Georgia Regional Transportation Authority
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The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority or GRTA (pronounced like the name "Greta") is a government agency in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was set up under former governor of Georgia Roy Barnes, in order to address mobility, air quality and land use and how they relate to the transportation needs of metro Atlanta, including both roads and public transit. It came about in large part because the numerous cities and counties in the region could not effectively (or would not at all) work with each other to achieve a comprehensive solution to the area's traffic woes, and increasing summertime smog problem.
GRTA, in partnership with 11 metropolitan Atlanta counties, has started to operate Xpress, metropolitan Atlanta's first truly regional commuter coach system. At the time of this writing (November 23, 2005) 10 express coach routes are operating - 400 Cumming to North Springs MARTA/Perimeter/Downtown Atlanta, 408 Doraville MARTA-Johns Creek, 420 Conyers to Downtown Atlanta, 430 McDonough to Downtown Atlanta, 440 Tara Boulevard (Atlanta Motor Speeday, Clayton County Justice Center to Downtown Atlanta), 450 Newnan to Downtown Atlanta, 460 Douglasville to Downtown Atlanta, 467 Douglasville to Cumberland/Galleria, 470 Powder Springs to Downtown Atlanta and 480 Acworth to Downtown Atlanta. Routes 470 and 480 are operated by and as part of Cobb Community Transit[1]. The other routes are operated by McDonald Transit under contract with GRTA. At full system implementation, Xpress will have 26 routes traversing 11 metro area counties. These routes will connect the outlying suburbs with each other and downtown Atlanta. Many routes begin in the suburban community and end at a MARTA rail transit station. As a result, MARTA and GRTA have a reciprocal fare agreement allowing for free transfers between systems. Fares are $3 (one way) and $5 (round-trip), with 20-single-ride, 40-single-ride, and 31-day-unlimited-ride passes available.