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Plans for Regional Transit Agency Seem to Be Coming Together in Atlanta

Posted on: Monday, 18 July 2005, 12:00 CDT

Jul. 18--The impasse over creating a regional agency for transit coordination and funding appears to be over.

After months of talks among city, county, state and transit system representatives, a plan for an independent board to coordinate transit planning and funding in metro Atlanta appears to be jelling.

Although some issues remain over the composition of the board and its relationship to existing transit, negotiators are proposing an independent body with state, local and transit system representatives.

Earlier efforts to make the Atlanta Regional Commission or the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority an umbrella organization to coordinate the region's growing network of buses, trains and other transit vehicles produced deep divisions among the members of the study committee.

But the proposal for a 15-member Transit Services Board has gained tepid approval from the negotiators. Creation of the umbrella agency for planning and coordination is a preliminary step to efforts to seek more money for transit in the region.

Michael Walls, chairman of the MARTA board of directors, said sharp divisions over the composition and powers of the proposed board remain. But he agrees that negotiators now share general accord on the board's structure.

"There is a genuine and honest commitment on everybody's part to reaching a consensus that everybody can buy into," Walls said.

"Given that fact, I have to believe it's possible ... but I think there will be some serious disagreements that will have to be worked out before we get there."

Among Walls' concerns is the composition of the board, which includes eight county commission chairs, the mayor of Atlanta, the board chairs of MARTA, GRTA and the state Department of Transportation and three members appointed by the governor. Walls said the five state-appointed members would give the governor "control or strong influence" on board decisions.

ARC planning director Tom Weyandt said giving the state a strong voice on the board could help metro Atlanta win the kind of state support for regional transit it has never had.

Once the negotiators establish a proposed size and mission for the board, legislative approval probably will be needed, said ARC Chairman Sam Olens, Cobb County Commission chairman.

"What I would like," Olens said, "is a set of recommendations ... and a plan that will probably require some minor legislative changes in this (2006 General Assembly) session with the support of the governor."

State Rep. Jill Chambers (R-Atlanta), who chairs MARTA's legislative oversight committee, said legislators, who are historically unsympathetic to transit, may need the governor's encouragement to give their approval to the new board.

"There's a chance that it may be seen as another layer of government," Chambers said. "It's going to depend on how it's crafted."

By all accounts, a lot of negotiation remains over details of the new board and how it would work.

"A lot of hurdles remain to be crossed," the ARC's Weyandt said.

"But there's a very clear and very consistently acknowledged need for action in this case. I think everybody agrees that the current structure will not work in the long run."

Negotiators also have agreed on a transition period for the new board to work out the extensive details of its relationships with MARTA, GRTA and other transit systems around the region. ARC officials are stressing their commitment to maintaining and strengthening existing transit, particularly MARTA.

"ARC is a planning organization," Olens said. "We have no interest in taking over MARTA."

MARTA's financial plight is chief among the looming transportation crises prompting the talks. Without some new source of funding, MARTA's operating reserve funds will be exhausted in two years.

Unquestionably, Weyandt said, MARTA's receding reserves are injecting a "sense of urgency" into the talks, but he added that a new approach to transit coordination would be necessary, even if MARTA were in the black.

"MARTA's financial issues always bubble up," Weyandt said. "But MARTA's condition is almost coincidental. You can't ignore it, but you can't attribute (the negotiations) solely to the effort to try to fix MARTA."

As currently conceived, the new transit board would be committed to maintaining MARTA's current level of funding while acting as an "advocate" for new transit funding regionwide.

The next meeting of the transit study committee has not been set, Weyandt said, but he expects one to occur within the next month.

Negotiators are hoping for a final agreement by the end of the year.

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Source: The Atlanta Journal and Constitution

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