BATMA Gives Away Smart Car

The best things come in small packages, especially when they get at least 40 miles per gallon and produce few smog-forming emissions. That’s why the Buckhead Area Transportation Management Association (BATMA) celebrated Earth Day in April by giving away the chance to get behind the wheel of a smart car at its Go Green & Commute Clean event at Lenox Square Mall. The smart car was provided courtesy of smart center Buckhead.

Sharon Cost of Newnan ended up being the big winner. Every day Cost drives from Newnan to the College Park MARTA station and rides to the Lenox station in Buckhead. Now she’ll be driving her smart car to MARTA and saving hundreds of dollars on gas while the car is hers.

“The convertible top and six CD player will be a lot of fun for me,” said Cost, “But I’m most looking forward to saving some money on gas. My gasoline budget just to get to College Park has doubled in the last year and a half.”

Cost is not alone. Reports from the Boston Globe say “SUV sales for the month of April alone fell 32.3 percent from a year earlier and small car sales rose 18.6 percent. This fundamental shift comes against a backdrop of relentless gas increases, and growing concerns over the environment and US oil consumption, according to auto analysts and car dealers.”

Smart center Buckhead has seen this trend as well. Currently the dealership—the only smart car dealership in Georgia—reports a year-long waiting list for the smart car fortwo. They are classified as an Ultra-Low Emission Vehicle (ULEV) on account of extremely low exhaust emissions and get superb gas mileage.

For more information about clean commuting and the Go Green & Commute Clean event, visit www.batma.org.