Gardner, Ashe Push for Transit Agency

Legislators held a press conference on Tuesday to promote a bill that aims to create a regional transit agency to coordinate buses and trains in the metro Atlanta area.

"I stand strong on establishing a regional transit structure and making changes to the MARTA Act to make the transit system more functional," Rep. Pat Gardner, the author of the bill, said in a statement. "The bill creates a regional transit governance authority to coordinate MARTA with other transit systems in the metro Atlanta area while maintaining the integrity of MARTA as the core provider of transit.  I believe this coordinated effort is essential to gain support of the Fulton and DeKalb County voters who have been supporting MARTA without state support for thirty years."

Kathy Ashe, co-author of bill HB1200, stressed the need to balance the burden of transportation costs across all counties.

"Because the state does not provide funding, MARTA gets most of its funds largely from fares and a special sales tax paid in Fulton and DeKalb," Ashe said in a statement. "It’s time we relieve DeKalb and Fulton Counties of their investments and place some of the responsibility on other counties in Georgia."

Voters across the city will decide in July

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