Several metro Atlanta transit entities have applied for GO! Transit funding:
- $30 million for MARTA to replace its aging public address and electronic passenger information signs with a new Audio-Visual Information System (AVIS). Passengers have often complained that instructions issued on MARTA's public address system sound garbled and unintelligible. The new system would include new electronic software and hardware; up to 500 new electronic passenger information signs on station concourses, entrances, platforms and bus loops; a new public address system for all 38 rail stations; and a new application that provides real-time information about bus arrival and departure times.
- $19.2 million for Cobb Community Transit to buy several dozen new buses to service existing routes and build a fuel island and bus wash facility. CCT also wants to buy six buses to initiate a new circulator bus service in the Cumberland area near the new Sun Trust Park, the future home of the Atlanta Braves.
- $12.4 million for Gwinnett County Transit to buy five new Xpress buses and 28 local replacement buses, plus build or rehabilitate several park and ride facilities.
- $9.7 million for the Atlanta Regional Commission to buy bus stop upgrades like signage, shelters and benches — improvements that would benefit MARTA, GRTA, Cobb and Gwinnett transit systems.
Bike share programs, bus stop shelters, replacement buses, park and ride lots and electronic passenger information signs.
These are just a few of the items that transit agencies around the state are competing to fund with an unprecedented, one-time allotment of $75 million in general obligation bonds that state lawmakers included in last year’s budget.
The 10 Contenders
Applications have come in from the cities of Albany and Columbus, the University of Georgia, Chatham Area Transit (in Savannah) and Athens-Clarke County. In metro Atlanta, the contenders are MARTA, the Atlanta Regional Commission, Cobb Community Transit, Gwinnett County Transit and Henry County.
MARTA’s request alone would sap 40 percent of the funds. The transit agency is seeking $30 million to replace its aging public address system and add up to 500 new electronic passenger information signs on station concourses, entrances, platforms and bus loops.
“Our public address system was built about 30 years ago,” said Rich Krisak, MARTA’s chief operating officer. “The speakers and acoustic technology and amplifiers are old and aging. New technology is incredibly better.”
A Bargaining Chip
The $75 million in bonding funds was a bargaining chip in a complicated negotiation process in 2015 — the price for Democrats' cooperation on passage of a sweeping transportation funding bill. House Bill 170 provides about $900 million a year for road and bridge improvements.
By comparison, the transit piece was a pittance. But it was important symbolically, according to state Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, who had a critical role in helping find a bipartisan solution as the longest-serving member of the General Assembly.
Smyre said the transit bonds show that the Republican-dominated General Assembly is at least beginning to consider a state role for helping to fund mass transportation, primarily because it has become so closely tied to economic development and job creation.
“This put transit in play in the political arena and put transit on the political horizon,” Smyre said. “Hopefully we can continue to revisit this topic after this round is conducted and we see what $75 million does to assist transit systems around the state. That will tell the story as to whether we get future funding.”
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