The one vote to maintain the bus system came from Eldrin Bell, the commission chairman and former Atlanta police chief. In an interview Tuesday, Bell said he feared the loss of the bus system would result in more foreclosures and lower property values.
He feared for the college students, probationers and sick people without cars who would now be stranded. He said he feared rising crime as people turned from legitimate to illegitimate work.
"I've lived with racism," said Bell, who is one of four black commissioners on the five-member board. "But this is a new one -- it's called classism. I've never seen anything like it."
Bell contends that the commission could have found a way to fund the buses. But Commissioner Wole Ralph said it just wasn't possible.
The bus system costs about $10 million per year to operate. The bus fares, he said, covered about $2 million of that.
The county had been covering much of the rest of the price tag with the fees from subdivision applications, Ralph said. But these days there aren't many subdivisions going up in the Atlanta suburbs.
"The only responsible thing to do was to cut the service," Ralph said. "This economy has forced individuals to tighten their belts, and governments have to do it too."
The commissioners said the bus service could be restored by a bill now in the Legislature that would allow the county to levy an additional sales tax to extend MARTA -- the big regional transit service that mostly operates in Fulton and Dekalb counties -- into Clayton.
But that would also involve a countywide referendum. Bell said in the best-case scenario, buses would not return to the streets until August.
The 503 pulled into the airport lot just before 7 a.m. and Griffin, the minister, addressed them all.
"I would like to say good morning to everyone," he boomed. "I would like you to all to know that Jesus loves you -- and that it's not over till it's over."
richard.fausset@ latimes.com
Staff writer Raja Abdulrahim in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
