An effort by newly elected Fayette County Commissioner Steve Brown to remove Fayette County from conceptual plans for regional bus and commuter rail service was rebuffed by a majority of the Fayette County Commission Wednesday afternoon.
Although all five commissioners said they opposed mass transit coming to Fayette County, there was some sentiment that the matter needed to be studied further based on the potential growth projected for the county and the metro Atlanta area in future years.
Currently, there are plans but no funding for a bus system that would run between Newnan, Peachtree City, Fayetteville, Lovejoy and McDonough, with a separate line going from Fayetteville up Ga. Highway 85 between Forest Park and Hapeville.
Also there are plans but no funding for a regional commuter rail service that would begin in Senoia with stops in Peachtree City, Tyrone, Union City and College Park among others on the way into downtown Atlanta at a future multimodal station. Commuter rail sends one-way trips into metro Atlanta in the mornings, with return trips in the afternoon and evenings.
Those plans are part of a regional transit plan that encompasses 10 counties in the metro Atlanta region, so funding for any such project would be competing with similar projects for other jurisdictions.
Commissioner Steve Brown argued that a regional transit authority is being formed that could force mass transit on Fayette County in the future whether citizens want it or not.
Currently, mass transit cannot be brought to Fayette County without the approval of Fayette voters, according to Commission Chairman Herb Frady. Brown said he agreed that is the case.
But if Fayette is included on the regional plan for bus and rail service, the proposed regional transit authority will be able to mandate their implementation, Brown said.
“The citizens of Fayette County moved here to avoid the urbanization and mass transit,” Brown said.
Commissioner Lee Hearn said that Fayette County has routinely resisted overtures from regional officials to change density to accommodate mass transit.
The Atlanta Regional Commission “has suggested that we modify our land use plan to support transit, but our board of commissioners have always refused that,” Hearn said.
Hearn said he wants to postpone a decision on removing Fayette from regional mass transit plans until after the planning process is complete for the regional transportation sales tax.
Commissioner Robert Horgan noted that Peachtree City, after its mayor recently threatened to initiate a move to leave the Atlanta Regional Commission, lost several million dollars in funding via a decision by ARC leaders.
The insinuation was that if Fayette didn’t cooperate with metro Atlanta, the county might not get much traction in getting regional sales tax funding for key projects.
Brown and fellow commissioner Allen McCarty favored a resolution to remove Fayette County from all regional mass transit plans, but the remaining three commissioners — Frady, Hearn and Horgan — said they wanted to get more information before making up their minds.
Hearn said since Senoia is listed as being on a proposed commuter rail line along with Peachtree City, he wants to get input from Coweta County on the matter.
In 2002, the county commission turned down a proposal from the Georgia Regional Transportation Agency to implement a commuter bus system here that would have sent routes from the county into downtown Atlanta and MARTA stations on weekday mornings and evenings.
The commission’s main reasoning for turning down the bus service was the significant expense the county would incur: $1.2 million toward three years in operating costs. The remainder of the tab, estimated at $12 million, would have been paid for by GRTA.
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EARLIER VERSION for print edition — Wednesday afternoon, Fayette County Commissioner Steve Brown will ask his fellow commissioners to approve a resolution that would remove Fayette County from all regional mass transit plans.
Currently, there are plans but no funding for a bus system that would run between Newnan, Peachtree City, Fayetteville, Lovejoy and McDonough, with a separate line going from Fayetteville up Ga. Highway 85 between Forest Park and Hapeville.
Also, there are plans but no funding, for a regional rail service that would begin in Senoia with stops in Peachtree City, Tyrone, Union City and College Park among others on the way into downtown Atlanta at a future multimodal station.
Further complicating the rail proposal is the fact that it hinges on the use of existing tracks owned and operated by CSX Railroad, requiring an agreement to be hammered out to accommodate commuter trains.
One of Brown’s chief concerns is an initiative to create a regional mass transit system for Atlanta, which could potentially be funded by a regional transportation sales tax.
Brown’s opposition to mass transit is on two other fronts: the type of crimes associated with it and also the exorbitant cost. He also notes the east-west line through Peachtree City and Fayetteville won’t bring commuters to regional employment centers in Atlanta and beyond.
“I cringe when I hear local government officials say if gas prices get around five dollars a gallon we will have to rely on mass transit,” Brown said in a statement.
“Their inexperienced and unqualified opinions prove they have no idea that only around 20 percent of the operating and maintenance costs of local mass transit are cover by rider fares. Guess who is paying the balance?”
Brown asserts that a mass transit train to Peachtree City will cost about $144,000 for each roundtrip rider.
In 2002, the county commission turned down a proposal from the Georgia Regional Transportation Agency to implement a commuter bus system here that would have sent routes from the county into downtown Atlanta and MARTA stations on weekday mornings and evenings.
The commission’s main reasoning for turning down the bus service was the significant expense the county would incur: $1.2 million toward three years in operating costs. The remainder of the tab, estimated at $12 million, would have been paid for by GRTA.
Neighboring Coweta County implemented commuter buses back in 2005 and agreed to spent $850,000 towards the program.
In his complaint about mass transit crime, Brown cites several salacious crimes that have occurred in recent years associated with MARTA buses and rail stations.
However, Brown in this assertion makes no distinction between MARTA, which operates continuous service in and through the downtown Atlanta area, compared with commuter trains, which go one way in the mornings with return trips in the late afternoon and early evenings.
