GRTA makes case for Xpress funding amidst mixed state revenue report

Date: December 12th, 2012, 11:59 pm

By David Pendered

With the clock ticking on funding for Atlanta’s only region-wide bus service, GRTA is making its case with Gov. Nathan Deal and state budget writers for enough money to keep the buses on the road.

Jannine Miller

“We’re doing all we can to get assurances,” Jannine Miller, GRTA’s executive director, said Wednesday at the monthly board meeting of the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.

The strength of Georgia’s economic recovery will be a key determinant of whether the state funds Xpress after June 2013. The bad news is that Georgia’s latest revenue figures, released Dec. 7, don’t send a clear signal about the hoped-for recovery.

The headline on the governor’s revenue report was: “November revenue offers mixed results.”

Deal announced that Georgia’s net tax collection for November was down 0.7 percent compared to November 2011. The $1.35 billion collected represented a decrease of $9 million compared to a year ago, the governor reported.

However, there was some good news.

Through the first five months of the fiscal year, net revenue collections were up 3.7 percent compared to the same period in 2011, Deal reported. The revenue figure was nearly $7 billion for year-to-date fiscal 2012, compared to $6.7 billion for the same period of fiscal 2011.

Xpress buses serve 2 million riders a year in 12 metro Atlanta counties. Credit: Xpress.com

These numbers are important to Xpress and the 2 million riders it serves every year.

They offer the best set of tea leaves available for guidance on the potential for the state to fund Xpress service in the current 12 metro Atlanta counties that are served.

The state has provided operating funds for Xpress for two years. The money has helped offset the loss of operating funds that had been provided by counties and the federal government.

But the state never put Xpress funding in its annual budget. Instead, it used surplus funds collected during the first half of the past two fiscal years

This approach provides no security whatsoever that state funds will continue to flow. The state can cut any line item, but such cuts are more difficult once a program is embedded in the budget. Xpress funding is not embedded in the budget.

Miller didn’t elaborate on the issue of state funding for Xpress. She touched on it briefly in her routine update to the board.

“We’ve been working very closely with the governor, OPB [Office of Planning and Budget, which serves as the governor’s budget office], and the budget offices of the House and Senate,” Miller said.

“There are a lot of restraints on the budget [and] we’re doing all we can to get assurances,” Miller said. “It will come down to state resources.”

The governor’s report on revenue collections for the month of November included these headlines:

Individual income Tax – Collections were up 3.3 percent compared to last year;
Sales and use tax – Collections were down 3.6 percent compared to last year;
Corporate income tax – Collections were down 191 percent because monthly refunds outstripped monthly revenues.

About David Pendered

David Pendered, Managing Editor, is an Atlanta journalist with nearly 30 years experience reporting on the region’s urban affairs, from Atlanta City Hall to the state Capitol. Since 2008, he has written for print and digital publications, and advised on media and governmental affairs. Previously, he spent more than 26 years with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and won awards for his coverage of schools and urban development. David graduated from North Carolina State University and was a Western Knight Center Fellow. David was born in Pennsylvania, grew up in North Carolina and is married to a fifth-generation Atlantan.

View all posts by David Pendered →

This entry was posted in David Pendered. Bookmark the permalink.

The Last Democrat in Georgia

1 Like

The GRTA Xpress commuter bus service could save a lot of money by combining resources with MARTA and starting and ending most of its routes at the end stations of the MARTA heavy rail system.

For example, instead of ending morning express commuter bus service and originating afternoon express commuter bus service on the GRTA Xpress commuter bus routes of the Northeast, East, South and West Corridors on Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta, the state could and should end GRTA Xpress morning express commuter bus service and originate afternoon/evening express commuter bus service in the Northeast Corridor at the North Springs and Doraville MARTA Stations.

Northeast Corridor GRTA Xpress commuter bus Route 408 already ends its morning service and originates its afternoon express commuter bus service at the Doraville MARTA Station in operating between Doraville and Johns Creek.

With the exception of Route 428 which uses the east leg of I-285 between I-20 East and Perimeter Center, the state could and should end East Corridor GRTA Xpress morning express commuter bus service and originate afternoon/evening commuter bus service at the Indian Creek and/or Kensington MARTA Stations instead of operating buses to and from Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta.

The state could and should end morning and originate afternoon South Corridor GRTA Xpress commuter bus service at either the Airport or College Park MARTA Stations instead of operating buses to and from Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta.

Just like the state could and should end morning and originate afternoon West Corridor GRTA Xpress commuter bus service at the Hamilton E Holmes MARTA Station instead of operating buses to and from Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta.

Because there is no MARTA heavy rail line that parallels I-75, Northwest GRTA Xpress commuter buses operating in the I-75/I-575 North Corridor will have to continue to end and originate in the city. But all I-75/I-575 North Corridor GRTA Xpress commuter buses could and should end their morning service and orginate their afternoon service at the Arts Center MARTA Station instead of operating to and from P'tree Street in Downtown Atlanta.

Ending and originating GRTA Xpress commuter bus service at the end stations of MARTA heavy rail lines, where applicable, will end unnecessary duplication of transit services on the radial freeway spokes (I-85 N, I-20 E, I-85 S, I-75 S, GA 400 N) between Downtown Atlanta and I-285.

Ending and originating GRTA Xpress commuter bus service at the ends of MARTA heavy rail lines will also reduce the costs of fuel, wear-and-tear and maintenance that come with operating buses all the way to and from P'tree Street in Downtown Atlanta instead of ending and originating GRTA Xpress commuter bus routes at the ends of MARTA heavy rail lines along, just outside and just inside of I-285.

There's no point in operating GRTA Xpress commuter buses between the I-285 Perimeter and P'tree Street in Downtown Atlanta when there are already high-frequency MARTA heavy rail lines that traverse virtually the same routes and provide access to MORE destinations between the I-285 Perimeter and Downtown Atlanta than an express bus that goes straight to and from Downtown with no stops at important job centers in between I-285 and Downtown (like at a Buckhead in the Northeast Corridor, a Downtown Decatur in the East Corridor, etc).

Fully integrating the existing MARTA heavy rail system into the GRTA Xpress commuter bus network by running GRTA Xpress buses into and out of the furthest-outlying stations of MARTA heavy rail lines, where applicable, will also take a much of the nuisance excess bus traffic off of the streets Downtown.