GRTA’s draft strategic plan envisions Xpress buses direct to airport, more service on major routes (Atlanta: 2014, credit)

[Airforceguy]

GRTA is completing a strategic plan that envisions Xpress bus service direct to Atlanta’s airport as part of an expansion of a transit service that has consistently received state funds for operations since the great recession.
GRTA started work on the plan in January 2014, months before state lawmakers began a series of public meetings last summer that resulted in the transportation funding bill now pending in the Senate.
GRTA bus
GRTA is completing a strategic plan that envisions direct service to Atlanta’s airport and expanded service in major commuter corridors. File/Credit: GRTA
Once the plan is finalized, GRTA would implement the expanded service as funding becomes available. That conversation is premature until a plan is established. The schedule calls for the board that oversees GRTA to accept or adopt the strategic plan this summer. This is the first comprehensive review of Xpress since it was started a decade ago.
Xpress service to the airport would be provided from 18 to 20 hours a day, seven days a week, along routes serving four quadrants of metro Atlanta:
Cobb County, from Big Shanty;
Gwinnett County, from Sugarloaf Mills;
Newnan, to be determined;
Stockbridge, to be determined.
Direct service to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport hangs like low-lying fruit in any effort to increase Xpress ridership.
A survey of non-users of Xpress buses showed the airport is the place they most want to go. A telephone survey of 1,652 non-users revealed that 23 percent cited the airport as the most popular destination, followed by downtown Atlanta, 18 percent; Midtown, 13 percent; and north Fulton, 11 percent.
GRTA airport routes
Atlanta’s airport would be a destination for Xpress bus service from four quadrants of metro Atlanta in a strategic plan GRTA is completing. Credit: GRTA
Of note, the survey revealed little demand for Xpress service in three major employment centers: CDC/Emory University; Buckhead; and the commercial corridor spanning Marietta, Alpharetta, and Duluth. All three showed a lack of concentrated demand and roadway constraints. All but the northern arc have some level of transit now available.
Other major initiatives cited in the draft version of GRTA’s strategic plan include:
All-day service along I-75 and I-85 north of Atlanta, and I-20 east of Atlanta;
Expanded service to the employment centers of downtown Atlanta and Perimeter;
Additional capacity at park-and-ride facilities.

SaportaReport | GRTA’s draft strategic plan envisions Xpress buses direct to airport, more service on major routes

[MattCW]

How about they just make the buses run on time? One day late is bad traffic, two days is bad luck, three, four, twenty? That's bad management. When the buses become consistently late, it's time to re-time the schedules, especially if there's a known issue (like the Spring St. Bridge closure).

I also take issue with:

All along, a central notion of GRTA’s potential expansion has been to get more bang from the bucks being spent to create managed lanes.

With all the money they dump into "managed lanes" they could build out rail service which would far exceed the capacity of the buses by at least a full order of magnitude.

[fourthwarden]

Originally Posted by MattCW

With all the money they dump into "managed lanes" they could build out rail service which would far exceed the capacity of the buses by at least a full order of magnitude.

I would love to see GRTA rail all across the region.

[skbl17]

How about some commuter rail? That would be a true strategic plan that would produce benefits for Atlanta commuters.

- skbl17

[alco89]

Originally Posted by MattCW

With all the money they dump into "managed lanes" they could build out rail service which would far exceed the capacity of the buses by at least a full order of magnitude.

Originally Posted by fourthwarden

I would love to see GRTA rail all across the region.

Originally Posted by skbl17

How about some commuter rail? That would be a true strategic plan that would produce benefits for Atlanta commuters.

- skbl17

They don't have the progressive vision for that, of course.

[cqholt]

Reverse routes, no sense in the buses running back out empty.

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by alco89

they don't have the money for that, of course.

Fixed.

[alco89]

Originally Posted by Gulch

Fixed.

They don't have the progressive vision to create funding for that either.

[PKCorey]

Looks like someone from GRTA visited NYC and saw how their commuter bus service operated and want to implement here in Atlanta.

The bus service to the airport 7 days a week is a huge step.

Now, if they add service on the weekends for the various events that take place downtown, they might be able to get some increased ridership that way as well.

[AcidSnake]

So there are people at the state govt level who actually go outside of Georgia to see things that work right?

Who woulda thunk?

Originally Posted by PKCorey

Looks like someone from GRTA visited NYC and saw how their commuter bus service operated and want to implement here in Atlanta.

The bus service to the airport 7 days a week is a huge step.

Now, if they add service on the weekends for the various events that take place downtown, they might be able to get some increased ridership that way as well.