Fulton County Is All About That Bus, ‘Bout That Bus
Fulton commissioners and mayors from the county’s cities decided on a plan to expand public transit countywide through Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Arterial Rapid Transit (ART).
After almost nine months of study, 30 public meetings, and 5 community events, the verdict is in: Fulton County’s transit master plan is all about buses.
Fulton commissioners and mayors from the county’s cities decided on a plan to expand public transit countywide through Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Arterial Rapid Transit (ART). ART is a fancy way of saying bus routes, like the ones MARTA has now. BRT is when buses have their own, separate lanes and stops outside of normal traffic.
Here’s where new BRT transit lines would be:
- GA 400 to Old Milton
- Holcomb Bridge Road
- Highway 29
- South Fulton Parkway to Highway 92
And the ART:
- Roswell Road
- Old Milton Parkway
- Highway 141
- Fulton Industrial Boulevard
- Camp Creek Parkway
Newly elected Chairman Rob Pitts said the next step is to ask state lawmakers for a bill to allow the county to raise sales taxes. The $4.9 billion transit plan calls for a half-penny sales tax to help fund the expansion but Pitts said it could be less. Still, voters would have to approve the tax first.
But persuading state lawmakers to get on board with a new sales tax could prove difficult. Fulton Commissioner Liz Hausmann said lawmakers want to know what improvements have been made with the current one-penny MARTA sales tax Fulton residents have been paying for more than 40 years.
Hausmann said the county has reached out to MARTA to answer that question.
Even with a sales tax though, the plan still calls for federal cash to help fund the expansion as well.
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