The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority's board of directors on Wednesday approved making modifications to various Xpress services. However, none of the modifications will affect routes 490 and 491, both of which operate in Cherokee.
Staff at GRTA originally proposed eliminating the 5:45 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. depart times on Route 491, which runs from His Hands Church in Woodstock to midtown Atlanta's Civic Center MARTA station.
If they went into affect, those riders would have been forced to take Route 490 during those times, which runs from Boling Park in Canton to Woodstock, the midtown MARTA station and into downtown Atlanta.
William Mecke, chief public relations officer for GRTA, said initial staff research determined the ridership during those times on Route 491 was "borderline," meaning they were teetering on GRTA's standard of having at least 25 percent of the seats occupied on each trip.
Mecke said Route 491 riders noted the trips were not "borderline" and took it upon themselves to take daily boarding counts.
When GRTA staff members looked at the number, Mecke said, "the performance was a little better than what we thought it was."
GRTA had public hearings on the proposals and got 17 specific written responses from Route 491 riders. Mecke also said many Route 491 riders personally spoke to GRTA staff members about the proposal.
Ridership of Xpress buses in Cherokee "looks pretty solid," Mecke said.
In May, Route 491 averaged 174 daily boardings and Route 490 averaged 216. Mecke said those numbers tally out to be in the average range for all of GRTA's Xpress buses.
GRTA throughout the year looks at "performance standards" they set for themselves each year to see if any tweaks could be made to improve customer service and the proposed changes were a result of those tweaks.
He said any other changes will be considered towards the end of the year. Examples of changes would be tweaking departure and arrival times or adding trips.
Mecke said Xpress riders are "great" and, specifically, Route 491 riders were "persistent" in their requests to keep their trip times in place.
"They hold us to our highest standards," he said. "They keep us on our toes."
County Commission member Harry Johnston, a Route 490 rider, said he was "relieved" to hear the news.
Johnston, who rides the Xpress route about three times a week to his job at Southern Company Services in downtown Atlanta, said he was concerned the changes would have made his 5:30 p.m. trip departure from downtown more crowded.
"I'm happy about it," he said.
Eddie Anderson, who lives in downtown Canton, said he was also relieved to see no changes made to both routes in Cherokee.
Anderson, who works with Johnston, takes Route 490 about three times a week. He said he loves "not having to drive myself" into work everyday because it saves gas and puts less wear and tear on his car.
The routes, he added, are important because it gives him the "flexibility" of choosing when he wants to ride the Xpress bus to and from work.
"It adds to the benefits of working in downtown Atlanta," he said.
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