Cobb County opens public comment on proposed changes to Cobblink circulator and commuter routes

The Cobb County Board of Commissioners voted 4-0 April 8 to authorize service equity analyses and 30-day public comment periods for proposed modifications to Cobblink services, including the Cumberland green circulator and commuter routes 100, 101 and 102.

The move authorizes the Department of Transportation (DOT) to publish the analyses and hold public meetings and a public hearing before the board, and it clears the way for staff to gather feedback and return to the commissioners with final recommendations. "We are proposing to do the, put the service equity analysis out so that we can get public comment on it," Morgan Simmons, deputy director for the county Department of Transportation, told the board, describing the steps DOT would take.

The hearings come after several public commenters urged the board either to preserve existing services or to make bigger operational changes. "We must support these services to drive ridership if we're gonna continue to use ridership as a metric of whether or not we fund it," said Matt Stegall, a District 1 resident and member of the county Transit Advisory Board, reflecting repeated pleas from riders and transit advocates for more marketing, better ridership data and operational fixes.

Why it matters: The proposed changes would affect free circulator service in the Cumberland area and regional commuter routes used by workers commuting into Atlanta. Commissioners debated timing and representation because District 2 — a seat that represents parts of the Cumberland area — was vacant during the discussion. Several commissioners said they had no objection to starting the administrative steps now but asked DOT to extend outreach so the incoming District 2 commissioner could review the record and participate in final decisions.

What DOT is proposing and next steps: Simmons told the board the proposal for the green circulator would be coupled with an equity analysis and a public hearing. DOT said the blue circulator would continue to traverse much of the same area with some operational adjustments and that Route 50 (a route that serves Powers Ferry and parts of Cumberland) covers other high-demand segments the green circulator serves. For the commuter routes (100, 101, 102), Simmons said Cobb DOT has coordinated with Gwinnett County and ATL on a regional review and that removing some seats could allow new cost-sharing express service partnerships on the I-75 corridor.

DOT described an administrative timetable: if the board approved advertising for public hearings, DOT would post the service equity analyses, run a 30-day comment period with multiple public meetings, hold a public hearing before the board and return in May with a final recommendation. Staff said if the board elected to extend the public-comment window for the green circulator to give the incoming District 2 commissioner extra time, that service change likely would not be implemented until the fall rather than the summer.

Public comments: Transit has been a recurring theme in public comment. Resident Tracy Stevenson criticized past spending and questioned the system's current structure, saying Cobb should "fix what we have first." Others — including residents who use the Cumberland circulators and the CCID (Cumberland Community Improvement District) — said poor marketing, outdated routing information and inconsistent ridership-tracking have hurt ridership and that transit deserves targeted support.

Operational and vendor details: Transdev is the county's operator for Cobblink; DOT said any service changes must be synchronized with the operator's scheduling windows so drivers, vehicles and dispatch can be adjusted.

Board action and votes: The board voted 4-0 to authorize public advertisement and initiation of the 30-day comment period and to direct DOT to schedule public meetings and a hearing. Commissioners said staff should coordinate outreach with the incoming District 2 commissioner and noted options to extend the comment window for the green circulator if needed.

What the board did not decide: Commissioners did not adopt final service changes at the meeting. The votes authorized analyses, public outreach and a hearing; any service reductions, route removals or implementation dates will be decisions returned to the board after the public-comment period.

Context and next steps: DOT said the earliest implementation for changes that remain on the current schedule could be before major summer events in Cumberland if the full administrative schedule is followed; extending the comment period for the green circulator would likely push implementation to the fall. DOT requested and will post the analysis and public meeting schedule this week; the department proposed bringing results back to the board after the formal hearing and the 30-day comment period.

Sources and quotes in this story come from the April 8, 2025 Cobb County Board of Commissioners meeting transcript and public-comments record.