Creation of regional bus service in Atlanta began in 1999, when the
Atlanta Regional Commission created a new transportation network plan to bring metro Atlanta back into compliance with the
U.S. Clean Air Act and regain federal road construction funding. The bus system began serious development in 2001 after then-Governor
Roy Barnes announced that the
State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA) would issue $8.5 billion in bonds, of which 55% was for mass transit. In January 2002,
Georgia Regional Transportation Authority (GRTA) offered 13
metro-Atlanta counties funding for road projects if they agreed to pay to operate the regional bus system for five years. Only Fayette and Cherokee counties refused the deal. Funding for the system faced issues in September after a 20-year SRTA bond was challenged in court by a group opposing the construction of the
Northern Arc, which argued that the bond program violated the state constitution by bypassing the
General Assembly. The bond program ended up being cancelled by the following governor,
Sonny Perdue, who opted to rely on loans from the state legislature. In months leading up to service, GRTA faced pushback from
Central Atlanta Progress and Midtown Alliance, who argued that the presence of large
coach buses would undermine efforts to improve pedestrian experience on
Peachtree Street and that buses should be routed along adjacent one-way streets. Service began on June 7, 2004 and was met with protests from pedestrian activists. A month after service started, activists and GRTA agreed on a plan to move buses from Peachtree Street onto West Peachtree Street. in 2017|260x260px|leftXpress saw severe overcrowding on some routes during a period of
record high gas prices in 2008. But in 2010, the system saw its first budget crisis, raising pass prices and fares for routes over 25 miles to try to make up the difference. In 2015, GRTA approved the first major redesign of the system, adjusting departure times and stops on all routes, cutting one route, and adding three cross-suburb routes terminating at
Perimeter Center. On July 1, 2020, Xpress operations were transferred from GRTA to the Atlanta-region Transit Link Authority (ATL), as legally mandated by the legislation creating ATL. On June 16 2025, Xpress service was reduced from 27 routes to 15 routes to cut costs as a result of ridership only recovering to 30% of pre-pandemic levels. == Routes ==