Georgia’s Transportation Crossroads Why the Peach State Should Invest in Public Transit for the 21st Century Georgia’s Transportation Crossroads Why the Peach State Should Invest in Public Transit for the 21st Century Georgia PIRG Education Fund Phineas Baxandall, Ph.D., U.S. PIRG Education Fund Sarah Payne and Elizabeth Ridlington, Frontier Group Spring 2010 Acknowledgments The authors wish to thank Lee Biola, President, Citizens for Progressive Transit; Ray Christman, Executive Director, Livable Communities Coalition; Kevin Doyle, Commu- nications Director, Livable Communities Coalition; and Rebecca Watts Hull, Mothers and Others for Clean Air, and Program Manager, Georgia Conservancy; for their review of this report. The authors would also like to thank Tony Dutzik, Susan Rakov and Kari Wohlschlegel of Frontier Group for their editorial assistance. The generous financial support of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Rockefeller Foun- dation, Surdna Foundation, and Wallace Global Foundation made this report possible. The authors bear responsibility for any factual errors. The recommendations are those of Georgia PIRG Education Fund. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of our funders or those who provided review. © 2010 Georgia PIRG Education Fund With public debate around important issues often dominated by special interests pursuing their own narrow agendas, Georgia PIRG Education Fund offers an independent voice that works on behalf of the public interest. Georgia PIRG Education Fund, a 501(c)(3) organization, works to protect consumers and promote good government. We investigate problems, craft solutions, educate the public, and offer Georgia residents meaningful op- portunities for civic participation. For more information about Georgia PIRG Education Fund or for additional copies of this report, please visit www.georgiapirg.org. Frontier Group conducts independent research and policy analysis to support a cleaner, healthier and more democratic society. Our mission is to inject accurate information and compelling ideas into public policy debates at the local, state and federal levels. For more information about Frontier Group, please visit www.frontiergroup.org. Cover photos: Heavy traffic on Atlanta’s Downtown Connector by Gregor Smith, under Creative Commons license from www. flickr.com; MARTA train by Diego Sinning, under license from www.sxc.hu; Light rail by Doug Letterman, under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 from Wikimedia Commons; High speed rail by Remus Eserblom, under license from www.istockphoto. com; MARTA bus stop by Jack Weichen, under license from www.shutterstock.com. Layout: Harriet Eckstein Graphic Design Table of Contents Executive Summary 1 Introduction 4 The Case for More and Better Public Transportation in Georgia 6 Travel Trends: More Driving and Higher Transportation Costs 7 The Benefits of Transit in Georgia 9 A 21st Century Transportation Vision for Georgia 11 Goals of Improved Public Transit in Georgia 11 Commuter Rail 12 Light Rail 14 Heavy Rail (Subway) Extensions 19 High-speed Rail and Other Regional Transit Options 20 From Vision to Reality: Policies for Better Transit in Georgia 24 Federal Government 24 Regional Coordination 25 State Policy 25 Conclusion 27 Notes 28 Executive Summary eorgia is in a transportation crisis. and executing key public transportation Roadway congestion wastes time projects, such as those identified by the Gand energy, tailpipe pollution causes Concept 3 and Connect Atlanta plans, health and environmental problems, and we can drive growth and foster healthier our oil dependence only grows. communities statewide. In a time of in- Expanding public transportation can creasingly limited public funds, Georgia provide more Georgians with alterna- must spend its transportation dollars tives to driving, while addressing these where they have the most impact. For problems and laying the foundation for that reason, the state must reshape its an efficient transportation system for the transportation planning and funding 21st century. priorities to address its decades-long Public transportation already helps underinvestment in transit. hundreds of thousands of Georgians get where they need to go. Beyond saving con- Georgia’s car-centered transporta- sumers time and money, transit systems tion system is leading us to drive more, take cars off the road, cut air pollution, use more gas, spend more on fuel, lose provide a dependable way to get around or more time stuck in traffic, and create help in a pinch, and jump-start economic more global warming pollution than a growth. decade ago. But Georgia’s transit systems, despite their importance, are disjointed, under- • Georgia residents drove roughly 109 funded, and fall far short of their potential. billion miles in 2008, more than 50 Scores of good transit projects are waiting percent more miles than they drove in in the wings, while the problems affecting 1990. our transportation system only multiply. Georgia must adopt a new course and • By 2007, drivers in the state were develop a vision for transit in the 21st consuming 19 percent more fuel century that will fix the state’s historical annually than they did in 1997. The shortchanging of transit. By funding price of gasoline jumped 91 percent Executive Summary over the same period, causing Geor- worthwhile transit projects that can gians to increase the money they spent meet transportation needs in the on gasoline by more than $6 billion. state. • Atlanta drivers lost 135 million hours A 21st century transportation system to traffic congestion in 2007, a 49 per- for Georgia should include (not in order cent increase from 1997. The wasted of priority): time and fuel cost Atlanta $3 billion • Better Transit in Metro Atlanta in 2007. o Commuter rail service to Ath- • Georgia’s transportation network in- ens, Bremen and Macon: Com- creased its carbon dioxide pollution by muter rail service between Atlanta more than 37 percent between 1990 and Macon would connect two and 2007. growing regional hubs. A Bre- men/Douglasville line would Despite many shortcomings, public expand access to rapidly develop- transit in Georgia is already paying ing suburbs, and the “Brain Train” dividends by saving money, reducing from Atlanta to Athens would link congestion, and cutting global warm- an increasingly busy bioscience ing pollution. corridor and thousands of univer- sity students and professors with • In the Atlanta region alone, public downtown Atlanta – as well as with transit saved 88 million gallons of oil each other. in 2006, translating to consumer sav- ings of $230 million at the pump. o Light rail service along the Atlanta BeltLine: Ringing the • In 2007, public transportation prevent- city with a belt of light rail would ed more than 10.5 million hours of draw together neighborhoods on traffic delay in Atlanta and saved the Atlanta’s perimeter, focus future area economy more than $225 million development, make transit a vi- in wasted time and productivity. able alternative for trips along the BeltLine by eliminating the need • In 2006, Georgia’s public transit to first travel into downtown, and systems together avoided 670,000 serve as the backbone for a robust metric tons of global warming pollu- transit system in the future. tion. This is the equivalent of remov- ing more than 130,000 cars from the o Improve local transit service and road. provide better transit connec- tions: Expanding the MARTA • More Georgians are taking advantage system, building new light rail of these benefits. Nearly 9 percent lines and increasing bus rapid tran- more passengers rode Atlanta’s MAR- sit service can fill gaps in the local TA system in 2008 than in 2007. transit network while improv- ing connections between transit Georgia needs to rethink its trans- services, making it easier for pas- portation system for the future and sengers to reach a wide range of invest in efficient and clean public destinations in the metro Atlanta transportation. There are many area. 2 Georgia’s Transportation Crossroads o Build a streetcar along • Lay out a clear and compelling vision for Peachtree Street: Clean, elec- transit in the 21st century. With a strong tric streetcars can help revitalize vision and commitment to invest in downtown districts. On Peachtree transit as the sensible way forward, Street, a streetcar can help renew Georgia can build an integrated the downtown and address grow- public transportation network to ing residential and commercial meet transportation needs and solve demand for efficient local trans- problems for residents in cities and portation, while also bolstering towns around the state. Peachtree’s reputation as Atlanta’s most notable destination street. • Provide stable funding to make the vision a reality. Georgia uses state budget • Transit Between and Within Other Cities funds to pay for highway and road projects, but is one of the only states o Improve transit in smaller cities: in the country that leaves counties to Improved transit in smaller cities raise the capital for transit. As a result, and suburbs, using a variety of transit in Georgia has been under- transit systems such as light rail, funded for decades. A bold new vision bus rapid transit, and express bus for transit in Georgia must be paired services, would give residents with dedicated, adequate and sus- local transit options beyond the tained funding from regional as well automobile. as state-level sources. o Expand intercity passenger rail • Urge Congress to enact a new federal service: Regional passenger rail transportation funding law. The new service can connect people and law should prioritize investing new activity centers around the state, capital in public transit, fixing existing linking cities such as Albany, roads and bridges rather than building Dalton, Savannah and Valdosta more highways, and spending tax- with Macon and Atlanta. payers’ money more wisely by using federal dollars to invest in high-prior- • High-speed Rail ity transportation solutions. o Build a high-speed “bullet train” • Reform state allocation of federal trans- network for the Southeast: portation dollars.