An implementation plan for the new Cobb County Route 10X was approved Tuesday by the Cobb County Board of Commissioners with the addition of 12 buses planned next year.
Most of the funding for the 12 buses will come from the GO! Transit Capital Program with the State Road and Tollway Authority at 80 percent of the estimated project cost of $7,097,700.
That 80 percent by the GOTCP grant will be around $5,678,160 with the 20 percent local match by the county at about $1,419,540.
Cobb also has been awarded a Federal Transit Administration grant of $2 million to help with transit operating assistance.
A public hearing date, a Route 10X marketing program and authorization to buy the 12 buses will be considered by the commissioners at a later date.
The route will provide faster, more direct service between downtown Atlanta and Kennesaw State University's Kennesaw campus, including connections to Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Savannah College of Art and Design, Life University, KSU's Marietta campus and SunTrust Park.
Route 10X is anticipated to shorten travel time by limiting stops to major destinations and relieve the often overcrowded CobbLinc Route 10, said Cobb County Department of Transportation Director Jim Wilgus in a Tuesday memo to County Manager David Hankerson.
CobbLinc Route 10 has the highest ridership in the CobbLinc system and is on the the highest ridership transit routes in the Southeast, Wilgus added.
March 2018 is the earliest 10X could start, the county said.
