[NFB_of_Georgia] FYI! Gwinnett Transit News

[joann369 at bellsouth.net]

FYI!

 

There may be no topic in Gwinnett County in 2024 that ends up grabbing as much attention as transit.

The county has had a transit system for two decades, but it appears to be on track to ask voters in November to approve a 30-year 1% sales tax to fund a $17 billion expansion of that system.

Officially, a decision on whether to put a transit special purpose local option sales tax, or T-SPLOST as it’s known for short, on the November ballot won’t be made until late May. County leaders have already indicated to regional leaders, however, that the referendum will take place.

If the referendum takes place, it will be the fifth time in a little over half a century that Gwinnett voters have been asked to decide the county’s future when it comes to transit.

The voters have never given their blessing for a sales tax to support transit in the county, however.

But, last month, Gwinnett County Commission Chairwoman Nicole Love Hendrickson said the anticipated November referendum will ultimately boil down to which direction voters want to county to head.

“I think a vote in the affirmative (in November) is a vote for progress,” Hendrickson said after the commissioners voted to notify regional transit leaders of their intent to call for a referendum. “I think a vote in opposition is a vote to move us backwards and we need to continue moving forward.”

The county’s Transit Development Plan, which county commissioners approved last year, is the basis for what voters will be asked to approve funding for.

The plan is centered around adding more bus services and creating a county-wide network of 27 microtransit zones.

“I’ve been working towards this for years and I’m so happy we finally have a plan where I can say you will be able to get anywhere in Gwinnett without a car,” County Commissioner Ben Ku said last month.

“Our Transportation Department has done an excellent job listening to community feedback to come up with a revolutionary and comprehensive Transit Plan to create a system that will benefit every single person in Gwinnett.”

Microtransit is like a county-run Uber or Lyft where a rider uses an app on their phone to schedule a pickup time and location. A shuttle bus comes to pick them up and take them to where they want to go within their zone.

Ride Gwinnett already rolled out two microtransit zones, one in Snellville and one in Lawrenceville, on a permanent basis last year and officials in those cities have said it has been a big hit with residents. It is set to be piloted in the Suwanee, Sugar Hill and Buford area this fall and, if the T-SPLOST passes, that will be the first new area to get permanent microtransit service.

City leaders said senior citizens, for example, have been able to use microtransit to regain some independence and get around town.

“We got a touching email from an elderly woman who was blind, or almost blind, and she couldn’t drive,” Snellville Mayor Barbara Bender said in January. “She was dependent, to go out anywhere, on someone who could come and take her to a restaurant or to go shopping or whatever.

“She wrote an email talking about how, for the first time in years, she was able to go out to lunch on her own (by using microtransit).”

But, county leaders are also planning a new “Airport Ride” service that will begin in Gwinnett County and make limits stops on its way to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. There are two proposed routes, one starting out of Snellville and another beginning at the Mall of Georgia.

“I appreciate the pared down list of transit projects that includes the shuttle to the airport and the microtransit concept,” County Commissioner Matthew Holtkamp said in a statement released by the county last month.

There will also be one “Rapid Ride” route funded by the T-SPLOST. “Rapid Ride” is just the name Gwinnett County officials came up with for a proposed Bus Rapid Transit, or BRT, service.

BRT has been described by Gwinnett officials in the past as buses that sort of behave like trains. They have their own dedicated lanes so they can move passengers through the county faster.

The proposed “Rapid Ride” route would begin at a Lawrencville Transfer Center which would be located at Buford Drive and State Route 316 and stop at the Sugarloaf Mills Park and Ride, the Gwinnett Place Transit Center, the OFS site before its end at MARTA’s Doraville train station.

There is also a proposed “Quick Ride” service that is sort of like a lite version of BRT. It would have queue jumper lanes

There are eight “Quick Ride” routes, with 115 miles of service, planned that would run on portions of heavy traffic roads such as Scenic Highway, Lawrenceville Highway, U.S. Highway 78, Pleasant Hill Road, Buford Highway, Ronald Reach Parkway, Lawrenceville-Suwanee Road, Jimmy Carter, Buford Drive, Satellite Boulevard and Peachtree Industrial Boulevard.

And, then there are the “Local Ride” routes, which are just local bus service routes. Gwinnett officials plan to add 11 new local routes around the county, constituting 346 miles of service.

Some areas that would gain local bus service for the first time include Loganville, Dacula and Centerville while other areas would get expanded service.

“This opportunity we have to move our county ahead in terms of mobility must not be taken lightly,” County Commissioner Jasper Watkins said after the commissioners voted to signal their intent to vote on whether to call a referendum last month.

“We know more people will come to Gwinnett to live, work, and play — and this demands us to be intentional about a transit system that can move people around the county with ease.”

 

 

WE’RE MOVING ON UP!

 

Jo Ann Johnson, President

Gwinnett Family Chapter

National Federation of the Blind of Georgia

Phone:  (678) 451-3975

E-mail:   <mailto:joann369 at bellsouth.net> joann369 at bellsouth.net

Chapter Website:   <http://www.nfbga.org/gwinnett-family-chapter/> www.nfbga.org/gwinnett-family-chapter/

 

The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfb_of_georgia_nfbnet.org/attachments/20240228/4b217127/attachment.html>