The rising gas prices and wavering economy has caused most people to adjust many of their normal everyday routines. One of the daily routines is commuting to work, and many people in Gwinnett County have given up their personal vehicle commute for public transportation. According to data from the Gwinnett County Transit (GCT) director, Phil Boyd, the monthly ridership rose 26.4% between March and July of this year for the express transit routes between Gwinnett and downtown Atlanta (74,883 riders in July versus 59,249 in March).

Over the next 9 months, the seven-year old GCT system will retire 35 of the old compressed natural gas fueled buses to be replaced by an equal number of larger clean diesel fuel buses with 69% greater seating capacity. These new buses will expand the county's express route seating capacity from park-n-ride locations in Buford, Norcross and the Discover Mills mall transporting commuters to various locations in downtown Atlanta, in addition to three other express routes GCT runs for the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) from Discover Mills mall and park-n-ride locations in Snellville. More local commuters are learning to enjoy the comfort of the buses along with the more consistent, reliable commute times provided by using the I-85 HOV lanes to beat the unpredictable, yet consistently heavy, Atlanta traffic each day.

Original post at GwinnettDwellings.com