CCT Riders Have Say about South Cobb Route Cuts

Residents in South Cobb are not going down without a fight, at least when it comes to their bus routes.

Three routes, including two in the South Cobb area, are on the chopping block for Cobb Community Transit, which is also raising fares to help with a countywide $31 million budget shortfall.

Many South Cobb bus riders said they would be willing to pay an additional fare increase if it meant keeping the bus routes.In an effort to get input and feedback from county residents and bus riders about the route cuts and fare increases, the CCT held eight public meetings this week at four locations throughout the county.

About 10 people showed up to the Wednesday evening meeting held at the South Cobb Government Service Center, which is on route 35, one of the proposed routes to be cut.

One attendee, Johnnie White, was only able to attend because he rode the No. 35 bus to get there. He said if that route had not been there, he would have to walk the 1.5 miles from the East-West Connector without sufficient sidewalks to get to the meeting.

Others at the meeting had friends and loved ones pick them up or wait outside because they did not have cars of their own.

CCT is proposing deletion of routes 35, 65 and 70 due to low ridership, said Transit Division Manager Rebecca Gutowsky.

Route 35 has the lowest ridership of any CCT route, making only 92,000 trips last year. The route, which runs throughout Austell with a stop at the MARTA Holmes Station in southwest Atlanta, is the newest in the county, having just begun in January 2010.

Route 10 is one of CCT’s most used routes, with a grand total of 1.1 million one-way trips made in 2010. The route travels along Cobb Parkway in Marietta, the county seat, to the MARTA Arts Center Station in the heart of Midtown Atlanta.

Routes 65 and 70 were up for elimination last year, Gutowsky said. In order to keep the routes, CCT cut Saturday service and much of the midday service of the routes.

“There was a reduction in service last year to address the budget shortfall last year,” Gutowsky said.

In addition to cutting these routes, CCT has proposed a fare increase of $1 for express routes and 50 cents for local routes, bringing the cost of one-way trips to $5 and $2.50 respectively.

CCT has an annual budget of $18.4 million, about two-thirds of which is subsidized by the federal or state government.

If these route cuts and fare increases are approved by the county commissioners, the changes would be effective on July 1. The vote is estimated to take place in early June.

If approved, this would be the second fare increase in less than a year. In November, the express, which runs in the mornings to Atlanta and back to Cobb in the evenings,  and paratransit, which transports people with disabilities to various places throughout the county, fares increased $1 to $4 and increased 50 cents for local routes to $2 for one-way trips.

For the meeting attendees and many other South Cobb bus riders, fare increases do not pose as much of a problem as the total cuts of local routes do.

“Frankly, I was a little appalled by what I learned today,” said Warren Jones of Mableton after Wednesday’s meeting, “that they’re just simply going to delete the route rather than make modifications or combine routes. It seems like the system’s not running very efficiently.”

Jones said that he personally knows a dozen people in his community who will be unable to make it to the local grocery store or other places if the routes are cut.

“Something needs to be done, other than just saying, ‘Too bad,’” he said, adding that he intends to contact the county commissioners with his concerns.

South Cobb resident, Beverly Johnson-Finley, said she would also contact the county commissioners about the route cuts.

She said, “There are a lot of people that have no transportation, so I’m fighting for a lot of people that I ride with, that I’ve met, that I’ve become friends with.”

“The town can’t exist without transportation. I know we have to make some cuts with the revenue, but it can be a great entity, so I’m going to fight for this,” Johnson-Finley said.

She also wrote this recent letter to the editor.

For those unable to submit their comments in person, the CCT website has a form for online comment submissions, which will be accepted until May 28.