Gwinnettians won't go to the polls to vote on joining the MARTA system until next year — but one local city is getting a new transit service next week.
“Microtransit,” to be precise.
Gwinnett County announced this week that it selected a portion of the city of Snellville for a six-month pilot of a new on-demand, door-to-door bus service. The offering, called microtransit because it serves a small set area, will be free and begins Sept. 17.
“This is a new type of service for us so we hope to learn more about how receptive the public is to using an on demand transit service that circulates through a defined area,” Gwinnett transportation director Alan Chapman said. “This is also a new technology for us with a mobile app that allows for real time scheduling of service. So the pilot will allow us to work with potential customers on how to utilize the service.”
Gwinnett will use seven 12-passenger buses to offer services between 6 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday. Riders can request the service, which can be used for everything from errands to rides to local park-and-ride lots, by downloading the app at microtransitapp.com or calling 770- 822-5010.
The service area for the bus service is shown in the map below.
Chapman said ridership is expected to be limited at first but grow “as people have a chance to try it.” Additional service like the pilot program is included in the county’s comprehensive transit development plan.
The plan identifies areas like Snellville, Buford and Dacula in particular for on-demand services in the future.
The pilot service will “pause” after six months, officials said, while the county makes assessments about what worked and what didn’t.
“As we developed our comprehensive transit plan earlier this year, we received a lot of community feedback that serving areas like Snellville needed to be a priority,” said Karen Winger, the director of Gwinnett’s transit division. “Since regular bus routes require more population density than Snellville has, we had to come up with another way to do it. Microtransit seemed to be the next best option. It’s flexible and comprehensive.”
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