State Proposing Cuts to Commuter Bus Service

The state agency which runs the Xpress commuter bus system is proposing service reductions, including in Cobb County.

The current Xpress bus system operates on weekdays and serves residents in 13 counties, bringing them to the downtown, midtown and perimeter office markets.

In the wake of budget cuts by state lawmakers, the Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority (The ATL) has proposed major service reductions to the system. State officials attribute the need for cuts to low ridership on the system.

“These proposed system recommendations explore opportunities to create a more efficient and effective service,” the ATL says in an FAQ. “Operating 27 bus routes, 27 park-and-ride lots, and 55 bus stops, Xpress is currently providing far more service than is being utilized.”

The changes would halve the number of seats available daily, consolidate routes, reduce the number of trips on remaining routes and do away with 10 of 27 park-and-ride lots.

There would be far fewer stops in midtown and downtown Atlanta, and a greater emphasis on dropping off bus riders at MARTA rail stations.

The ATL’s staff presented the proposal to board members at a committee meeting last month.

The proposal will go before the board again at the ATL board’s Aug. 1 meeting. If approved, it would be implemented next spring.

Earlier this year, the Georgia General Assembly slashed its funding for the ATL by $4 million, citing the need to improve efficiency. The budget cut was accompanied by instructions to “develop an operational plan to downsize Xpress commuter service commensurate with multi-county transit demand, and begin enacting new service levels.”

In the last fiscal year, Xpress buses received 38% of their funding from the state, 55% from federal grants and 7% from fares and other revenue. The current system has an operating budget of $24.3 million, which would be reduced to $13.7 million.

In Cobb, the plan calls for ending service to the park-and-ride lots at Acworth and Hickory Grove. Other lots in the exurbs would also be eliminated, in places like Woodstock, Hiram, Riverdale, Hampton, Snellville and Dacula.

Xpress buses would continue to serve the Town Center park-and-ride, and add service at a location in Marietta, where there is currently no Xpress bus stop.

The presentation to board members outlines steep ridership reductions on the Xpress buses since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ridership declined by 90% from 2019 to 2021. It has since been slowly recovering, but is still only at 30% of pre-pandemic levels.

Out of eight corridors Xpress buses traverse, the one serving Cobb and Cherokee counties was the second lowest utilized in 2023.

With 1,296 seats across five routes, the corridor was seeing only 127 daily riders, or 10% utilization. Only the Georgia 400 corridor was ranked lower.

And in 2023, the Xpress system’s park-and-ride lots were mostly empty. The most popular lot, in McDonough, was 18% full.

The Hickory Grove lot in north Cobb, meanwhile, saw an average of 18 cars daily, out of 522 spots, a utilization of just 3%.

Other lots in Cobb saw similarly low usage. The Powder Springs, Town Center and Acworth lots were all 5% full.

The ATL is collecting public input on the proposal, termed “Redefining the Ride,” in a survey. To learn more, visit xpressga.com/redefining-the-ride-xpress-2-0 .

Declining ridership on public transit, especially since the pandemic, has been a topic of debate in the leadup to Cobb County’s Nov. 5 transit tax referendum.

If approved by voters, Cobb will levy a 1% sales tax for 30 years to fund public transit projects. The sales tax in Cobb would increase from 6% to 7%.

Known officially as the Mobility Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (M-SPLOST), Cobb’s transit tax would collect $11 billion to construct 108 miles of rapid bus routes, half a dozen new transit centers and a countywide system of on-demand “microtransit” service.

(Learn more: mdjonline.com/transit .)

Ridership on Cobb’s existing CobbLinc bus system declined by 73% from 2013 to 2022, going from 3.7 million annual trips to just shy of 1 million annual trips. Opponents of the transit tax have pointed to shrinking ridership as evidence that investing billions in new transit is ill-advised. Transit supporters, meanwhile, argue a vastly enhanced system would attract more riders.