Published 2/2/2024
On Thursday, February 1st, 2024, the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority (ATL) reviewed transit plans for Gwinnett, Cobb, and Douglas County, among other agenda items. According to our sources, Gwinnett’s transit expansion Program of Projects (POP) was approved by the ATL Board of Directors. As published below, in mid-January Gwinnett BOC Chairwoman Nichole Love Hendrickson submitted to the ATL its POP with intent to call for a TSPLOST referendum; per the HB930 process, ATL had 20 days to respond. In Thursday’s board meeting, ATL voted to approve Gwinnett’s POP and amend its Atlanta Regional Transit Plan (ARTP) to include any of Gwinnett’s projects that were not already on the ARTP.
This ATL approval was an important step in the HB930 process. For the Gwinnett TSPLOST referendum to officially be placed on the County’s November 2024 ballot, final approval by its BOC is required. We expect a decision in Spring 2024.
Gwinnett’s Intent for a Transit Referendum Authorized for Next Step
Published 1/19/2024
On Tuesday, January 16th, 2024, the Gwinnett BOC unanimously authorized a potential 2024 Transit Referendum for its next phase of the approval process. The vote, which took place during a normal Business Session (see section VIII), allows Chairwoman Nichole Love Hendrickson to notify the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority of its intent to call for a transit referendum that would enact a one penny sales tax for thirty years. The notification of intent includes a list of projects chosen from the Atlanta Regional Transit Plan which the County intends to fund with the TSPLOST proceeds.
Click here to access Gwinnett County’s official news release.
As shown below, the Transit Expansion Plan was finalized and approved by the Gwinnett BOC in September 2023.
Gwinnett County Unanimously Approves 2024 Transit Expansion Plan
Published 9/22/2023
On Tuesday, September 19, 2023 the Gwinnett County Board of Commissioners voted to send a $17 billion transit expansion plan to the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority for review, offering a unanimous endorsement of an overhaul that voters could be asked to fund with a new penny sales tax on November 2024 ballots that would fund a massive transit expansion. The transit authority, known as the ATL, will review Gwinnett’s proposal for inclusion in its regional plan, a process estimated to take several months. County officials will then be able to decide whether to place a penny sales tax question on the November 2024 ballot to fund the plan. The referendum would come after two consecutive transit votes to expand MARTA rail into Gwinnett that failed in both 2019 and 2020.
In the latest discussions for the 2024 transit referendum, the proposed tax would fund an overhaul of Gwinnett’s bus and microtransit system that would cost more than $17 billion. The plan would expand microtransit — an on-demand service that operates through an app — to cover the entire county by 2033. Gwinnett currently does not operate transit on Sundays. But under the new plan, microtransit would run seven days a week.
It would create a bus rapid transit line from the Doraville MARTA station to Lawrenceville, stopping at the Gwinnett Place and Sugarloaf Mills shopping centers and the Gas South District, which has an arena and convention center. Vans would also run from the Mall of Georgia and Snellville to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Some bus routes would connect to MARTA rail stations at Doraville and Indian Creek. Some others would also run outside Gwinnett, to Tucker in DeKalb County or Johns Creek in north Fulton.
The county commission is scheduled to vote next week on whether to send the new plan to the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority, which will need several months to review the plan and also must share the plan with Gwinnett’s City Managers and Mayors. The commission will likely decide in the spring whether to place the new sales tax on the November 2024 ballot.
Under the existing Ride Gwinnett transit system, only 11% of people and 28% of jobs are within a quarter-mile of a bus stop. The expansion would place 32% of people and 60% of jobs within a quarter-mile of a stop on a fixed route, but microtransit would be accessible to 100% of people and jobs.