Before Coweta

County commits to any express bus routes, it needs more answers.

That's the

message the Coweta County commissioners delivered to officials from the

Georgia Regional Transportation Authority Tuesday.

GRTA has proposed

a program that would allow metro counties to get on board a bus program

for a small cost. In return, GRTA pledged a large amount of transportation

funds would be released to the county.

In Coweta's

case, GRTA is asking the county to pay $850,000 up front, in return for

nearly $9 million in transportation funds.

Commissioner

Vernon "Mutt" Hunter said he would drive to Atlanta tomorrow

to sign the contract if everything was as GRTA has promised.

But Hunter

said state Department of Transportation Commissioner ? Coleman said the

DOT has not signed onto the program.

The GRTA officials

expressed surprise that Coleman would issue such a statement, but pledged

to get the county answers on their questions.

GRTA plans

running six buses a day to and from Hartsfield Airport, where residents

could connect to MARTA. It's also possible the buses could run to high

employment areas, such as Delta's facilities.

If the county

accepts the funds, they could be used to improve arterial roads such as

Lower Fayetteville Road.

The program

has sparked controversy in the 13-county Atlanta region. Commissioner

Lawrence Nelms asked a question about a neighboring county's take on the

offer.

"Why isn't

Fayette County participating?" he asked.

The GRTA officials

said they were not comfortable speaking for anyone else, but said the

impression they got was that Fayette County did not want commuter buses

as part of their transportation plans.

The officials

pledged to get