Reader responses Home Edition

• Published in: The Atlanta Constitution
• Main Author: Lloyd Gayton, Shelley Hughes, Rebecca Wynn Amerson, Jack Miller, Eric Pearson, Doc Bateman, Sandra Schick, Bob Eberwein, Sadie Whitmore, Henry Gordon
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta, Ga Atlanta Journal Constitution, LLC 16.10.2000
• ISSN: 2473-1609; 2690-8093

A recent article stated that the cost of running express buses would be one-tenth the cost of laying track to run a rail line between Athens and downtown Atlanta ("Train options up for debate," Horizon, Oct. 9). Still the rail officials are going to look at all of their studies to figure out what would be the best option for moving people between Athens and Atlanta. Projected start-up costs for Atlanta-Athens rail have at least quadrupled. To fix it, consultants used esoteric math technology to come up with 3,700 more daily riders than initial estimates. In their zeal to spend taxpayer money on another rail passenger boondoggle, officials ignore one proven fact: People will not give up their automobiles to ride commuter trains. Talk about bucking insurmountable vested interests. One of the three agencies overseeing the Athens-Atlanta commuter rail study is the Georgia Rail Passenger Authority. The group managing the study is called the Rail Program Managers' Committee. The company doing the work is Georgia Rail Consultants. Now they are trying to dismiss or explain away their embarrassing finding that express bus is the most cost-effective transportation option.