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Butch Sanders
DALTON, Ga. — For two years, 41-year-old Deborah Hall lived here without a car, spending $200 a month on cab fares and paying acquaintances for rides.
Her four teens didn’t participate in after-school sports, she said, because she couldn’t pick them up.
Ms. Hall twice tried Whitfield’s only form of public transportation, a bus system with no fixed routes or regular schedules. Both times she couldn’t get her children to doctor appointments on time.
“I never messed with that transportation again,” Ms. Hall said.
In May 2002, Dalton was designated an urbanized area, making it eligible for federal public transit money. Still, despite a 2006 study showing a need for public transportation here, Dalton-Whitfield has no immediate plans for bus routes.
“It’s something we’re interested in,” Mayor David Pennington said. “But, I’d say that’s not on our front burner.”
Instead, county commissioners have touted the Mountain Area Transportation Services (MATS) for convenience or to save money on gasoline. They even held a press conference in December at the Dalton-Whitfield Senior Center, encouraging the public to ride the buses.
“We want to get the word out to people who may not know it exists,” Commission Chairman Brian Anderson said at the time.
Eighty-four-year-old Callie Slaughter takes the bus to the Senior Center every day and said it’s reliable.
“I don’t know what I’d do without the bus,” Mrs. Slaughter said. “I’m no spring chicken, honey ... My kids stopped me from driving.”
But Whitfield County social workers at a recent meeting described the MATS system as unworkable.
“The bus situation is a nightmare,” longtime social worker Edith Rogers said, noting the MATS bus reputation for being a hassle. “It’s pretty much been a nightmare forever.”
Social worker Jennifer Shearin said a mentally ill client of hers never made it to her psychiatrist on time using the MATS bus. The county’s affordable housing agency eventually started shelling out $10 for cabs — each way.
MATS requires 24 hours notice before a pick-up and can’t guarantee a drop-off time for the general public.
The system is used primarily by the elderly and handicapped, said Jonathan Ray, director of North Georgia Community Action, which operates the buses.
“The public demand has to be worked into those trips,” he said.
Recently, county officials have acknowledged the bus system’s problems. They met with MATS officials last month, asking them to collect data on travel time and to consider designating one of its eight buses just for the public.
Dalton/Whitfield spokeswoman Brooke Bennett said the county needs to determine if MATS can adequately serve the public, “Before we go out there shouting, ‘Everybody ride the bus system!’”
Meanwhile, many residents have no viable transportation, according to the 2006 study prepared for the Dalton-Whitfield County Metropolitan Planning Organization.
The study found 6.6 percent of households here have no cars. In the Hispanic community, 22 percent of families had no access to a car or motorcycle. At an English language class this week at the Dalton Community Center, several participants said they don’t have cars and often must take a taxi.
Their teacher, Jim Baird, said of the 24 students who come to his class, only about six have a vehicle.
Asked in Spanish if they would ride a bus if it were available, they responded in a chorus of, “Si!”
But local officials say they still must to determine there is sufficient need for fixed-route transit to justify the cost.
While the federal government would cover most of the capital costs for public transit, Dalton/ Whitfield would still have to come up with anywhere between $125,000 to more than $876,000 a year, according to the 2006 study.
“You’ve got to pay for it, and then you’ve got to have the demand,” Mayor Pennington said.
Other Georgia cities have opted for fixed-route bus systems. Eleven of the metropolitan areas in Georgia have public transit, said Mohamed Arafa, a spokesman with the Georgia Department of Transportation.
Gainesville, Ga., and Cleveland, Tenn. — similar in size to Dalton — have their own fixed-route systems.
Ms. Hall, who went two years without a car, said she’s reminded of the need here every day when she sees residents walking along the edge of the road pushing grocery carts.
“There’s a lot of poor people here,” Ms. Hall said. “The way the economy is going right now, they need a bus route here.”
For now, Dalton plans to survey residents and expand on the 2006 study.
City Administrator Butch Sanders said the next step toward a fixed route system will be a new “study of potential public transportation” rather than an actual bus route.
The county commissioner, Mr. Anderson, said the city of Dalton and not Whitfield County should pursue a fixed-route transit system because of its dense population. Meanwhile, the county will work to improve the MATS buses, he said.
“Is it the system I want? Not at all,” he said. “You can’t do these things overnight.”
