[NFB_of_Georgia] FYI! Gwinnett Transit News

Thu Feb 29 07:27:27 UTC 2024

If only we have that system in my area of Houston County/Warner Robins.
Speaking of public transportation, I was able to speak at last week's
Warner Robins City Council Meeting. You can find the video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXSxVBJNd8g&t=43s

Thank you.

Sincerely,

--
Armando L. Vias
Community Advocate
Byron/Houston County, Georgia
Visit My Website (Armando Vias) <https://armandovias.com>

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On Wed, Feb 28, 2024 at 5:49 PM joann369--- via NFB_of_Georgia <
nfb_of_georgia at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> 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:  joann369 at bellsouth.net
>
> Chapter Website:  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.
>
>
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