Get ready to

board the bus.

Coweta County

officially signed up Tuesday for the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority's

plan to run express buses in the 13 county metro Atlanta region.

In exchange

for paying $850,000 to help run the bus system for three years, the county

receives $10.4 million to improve dangerous intersections and arterial

roads.

"This

gives us a real chance to fix Lower Fayetteville Road like it should be,"

said Commissioner Vernon "Mutt" Hunter.

Commission

Chairman Jim McGuffey said he would like to have received more of an assurance

from the DOT that they were going along with GRTA's plan, but Hunter said

he felt the county got the most commitment it could possibly get from

the agency.

McGuffey added

the Chamber of Commerce had recently endorsed the plan, and he felt it

was the right thing for the commission to approve the deal.

"We're

either going to get the buses for $10.4 million or nothing," he said.

But Commissioner

Leigh Schlumper said she could not support the efforts.

"I do

not support the bus system. We're being held hostage by the state. I just

don't have a lot of faith that this bus system will work," she said.

Schlumper said

a pilot program should have been planned to see how enthusiastic Coweta

would be about the system.

The commission

passed a resolution to negotiate the contract with GRTA by a 3-1 vote,

with Schlumper casting the dissenting vote.

The current

plans for the bus system calls for eight round trips a day from Coweta

County to Hartsfield. It could be operating by the summer of 2003.