It was launched with great fanfare, but the Fort Gordon bus route didn’t take off.

Bus Route To Fort Gordon A Bust, Commissioners Say Changes Are Needed

“I wanted us to go seven days a week, from the start, I wanted us to go to a regular schedule. I wanted us to advertise it, but we didn’t do any of those things, so I hope now we don’t have a knee jerk reaction and say we got to quit,” says Commissioner Bill Lockett.

Halfway Through Fort Gordon Bus Route Riders Not Showing Up

The Fort Gordon bus run will be back before Augusta Commissioners Tuesday. The six month trial program has ended and city leaders will have to decide whether to keep it going.

Route Of New Fort Gordon Bus Run A Concern

The route cost more than $$152,000, but took in only a little more than $1,600 from only 1,400 riders, and to keep the service going another six months, another $150,000 will be needed.

“We’ve thrown away millions of dollars on things that were failures, $152,000 when you’re talking about supporting our veterans, it’s a small amount of money,” says Lockett.

But, how do taxpayers feel about spending that small amount of money on a service that’s not getting a lot of use.

“I don’t think it’s economically viable. What they spent on buses, you could have hired taxi cabs,” said Tom Sutherland. “So, don’t keep it going? we asked. “No,” he said.

“There’s no question the fort is extremely important to our overall economy. You would hate for us to be penny wise and pound foolish,” said Chris Vickery. “So, do we keep the bus route going?” we asked. “I think it’s one of the things we need to do,” he answered.

“It’s a waste of money,” said Sams. “That’s all they made off of it,” we told him. “It didn’t make much,” Sams added. “No, not at all,” we said.

“To get people to the fort and back and to the mall, it’s a good service, but is it worth it for the taxpayers? That’s the question,” said Sams.

City Administrator Janice Jackson is expected to tell Commissioners Tuesday there isn’t enough money in the budget to continue the route, and the recommendation will be to notify Fort Gordon that the bus service will end June 3rd.