Cobb County proposes removing Cobblink Green Circulator; equity review finds no Title VI violation

Cobb County Department of Transportation officials on May 6 proposed removing the Cobblink Green Circulator, saying the route has lower ridership than an adjacent service and overlaps other transit options in the Cumberland area. The Title VI service equity analysis required by the Federal Transit Administration, posted April 10, found neither a disparate impact on minority riders nor a disproportionate burden on low‑income riders.

The proposal matters because the Green Circulator provides weekday and weekend service to Cumberland‑area destinations including Truist Park, Cumberland Mall and the Cobb Galleria area, with weekday service from about noon until 2 a.m. and frequencies of roughly 30–60 minutes. Morgan Simmons, deputy director with the Department of Transportation for Cobb County, said the proposed service change would be “the removal of the green circulator.”

Simmons told attendees the county’s analysis uses a 25% threshold set in the Cobblink Title VI plan: if the difference in impact on minority or low‑income populations between existing and impacted service areas is 25% or greater, the change would trigger required mitigation. “If those are findings in an equity analysis, then it is the responsibility of the transit system to create mitigation actions in order to minimize that impact,” she said.

Officials cited three factors in recommending removal: lower ridership on the Green Circulator compared with the Blue Circulator; significant, dispersed demand across the Green service area that studies say may be better served by on‑demand modes (microtransit) rather than a fixed loop; and funding constraints after a November vote that reduced local mobility funding. Simmons said the Cumberland Transit Alternative Study, a CobbDOT project in partnership with the Cumberland CID, is underway and will present alternatives later this year.

CobbDOT presented three existing service alternatives it says would remain if the Green Circulator is removed: the Blue Circulator (which serves Truist Park and the Battery and the Cumberland Transfer Center), Route 15 (which serves Circle 75 Parkway and Wellstar Windy Hill Hospital), and Route 50 (which serves Powers Ferry Road and the Wildwood Parkway area). Simmons said the Green Circulator “overlaps a multitude of transit services that already exist.”

Outreach completed and remaining steps: CobbDOT posted the equity analysis April 10, held a public hearing April 22 before the Cobb County Board of Commissioners, conducted two in‑person meetings (April 17 and April 30) and a virtual meeting May 6, and is accepting public comment through May 9. Final approval, Simmons said, would rest with the Cobb County Board of Commissioners; if the board approves the removal, CobbDOT expects the change to take effect in June.

How to comment: CobbDOT is collecting comments through May 9; staff said comments will be included in the final report to the Board of Commissioners. Simmons provided an email for public comment: cobblink@cobbcounty.org.