Xpress is a regional

commuter bus A transit bus (also big bus, commuter bus, city bus, town bus, urban bus, stage bus, public bus, public transit bus, or simply bus) is a type of bus used in public transport bus services. Several configurations are used, including low-floo ...

system serving the

Atlanta Metropolitan area Metro Atlanta, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Roswell metropolitan statistical area, is the most populous metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Georgia and the sixt ...

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. The system has 15 routes and 20 active

park-and-ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ( ...

lots. In , the Xpress system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . Xpress began service on June 7, 2004 under the

Georgia Regional Transportation Authority The Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA, "Greta") is a government agency that addresses mobility and air quality in the U.S. state of Georgia. It was set up under former governor of Georgia Roy Barnes, in order to address mobility ...

, but is operated by Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority as of 2025. Service operates from roughly 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 pm weekdays, with most service being rush-hour only.

History

Creation of regional bus service in Atlanta began in 1999, when the

Atlanta Regional Commission The Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) is the regional planning and intergovernmental coordination agency for the metro Atlanta, Georgia, United States, spanning the 11-county area of Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth ...

created a new transportation network plan to bring metro Atlanta back into compliance with the U.S. Clean Air Act and regain federal road construction funding. The bus system began serious development in 2001 after then-Governor

Roy Barnes Roy Eugene Barnes (born March 11, 1948)Cook, James F. (2005). ''The Governors of Georgia, 1754-2004, 3rd Edition, Revised and Expanded.'' Macon, GA: Mercer University Press. is an American attorney and politician who served as the 80th governo ...

announced that the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) would issue $8.5 billion in bonds, of which 55% was for mass transit. In January 2002,

(GRTA) offered 13 metro-Atlanta counties funding for road projects if they agreed to pay to operate the regional bus system for five years. Only Fayette and Cherokee counties refused the deal. Funding for the system faced issues in September after a 20-year SRTA bond was challenged in court by a group opposing the construction of the Northern Arc, which argued that the bond program violated the state constitution by bypassing the

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. The bond program ended up being cancelled by the following governor, Sonny Perdue, who opted to rely on loans from the state legislature. In June 2003, the GRTA authorized the purchase of 58 buses for the system. In months leading up to service, GRTA faced pushback from Central Atlanta Progress and Midtown Alliance, who argued that the presence of large coach buses would undermine efforts to improve pedestrian experience on

Peachtree Street Peachtree Street is one of several major streets running through the city of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Beginning at Five Points (Atlanta), Five Points in downtown Atlanta, it runs North through Midtown Atlanta, Midtown; a few blocks afte ...

and that buses should be routed along adjacent one-way streets. Service began on June 7, 2004 and was met with protests from pedestrian activists. A month after service started, activists and GRTA agreed on a plan to move buses from Peachtree Street onto West Peachtree Street. Xpress saw severe overcrowding on some routes during a period of record high gas prices in 2008. But in 2010, the system saw its first budget crisis, raising pass prices and fares for routes over 25 miles to try to make up the difference. In 2015, GRTA approved the first major redesign of the system, adjusting departure times and stops on all routes, cutting one route, and adding three cross-suburb routes terminating at Perimeter Center. On July 1, 2020, Xpress operations were transferred from GRTA to the Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority (ATL), as legally mandated by the legislation creating ATL. On June 16 2025, Xpress service was reduced from 27 routes to 15 routes to cut costs as a result of ridership only recovering to 30% of pre-pandemic levels.

Routes

As of June 2025, the Xpress network includes 15 routes. *401 Cumming / Perimeter Center to Medical Center *411 Buford / Sugarloaf Mills to

Downtown Atlanta Downtown Atlanta is the central business district of Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The largest of the city's three commercial districts (Midtown Atlanta, Midtown and Buckhead being the others), it is the location of many corporate and region ...

*412 Buford / Sugarloaf Mills to

Midtown Atlanta Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown for short, is a Urban area, high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used ...

*413 Hamilton Mill / Sugarloaf Mills to Downtown Atlanta *414 Hamilton Mill / Sugarloaf Mills to Midtown Atlanta *415 Sugarloaf Mills / Indian Trail to

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*416 Dacula / Indian Trail to Downtown Atlanta *419 Snellville / Hewatt Road to Midtown and Downtown Atlanta *426 West Conyers / Panola Road to Midtown and Downtown Atlanta *430

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/ Stockbridge to Midtown and Downtown Atlanta *441 Jonesboro to Midtown and Downtown Atlanta *453 Newnan to Lakewood / Ft McPherson *463

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/ West Douglasville to Midtown and Downtown Atlanta *476 Hiram /

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to Midtown and Downtown Atlanta *484 Hickory Grove / Town Center / Big Shanty to Midtown Atlanta

Operations

Prior to transfer of operations to Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority, Xpress was operated as a partnership between the

(GRTA) and Clayton,

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Cobb Cobb may refer to: People * Cobb (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Cobb * Cobb Rooney (1900–1973), American professional football running back Places New Zealand * Cobb River * Cobb Reservoir * Cobb Power ...

, DeKalb,

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, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett,

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, Paulding, and Rockdale counties. Operators of ''Xpress'' were contracted through Professional Transit Management and American Coach. In Cobb and Gwinnett Counties Cobb Community Transit or Gwinnett County Transit provided ''Xpress'' service in addition to their own express services.

Fares

Xpress charges fares based on distance travelled. As of April 2025, adult one-way fares from Green Zone

park and ride A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...

s to Atlanta are $3.00 and fares from Blue Zone park-and-rides to Atlanta are $4.00. Round-trip, 10-trip, and 31-day passes are available using a

Breeze card The Breeze Card is a stored value smart card used on bus and rapid transit routes in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It is part of an automated fare collection system which Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) introduced to the ...

or the Breeze 2.0 app.

External links

ATL website''Xpress'' websiteMARTA websiteGCT websiteCATS website

References

{{Reflist Bus transportation in Georgia (U.S. state) Transportation Regional