Coweta County

officials quietly 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.

The commissioners

met last Friday to approve the deal before the March 29 deadline set by

GRTA expired.

In previous

dicussion, the board focused on the benefits the program would bring to

the county.

"This

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

said Commissioner Vernon "Mutt" Hunter.

Commission

Chairman Jim 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 maintained her staunch support against the deal.

"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 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.

Only Cherokee

abd Fayette counties declined to participate in GRTA's program.