КоббЛинктің қоғамдық көлік жүйесі

Bus public transit system in Cobb County, Georgia, United States

CobbLinc (formerly Cobb Community Transit) is the bus public transit system in Cobb County, Georgia, one of metro Atlanta's three most populous suburban counties. (The others are Gwinnett County, which operates Ride Gwinnett and Clayton County, which formerly operated Clayton County C TRAN but is now served by MARTA.)

CobbLinc began operations in July 1989 (as Cobb Community Transit) and has had relatively strong ridership (3,793,253 total passengers in 2005) since then. The hub is along South Marietta Parkway in Marietta, just west of the former Southern Polytechnic State University now the Marietta campus of Kennesaw State University. Routes connect to the most populated areas of the county, including Mableton and Kennesaw. Express routes also operate down to Atlanta, connecting with MARTA at the Arts Center station. Transfers are free between MARTA and CCT, though both transit agencies charge the same fare ($2.50) with a Breeze Card. CobbLinc's annual operating budget is about $12.9 million (2004), from fares and the general county budget, as well as Federal grants. All buses make automatic announcements inside the bus of upcoming stops and major roads, and stop requests from passengers. This is done by pre recorded voice announcements for the vision impaired and LED message signs for the hearing impaired. External announcements are also made by voice, in addition to the normal electronic signs. Some buses also run on compressed natural gas (CNG) rather than diesel.

Along with Gwinnett, Cobb voted against MARTA in the 1970s, and thus was left out of the system. The lack of sales tax revenue from the two counties stunted the growth of MARTA, however the GRTA created by former governor of Georgia Roy Barnes has been seeking to create other solutions, such as possible light rail to Cobb through the Cumberland Mall and Town Center at Cobb areas. Other solutions proposed include special bus only lanes on Interstate 75, and commuter rail into Cherokee County. A cross suburb line over to Gwinnett County has also been proposed, intersecting with a future extended MARTA north line between Roswell and Sandy Springs in Fulton County.

In May 2010 Cobb's Board of Commissioners approved further funding to study a light rail line from the Cumberland/Galleria area to the Town Center/KSU area. If constructed, the line would be approximately 14.5 mile (23 km) long with seven stations. The proposed line would be constructed and operational by 2019 with the expectation of nearly 50,000 riders daily by 2025. At each end of the line, a circulator bus system has also been proposed bringing the total expected ridership for the new combined LRT/BRT system to nearly 100,000. The project would be funded and operated through both federal and local sources. As of 2010, it is unclear whether or not the new transit system would be operated by CCT, a new agency, or even another existing agency such as MARTA.

In 2015, Flex buses were added in Cobb County. They are organized into three zones in Powder Springs and Austell. There is also a Cumberland CID circulator shuttle.

Cobb operates five GRTA Express routes, funded by GRTA. Express route 476 serves Douglas County, Powder Springs and Hiram park and rides. Route 463 serves Douglas County MMTC and West Douglas. Route 480, 483, and 490 serve Town Center. 480 continues to Acworth. 483 and 490 continue to Woodstock, and then 490 continues to Canton.

CobbLinc generally serves the core portions of the county, and the Six Flags area, with little to no service to the West and East sides. Acworth, as well as the greater northwestern area of the county, lack local service, with only express routes operating out of the newly renovated Acworth Park and Ride lot. East Cobb has no routes at all after route 65 was shut down. In East and West Cobb there are many county owned facilities, such as the East Cobb Regional Library, West Cobb Regional Library, West Cobb Aquatic Center and Mountain View Aquatic Center that have no service at all. West Cobb only has three flex zones in the Southwest portion, and one GRTA Express route operated by Cobb County. Other busy throughways that have no service natural spots for transit corridors include but are not limited to Dallas Highway (in West Cobb) and the northern end of Cobb Parkway. Other complaints include infrequent service to MARTA stations as well as a the system (no longer
does) complete shutdown of the system every Sunday and on Holidays, as opposed to other regional operators, which operate reduced schedules on these days.

Most routes begin and end at the Marietta Transfer Center, though several operate from the Cumberland Boulevard Transfer Center.