Madison Beats Milwaukee On Transit
Madison cultivates bus ridership.
It's the tradition there, regardless of who's in the Mayor's office, and local business leaders and planners in Madison and Dane County support transit because it's good for the economy.
Recent figures show that 2006 was a Madison bus ridership banner year, and preliminary figures for 2007 show the increases continuing, mirroring national trends as gas prices rise and private vehicle operation becomes more expensive.
Check the official Madison transit numbers on p.96 of the linked pdf here.
Now compare those numbers to crashing ridership data for Milwaukee County's Transit System, presided over by Scott Walker, an anti-transit rightwing Republican.
His title is Milwaukee County Executive, but when it comes to transit, he's the Wizard of His Own Oz, presiding over a make-believe Kingdom where all poor people own cars, so there's no need for something as distasteful as a public transit system.
And certainly no need for modern transit services, such as trolleys or, perish the thought - - light rail - - that connect with express buses to move people to and from jobs, college classes, the downtown and other destinations.
Another Madison-Milwaukee distinction:
Madison has the logical leadership role in its one-county regional planning commission.
But in our seven-county region, anti-urban/transit forces promote highway expansion to serve upper-income customers at the exurban edges, while Milwaukee and its transit-dependent central city populations get shut out of land-use and transportation benefits.
People in Milwaukee snicker at some things in Madison, but in the state capital city they do transit and transportation policy-making a lot better - - because serving the people is a genuine priority, and keeping their economy expanding is a civic no-brainer.
4 comments:
Hah! The trend about five years ago in Madison was the same as Milwaukee as you describe it now. Popular routes cut for short-sighted cost savings.
It would have continued if not for every testimony at city hall supporting bus transit and pointing out the flaw in service cuts, and there was a wave of public testimony. If I remember correctly, even a city transportation staff representative came out to testify that improved bus service was a better alternative to more roads.
The result of the testimony was temporarily saving some routes that would have been cut and then eventually a new Metro director brought in with a better focus on the health of the system.
Could still use improvement I'm sure.
The only way we are going to get improved mass-transit in Milwaukee is to vote Walker out of office.
Jim,
I know you haven't lived in Madison for a while, but Madison Metro is not the system it once was.
Visit my blog for my comments. The ridership numbers aren't what they appear to be.
http://forwardmadison.blogspot.com/
Interesting comment. I read the linked information.
Maybe everyone's right and transit is in trouble in both cities. Still doesn't let Walker off the hook for presiding Milwaukee's collapsing system.
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