Always think ahead

A risky investment today can yield a more secure economic future

Imagine this scenario for a moment.

You get out of class in the MLC, head over to Memorial Hall, jump on the Monorail and a few minutes later you are heading into Aderhold, 10 minutes early for a class you would otherwise be tardy for.

This seemingly impossible scenario today looked like a reality on this day in 1976.

Westinghouse was looking for a small city to test the viability of an above ground subway system. Then University President Fred C. Davison convinced the group to use the University, rather than a city, because it had more peak traffic periods than a city and already had land available for the project.

The program would have been paid for by a Housing and Development grant, but was denied by the Board of Regents because Atlanta was planning its MARTA system and using UGA as a guinea pig seemed like a bad gamble.

According to the FTA’s latest figures, MARTA rail costs half the amount per passenger as its buses, and the railcars carry 63 percent of its daily total passengers.

This would have saved the University millions of dollars over the last three decades, compared to the current bus system.

Our point: We need more long-term cost-cutting measures from the administration, and fewer short-term alleviations such as furloughs.

- Michael Fitzpatrick for the editorial board