Bus service from Macon to Robins starts Monday
Starting at 4:45 a.m. Monday, Macon residents will be able to ride a Macon Transit Authority bus all the way to Robins Air Force Base.
The transit authority was approached several months ago by representatives of the base, Warner Robins and Houston County about establishing the new route, said transit authority CEO Rick Jones. Installation commander Col. Carl Buhler has been “the driving force” in starting the service, Jones said.
As part of the “Buses Into Robins Daily” program, or BIRD, three buses will leave the Macon Coliseum, 200 Coliseum Drive, at 20-minute intervals on the morning of Nov. 29. After an hour’s gap, they’ll repeat the process, leaving on a 40-minute one-way trip and doing a 20-minute loop inside the base before returning to Macon.
Because of the distance involved, the 22-mile one-way ride from Macon to Robins will cost $3, Jones said. Bus fare within Macon is $1.25.
The last morning departure will be at 8:25 a.m., with that bus returning at 10:05 a.m. The service will stop for more than three hours at midday, restarting at 1:20 p.m. on the same schedule as morning runs. The last bus will arrive at the Coliseum at 7 p.m.
Altogether, there will be eight morning and nine afternoon trips, according to the schedule. Buses will run Mondays through Fridays, and halt on holidays when base offices are closed, Jones said.
The bus will make several stops along the route to Robins, including at Timco and Kohl’s distribution center at Middle Georgia Regional Airport, he said. There will also be one stop in Houston County outside the base itself, at which local residents can board for the trip to Macon, Jones said.
Warner Robins and Houston County officials have indicated that they’d like to see the authority expand service for them too, but the main intent of the new route is to get Macon and Bibb County dwellers to work, he said.
Jones said 2,000 to 3,000 Bibb County residents work at Robins each day. Not only should bus service reduce congestion at the base gates and improve local air quality, it should save former drivers money, too, he said.
“I can’t imagine not wanting to ride this bus and get a vehicle off the road, especially if you’re getting reimbursed every time you ride it,” Jones said.
The Transportation Incentive Program is only usable by federal employees on base, said Master Sgt. Terrence Oglesby, TIP manager; contract employees aren’t eligible.
Right now, those who sign up for the program have to fill out forms to be reimbursed through their units, he said. After people have been enrolled for four months, they should receive vouchers at the start of each month to trade for multi-use bus passes, Oglesby said.
Should the Robins service not attract many riders, the authority will end it, Jones said; but he doesn’t anticipate that. He’s been getting plenty of calls about the impending service, so he expects heavy use. A similar service he oversaw near Houston, Texas, required 15 buses, Jones said.
“This thing, I think, will take on a life of its own once it starts operating,” he said.
On the first day of service there will be extra buses ready to handle any overflow, but Jones said he knows some people will wait to see whether others get to work on time before trying it themselves.
Oglesby said he’s heard from “quite a few” people interested in riding the bus, but couldn’t estimate potential use. Many of those people say they’ll wait a while before trying the service, seeing if it’s reliable before they commit to riding for a month, he said.
If more routes are added or the Robins route has very heavy demand, the transit authority would need to buy more buses, Jones said. That would take time; the 30-passenger “cutaway” buses with a conventional cab can be ordered in 90 days, but a regular flat-front “transit” bus must be ordered a year to 18 months in advance, he said. In revamping the transit authority’s fleet, Jones plans to order cutaways first, then transit buses. Fourteen cutaways have already been bought or will soon be on the way, he said.
“The reason for this aggressive movement was because the fleet was in deplorable condition,” Jones said.
The authority had 28 buses when he became manager just over a year ago, but many of those had reached the end of their expected service. The firm that made many of them stopped doing business in the United States in 2003, so it was tough to get parts and service, Jones said. Some of those 28 buses were already being cannibalized for parts, he said.
With current purchases, the fleet will be back up to 28 operable buses, Jones said.
Transit buses cost $350,000 each, while cutaways are only about $106,000, but cutaway buses wear out quicker, he said.
“My intent is to have a mixed fleet, half cutaways and half transit buses,” Jones said. He attributes a drop in bus ridership to the unreliability of old buses, which often didn’t meet their schedules. That record has improved with the purchase of new cutaways, and ridership is going back up, Jones said.
About half of Macon Transit Authority’s financial support comes from federal subsidies, with fares paying for roughly 18 percent, another 19 percent coming from Macon, and the final 13 percent paid by Bibb County, he said.
The new service won’t change that since it’s primarily for the benefit of Macon and Bibb County residents who merely work at Robins, but if the authority responds to demand for more service in Warner Robins and the rest of Houston County, those local governments should contribute to the cost as well, Jones said.
Local colleges are also pressing for connections to Macon Transit Authority, he said. Virginia College, which already has some bus service, wants more; and Macon State College does too, Jones said. And Central Georgia Technical College wants service for its 7,000 students, he said.
“That would take a fleet of buses to handle that alone,” Jones said.
To contact writer Jim Gaines, call 744-4489.
This story was originally published November 24, 2010 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Bus service from Macon to Robins starts Monday."
