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Cobb County working to reverse paratransit breakdowns, long waits

With only five of 30 paratransit vehicles in service, Cobb County is working to reverse service breakdowns by adding leased and borrowed vehicles to the fleet.

MARIETTA, Georgia — For Cobb County and its thousands of residents with mobile disabilities, it's been a transportation nightmare with broken down CobbLinc Paratransit vehicles and long waits for those that are running.

Getting nowhere to get answers, one resident reached out to 11Alive for help. 

For Michael Pike and thousands of other residents who rely on CobbLinc Paratransit, it's been an almost insurmountable challenge as most of the vehicles are broken down and sitting idle.

"The buses are constantly breaking down, 3 to 4 hour waits sometimes," Pike said.

Pike said the long wait times have forced him to adjust, adding it's more than an inconvenience.

"I have had to miss doctor appointments and reschedule doctor appointments because they could not pick me up or just not even show up," he added.

Pike said that he has tried to reach out to many people but no one has gotten back to him.

"I've called congressmen, senators, my commissioners, the commission chairman, and they won't even return my phone calls," he said. 

For CobbLinc Paratransit, it's been almost the perfect storm with staffing woes caused by the pandemic; vehicles breaking down and the inability to get parts, even from junkyards, and up to a two-year wait to get new vehicles delivered. 

Only five of the 30 paratransit vehicles are currently operational.

Supply chain issues have also delayed 22 new vehicles' delivery for up to two years.

However, there are steps that are being taken to address the issue.

CobbLinc is reconfiguring three borrowed senior services vans to accommodate disabled passengers. Eight leased buses with ramps and lifts are on the way, along with six leased minivans.

Additionally, Cobb County's Deputy Director of Transportation Karl Von Hagel offered Pike a promising update.

"We've got 14 vehicles coming beginning June 1, and we will start to see that fleet coming into operation, and we are having vehicles driven down from Indiana right now, " Von Hagel said.

11Alive plans to check back on the progress in Cobb County in early June.

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