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Macon transit losing riders after budget cuts

After budget cuts hit the Macon Transit Authority, less people are riding the bus

The Macon Transit Authority says since Bibb County commissioners cut some of their funding last year, they're seeing less people riding the bus.

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As a result, Macon Transit made route changes that are now impacting their customers.

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"They're not getting treated right when they get on these buses," Johnny Walker said.

Walker has written complaints to the transit authority already.

"The pipes make people sick when they get on the bus, and it makes me sick on your bus," Walker said.

Walker says he's seeing less people riding Macon Transit Authority's buses.

"Commissioners said, 'we're not going to cut public transportation,' but they did," Ross said.

Transit Director Craig Ross says Bibb commissioners cut their funding by $300,000 in 2017, then again in 2018. Those funds are matched by the Federal Transit Administration, meaning they've lost a total of $1.2 million in funding over the last two years.

"That's a significant amount of money and a significant amount of people," Ross said.

Ross says compared to last year, they have more than 100,000 less riders. Less riders mean less revenue, so they cut the number of buses and extended the wait times from 30 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes.

"It's not about the money, it's about the people, we can't even get new employees to the new industrial area," Ross said.

Ross says companies like Amazon are interested in helping bus out employees, but their ability to grow and improve right now is stalled. 

"They need to get the problem fixed. Get it fixed, there won't be any problem," Walker said.

Walker says his disability cards aren't working with the old machines. 

Ross says they're doing everything to prevent raising the cost to ride and cutting employees.

Ross says they received federal grant money for a new app called Route Shout that should let riders know when buses are close.

You will also be able to pay for a ticket through the app. He hopes this will be easy for riders to use in the future.

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