The Fayette County Commission

rejected the Georgia Regional Transportation Agency's offer of $1.2 million

to get on the bus last week, but left the door slightly ajar for bus service

down the road.

GRTA had offered the county

between $12-14 million if it joined a regional express bus service the

transportation agency wants to start in 13 counties in the Atlanta region.

In return, Fayette County would

contribute $1.2 million to pick up some of the costs of operating the

bus system for three years.

The commission rejected GRTA's

proposal unanimously and chairman Greg Dunn said, "There's just not

a lot of support for bus service in the county."

But Dunn said the county was

always willing to take another look at the proposal in the future, when

the public might be more receptive to bus service.

Many of the commissioners said

they had received nothing but negative attitudes from the community. Other

reasons cited for the rejection included the costs for the taxpayers.

"The state is intimidating

this county. It's insulting for me to pay $1.2 or $1.4 million for us

to get our tax dollars back," said Commissioner Herb Frady.

Dunn added GRTA's proposal

has been problematic from the beginning, since there was no study conducted

to see if there was an interest in bus service for the county.

"I just object to this

one size fits all mentality," he said.

The chairman also emphasized

that road building will continue in Fayette County. The only benefit the

GRTA program would have offered the county is that some of the projects

would have been moved up on the construction calendar.

Fayette joins Cherokee as the

only two counties that have officially rebuffed GRTA's offer.

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