Why this week is ‘historic’ for transit in Georgia

Atlanta Regional Commission: Bus stop signage throughout Cobb, DeKalb and Fulton counties will get upgrades, and bus shelters, benches and sidewalks will be improved.

Chatham Area Transit Authority: One-third of the transit system's bus fleet — that's 26 buses — will be replaced, cutting maintenance costs.

Cobb County: A dozen new buses will be purchased to operate a new express route from Town Center to the Midtown MARTA station. An additional six buses will be bought to create two new circulator routes around the new Braves new ballpark and Cumberland Mall.

Gwinnett County: The money will purchase 20 new buses for Gwinnett County Transit, which will enable the service to run more efficiently, improving reliability and cost-effectiveness.

Gwinnett County: The Sugarloaf Mills Park-and-Ride lot will be redesigned to improve bus access and passenger amenities, including new shelters.

Henry County: A new park-and-ride lot near the intersection of Jonesboro Road and I-75 in Henry County will be built, with access to express lanes on the highway.

MARTA:

Audio Visual Information System

Atlanta’s transit system will upgrade its public address system and electronic signage at 38 rail stations with enhanced audio and video displays.

University of Georgia: One-third of the existing diesel bus fleet — that's 19 buses — will be replaced with new fully electric buses.

Georgia is quietly on the cusp of one of the largest mass transit expansions since MARTA’s tracks were first laid.

Gov. Nathan Deal on Wednesday announced $75 million in state-funded transit projects, the most significant state investment in buses and rail in years.

And the city of Atlanta this week set a November referendum to raise a half-penny sales tax for transit that could extend light rail around the Beltline, build new MARTA stations and bolster busy bus routes.

After decades of paltry state support for transit, the developments are another sign of the shifting support among politicians for rail, bus and other mass transportation. Deal on Wednesday called it both “historic” and a “sea change” in sentiment among conservative Republicans, and he said he was open to the prospect of more state funding for transit.

“You have to start somewhere,” he said, “and this is a significant first step.”

That it comes on the heels of transit setbacks is telling. Metro Atlanta voters rejected a 10-year T-SPLOST sales tax of 1 percent in 2012 that would have raised $7.2 billion for transit and road projects across the region. And Georgia transportation regulators have threatened to shut down Atlanta's troubled streetcar system over a slew of problems outlined in recent audits.

But a growing cadre of Republicans, enticed by the burst of economic development along the rail lines linking Atlanta to its northern suburbs, are embracing transit. State Sen. Brandon Beach listed a litany of companies — State Farm, Mercedes Benz, PulteGroup — that recently moved to new homes in metro Atlanta near MARTA lines.

“It’s something that CEOs are looking to check off when they relocate,” said Beach, who defeated a primary opponent who was deeply critical of his support for MARTA expansion. “The people are ahead of the elected officials on this issue. They want options and they’re tired of sitting in gridlock. There’s nothing more Republican than to allow people to vote on an issue like that.”

The $75 million in bonds was a bargaining chip in 2015 to earn Democratic support in a complicated negotiation process for a sweeping transportation bill. The new law, House Bill 170, provides about $900 million a year for road and bridge improvements, but it was criticized as an unnecessary tax hike by some conservative activists.

The funding for transit is an unprecedented — and one-time — commitment, and Georgia remains one of the few states that doesn’t provide regular funding for the vast majority of its transit operations. (The lone exception is the Xpress bus service by the Georgia Regional Transit Authority, which receives state subsidies.)

But transit advocates hope to persuade legislators to give them a dedicated source of revenue in next year’s legislative session, or at least empower more local governments to raise taxes on their own for improvements.

Danielle Elkins, a founder of the pro-transit advocacy group Advance Atlanta, moved to Atlanta the day after the T-SPLOST bid failed four years ago. This is the first time since then, she said, when she’s had hope that support for transit in Georgia is on the rise.

“We’re at a tipping point for transit right now, and this is the first time we’ve had such positive momentum,” she said, pointing to the droves of younger people moving to apartments near MARTA stations to escape traffic gridlock. “We’re getting the traction to get this through.”

A big week for transit

The State Road and Tollway Authority selected 11 projects from among the proposals, and a range of decidedly unflashy projects won out. While $75 million sounds like a lot of money, it doesn’t go far when you consider the cost of a MARTA rail line through the Emory University area alone would exceed $1 billion.

The city of Albany will get a new multimodal transit center. Cobb County will get money to run additional bus routes to the new Braves stadium and down I-75. The University of Georgia and Athens-Clarke County will be able to buy electric buses. And MARTA won a $30 million overhaul of its audio/visual system, which includes electronic signs at its 38 stations and a new public address system.

The $75 million is barely a blip in the ocean — only a fraction of the transit systems in 122 Georgia counties even applied because they didn’t meet eligibility requirements — but advocates see it as proof that the Republican-led General Assembly recognizes a state role in funding mass transportation.

“There’s no question we’ve turned a corner with transit funding. The political pendulum has swung,” said state Rep. Calvin Smyre, a Columbus Democrat who helped broker the deal. He wants lawmakers to cobble together a regional transit plan in 2017 that could bring other metro Atlanta counties resistant to MARTA’s expansion to the table.

“I want to take the dialogue to Cobb and Gwinnett to see what the temperature is up there, politically, on transit,” Smyre said.

Democrats — with the assistance of House Speaker Pro Tem Jan Jones, R-Milton — helped shepherd a measure through the Legislature this year that allowed another breakthrough by authorizing the city of Atlanta to hike the sales tax by a half-penny to generate $2.5 billion over the next four decades for a MARTA expansion and other transit upgrades.

The Atlanta City Council on Monday unanimously voted to schedule a referendum in November to let voters decide on the tax increase, which would pave the way for the largest expansion of MARTA in the system’s history. It’s not a sure thing: Atlanta residents already pay a 1 percent MARTA sales tax, and the increase would nudge the city’s tax rate to 8.5 percent.

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed will lead the campaign, and he’s called the expansion a potential turning point for the city — a “point where we chose to take control of our future.”

MARTA Chief Executive Keith Parker has bigger plans. He plans to ask lawmakers next year to allow DeKalb and Fulton county residents to hold similar votes to raise more cash for MARTA's growth. That could pave the way for more aggressive expansions to Emory University and Atlanta suburbs envisioned in a proposed $8 billion plan.

“We’ve had a very positive week and we’re moving in the right direction,” said Parker, who plans to hold meetings in the coming weeks with state officials and lawmakers. “There’s going to be some good discussions.”

Much will depend on the fate of Atlanta’s streetcar — Parker vowed “significant improvements” are coming — and the success of the transit systems who won Wednesday’s grants. Deal said his administration will be closely charting their progress before weighing requests for more transit spending.

“And if these projects are successful,” he said, “it will lay the foundation for future funding.”