Georgia § 50-39-12 - Development, review, and amendment of regional transit plan; coordination with federal priorities; branding.

§ 50-39-12. Development, review, and amendment of regional transit plan; coordination with federal priorities; branding.

In consultation with the metropolitan planning organization, as such term is defined in Code Section 48-8-242, which jurisdiction is located wholly or partially within the jurisdiction of the authority, the authority shall develop, annually review, and amend, as necessary, a regional transit plan. Such plan shall include, but not be limited to, transit projects based upon a region-wide approach to the provision of transit services through buses and rail, the establishment of multimodal stations within the jurisdiction of the authority, enhancement of connectivity throughout the region, cost-effective expansion of existing transit systems, and the coordination of schedules and methods of payment for transit service providers. In developing such plan, the authority may consider both macro level planning in order to efficiently coordinate transit services across jurisdictional lines, as well as micro level planning of services being delivered by local governments and transit service operators, including the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, in order to ensure continuation of current services or routes. Such plan shall provide that the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority shall serve as the sole operator of any system of transportation which utilizes heavy rail within the jurisdiction of the authority. The plan developed pursuant to this Code section shall include, at a minimum, a six year and 20 year component which shall reflect the federal priorities set forth in 23 U.S.C. Section 134(i)(2)(A)(ii) and 23 U.S.C. Section 134(j)(2)(A) and shall serve as the plans to be submitted for federal funding pursuant to such federal requirements. In addition to amendments made to the plan developed pursuant to this Code section upon the initiative of the authority based upon changing conditions, the authority may amend the plan upon request from a local governing authority to include a certain project or assist with a specific transit need. Such plan shall further include the creation of a unified logo and brand to encompass all transit service providers within the jurisdiction of the authority which shall include the acronym "ATL." On and after January 1, 2023, all transit service providers within the jurisdiction of the authority shall utilize such logo and brand as a prominent feature upon any property used for the purpose of transit. (Code 1981, § 50-39-12 , enacted by Ga. L. 2018, p. 377, § 2-1/HB 930; Ga. L. 2019, p. 1056, § 50/SB 52; Ga. L. 2020, p. 685, § 5/HB 511.) The 2019 amendment, effective May 12, 2019, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, revised punctuation in the third sentence of subsection (a). The 2020 amendment, effective January 1, 2021, in subsection (d), in the first sentence, inserted "logo and" and added "which shall include the acronym 'ATL.'" and added the second sentence.