Fayette County

Commission Chairman Greg Dunn says he favors a regional transportation

approach, but is not ready to sign on to any new taxes to pay for a system.

During the

Atlanta Regional Commission's recent retreat, the group agreed to approach

Gov. Sonny Perdue about seeking a regional transportation group to oversee

operations of a system.

MARTA is currently

financially strapped, and Dunn said there are ways to help the ailing

transit system without the outlying counties paying a regional transportation

tax.

"MARTA

is the only subway system in the country that does not receive an aid

from the state. You can also change the gas tax to help fund the system,"

he said.

Dunn said DeKalb

and Fulton counties cannot continue to fund the system by itself and other

funding sources have to be found.

Since Fayette

County does not have any public transit currently, Dunn does not favor

residents paying a transportation tax. But in the next 10 years, the county

may have a need for buses and he would like to see an agency already in

place to help guide the transit plans.

In fact, Dunn

would love to see GRTA operate as a transit operating agency.

"You can't

do both roads and transit. It's just too big," he said.

Dunn also believes

the days of heavy rail systems such as MARTA will soon go the way of the

dinosaurs and transit systems such as flex-rail, which is far cheaper

and more flexible, will become the norm.

"Flex-rail

allows you to monitor the growth patterns and allows you to quickly provide

transit where the growth occurs," he said.

The issue of

the state stepping in and helping out MARTA and getting further involved

in transportation issues is expected to be voted on by the full ARC at

its March meeting, he added.