What duty does a bus or train operator owe you in Georgia?

A bus, train, taxi, or other common carrier in Georgia owes its passengers extraordinary diligence, a higher duty than the ordinary care owed by a regular driver. That rule is O.C.G.A. § 46-9-132. It applies to MARTA, Greyhound, airport shuttles, and rideshare in some circumstances, and it makes carrier injury cases stronger for passengers.

What does O.C.G.A. § 46-9-132 say?

The published heading is “Duty of carriers of passengers to exercise extraordinary diligence.” The whole section is one sentence:

A carrier of passengers must exercise extraordinary diligence to protect the lives and persons of his passengers but is not liable for injuries to them after having used such diligence.

The 2024 Georgia Code is the version Justia currently serves. The rule itself is far older than that and has been applied by Georgia courts for well over a century.

What does it mean for you?

Georgia law recognizes three levels of care: slight, ordinary, and extraordinary. A driver on the road owes you ordinary care, which means what a reasonably careful person would do. A carrier of passengers owes you the top level. “Extraordinary diligence” is defined elsewhere in the Code as the extreme care a very prudent and thoughtful person would use. The difference is real in front of a jury. Conduct that might be excused for a private driver is negligence for a bus operator.

Who is a “carrier of passengers”? Anyone in the business of transporting people for hire: MARTA buses and trains, Greyhound, charter and tour buses, airport shuttles, taxis, school transportation contractors, and in many situations rideshare drivers. The duty runs from the moment you are boarding through the moment you have safely stepped off.

There is a complication with public carriers. MARTA and other government operated transit systems carry notice deadlines and immunity rules that private companies do not, and the deadline to give notice can be far shorter than the two years for a typical injury claim. If a public bus or train was involved, treat it as a deadline case first.

Related Georgia laws

• O.C.G.A. § 36-33-5: the six month notice rule for claims against a city
• O.C.G.A. § 50-21-26: notice for claims against the State
• O.C.G.A. § 51-12-33: how shared fault affects your recovery

Sources

• Official Code of Georgia Annotated on legis.ga.gov (official text)
• O.C.G.A. § 46-9-132 on Justia (2024 Georgia Code)
• Text verified against the published code on 2026-10-16. Statute text is public record. Nothing on this page is legal advice about your specific case.

What should you do next?

Hurt on a bus, train, shuttle, or in a rideshare? The carrier owed you more care than an ordinary driver, and if it was a public system the notice clock may already be running. Call now.

Call Kenneth S. Nugent, P.C. at 770-820-0711, any hour, any day. The call is free, the case review is free, and there is zero fee unless we win. Nine offices across Georgia, and we come to you if you cannot come to us.

One more thing. Don’t sign anything from an insurance company before you talk to a lawyer. A signature on the wrong form can give away rights you did not know you had.