Leaders from Clayton County's business, education and religious community told legislators Wednesday that the coming loss of the C-Tran bus system would hurt countless residents and institutions.
“A complete loss of C-Tran is going to be a devastation,” said Yulanda Beauford, president of the Clayton County Chamber of Commerce. She and the others spoke at a standing-room-only meeting held by the state Legislative Black Caucus at the Capitol.
Hundreds of students will be left without transportation options, according to leaders at Clayton State University and ITT Technical Institute. If students drop out of school, budgets will suffer, they said.
“With those students gone, there might be an issue whether ITT Tech could remain in Clayton County,” said Kim Ingram, director of the school.
Clayton commissioners last year voted 4-1 to shut down the county’s transit service by March 31. County leaders who voted for the shutdown said that in difficult financial times, funding transit wasn’t their job. C-Tran's buses are already full to bursting, MARTA CEO Beverly Scott has said. Marta operates C-Tran under contract to the county.
More than 90 local governments in Georgia provide public transit, even if it’s just a few bus runs, according to a list on the state Department of Transportation’s Web site.
Clayton would become the only of metro Atlanta's five core counties not providing public transit. Fulton and DeKalb counties pay a 1 percent sales tax toward MARTA. Gwinnett County expects to pay $924,000 into its system’s operations this year. Capital expenses will be covered by federal stimulus money this year, said Gwinnett County Transit Director Phil Boyd. Cobb is also getting stimulus funds but expects to put about $2 million in county money toward its $19 million transit budget, according to Rebecca Gutowsky, director of the system.
In spite of proposed fare increases, the C-Tran budget would have been short $1.3 million, according to MARTA. Clayton Commissioner Wole Ralph has said the matter is now in the hands of the state Legislature.
There are measures the state can take, but they would require legislation. Some would also require a local referendum. Those factors makes it difficult for the state to step in by March 31.
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