President's Perspectives
August 24, 2011:
Yvonne Williams initiated the first shuttle funding in the Perimeter CIDs history and it was supported by the Fulton Perimeter CIDs’ Board. David Southerland (left), executive director of the Perimeter Transportation Sustainability Coalition, nominated Williams for The Perimeter Shuttle PACE Award)
A commuter shuttle organized and funded by the Perimeter Community Improvement Districts (PCIDs) along with businesses in the Glenlake corridor of Sandy Springs received a 2011 Clean Air Campaign PACE Award today (Aug. 24) for Most Innovative Program.
The statewide PACE Awards recognize the best commute options programs in Georgia.
“The shuttle provides a much needed connection for employees to transit and in the four short months since it began is already serving nearly 500 people a week with 1,000 on and offs,” said Yvonne Williams, president and chief executive officer of the PCIDs. “David Purcell, PCIDs’ chief operating officer, pulled the partners together in record time, working with David Southerland, executive director of the Perimeter Transportation Sustainability Coalition.”
The PCIDs contributed the seed funding to pilot the shuttle May 2 after budget cuts forced MARTA in the fall of 2010 to eliminate bus service from the Sandy Springs MARTA Station to Embassy Row and Glenlake Parkway, home to the world headquarters of UPS and Newell Rubbermaid and 5,500 employees.
“Our contribution spurred commitments by five business partners to initiate the shuttle,” Williams noted.
The partners include UPS, Newell Rubbermaid, Kaiser Permanente, Wells Real Estate, which manages One Glenlake Parkway and Winthrop Management, which manages Embassy Row properties. The PCIDs and their partners contribute $90,000 annually to operate the ADA-friendly shuttle during peak travel times Monday through Friday each week.
"The Perimeter Shuttle is a great example of how partnerships between businesses and nonprofits benefit the community and promote investment,” said Todd Mitchell, senior property manager of Wells Real Estate.
“It’s the first time that a business community has replaced a service previously provided by the public sector,” said Southerland, who nominated The Perimeter Shuttle for the award. “Others have filled a gap that transit has overlooked – this effort fills a gap that public transit had to abandon.”
When MARTA had to cut its bus service, connections to GRTA and Cobb Community Transit were also lost, explained Southerland. “With incomplete bicycle and pedestrian connections, some employees resorted to using a taxi service from MARTA - costing more than $15/day - while others returned to driving alone. Still others purchased a vehicle to keep their job.”
“The Glenlake-Embassy Row shuttle has provided the ‘last mile’ commuters need to make the choice to take transit and to remove single occupant cars from the roads,” said Williams. “Providing service for this last link to and from the workplace translates to reduced smog and carbon pollution, and fewer cars on the road – benefits that accrue well beyond the Glenlake corridor to the entire region.”
CONTACT: Susan Long, 770-390-1794 or 478-256-5975; slong@perimetercid.org