes you think, or rethink things. Minds changed. Public transit wasn’t so evil after all. That image of black Atlantans hopping on a bus to rob and mob up here became less of an issue. After all, thieves drive cars and come in all shades of color.
Gwinnett didn’t let MARTA in, though. Like Cobb and other suburban havens, it simply created a transit system network that links its buses to key MARTA transit stations in DeKalb and downtown Atlanta.
Before I climbed on board Wednesday, I talked to Phil Boyd, the transit’s acting director, about the system and whether its local buses have dispelled its early image as empty, rolling red fortresses. He told me that fare revenue accounts for about 30 percent of the transit system’s $13 million budget. The express runs — a $3 one-way trip — have a daily average ridership of 2,700 passengers. The five local routes, which charge a $1.75 one-way fare, account for 4,600 riders everyday.
The bus on Route 30 left the transfer center with four passengers, but eventually a dozen or so passengers came aboard. It was a sedate group. Few riders wanted to be photographed or to talk about public transit. After I got off the bus, it occurred to me that maybe the riders were ashamed. It was as though there’s a stigma attached to riding a bus in a region where most people prefer to commute alone.
Jeff Whitten settled into a mid-row seat. The 20-year-old lives in Atlanta and works as a salesman for a furniture store off Pleasant Hill Road. His is a two-hour journey. He takes a MARTA train from the Ashby station to Five Points and, finally, to the Doraville station. There, he hops on the No. 10 local route and takes it to the transfer center off Satellite Boulevard. He catches the last bus there.
He praises Gwinnett transit, ‘cept for one thing.
“I wish the buses ran every 10 minutes rather than every 15,” said Whitten, a sophomore at Georgia State University.
Tiffany Thomas hopped on at a stop off Steve Reynolds Boulevard. She takes the bus to her job as a manager at an Arby’s off Peachtree Parkway. She’s originally from Madison, Wis., where buses run later hours on weeknights and more regularly on weekends. Gwinnett bus service doesn’t run on Sundays.
“I just use it to go to work,” Thomas said.
Neither Whitten nor Thomas have vehicles.
Me, I’ve got a car. Would I take the bus to work?
If I could, I would.
— Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
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