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Last week Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz proposed an all-purpose regional transit authority. That Falk and Cieslewicz have announced agreement on anything related to transportation is big news - and good news for Dane County residents. Transportation is ideally suited for regional approaches (I avoid the word 'solutions' hesitantly because in transportation there not really once-and-for-all solutions.)
Proposing the RTA is just a first step, but a necessary one. Legislative approval is needed, but you won't even get the lege to look at it if the county exec and mayor are not in agreement.
The plan calls for a one-half cent sales tax to fund the RTA. The sales tax would be approved (or not) by voter referendum. I like the idea of of an RTA, but I will personally want to know a lot more before supporting the sales tax increase.
Revenues from the half-cent sales tax would be portioned to support transportation improvements for every corner of Dane County:
§ Bus service for Madison and surrounding communities – 25%
§ Town, Village, City and County road maintenance – 25%
§ Commuter rail – 33%
§ Rail/Bus Enhancements/County-wide Paratransit/Bike Transit – 16%
Something needs to give, however, in the way we move people in this county. Congestion is a major quality of life issue as well as an environmental issue and an economic development issue. Simply building more lanes won't answer - although I do think we need to add capacity to the roads as well, in particular what we still quaintly call 'Stoughton Road' - in reality its the Eastside Beltline. But we also need to look at commuter rail, expanded bus service, and land use policies.
Dane County's population continues to grow and much of the growth is outside Madison. Population growth means more travelers. Even without population growth travel miles increase because people continue to drive more miles every year.
The extensive article in this weeks Herald gave large play to the opponents, although even Eileen Bruskewitz agreed on a need for more bus service! Unfortunately, our own county board supervisor Dale Suslick apparently disagreed. The story quotes: "What I think we need to do at this point in time is to focus on auto travel. I don't know why we would need an RTA formed to do that." In an irony-rich environment, Suslick is chair of the Monona Mass Transit Commission.
One of Monona's strong suits compared to other Madison burbs is our proximity to Madison and downtown Madison in particular. Our present truncated transit service does not take advantage of that edge and it keeps some people from moving here and causes others to leave. An RTA might help address that shortcoming. Even if it doesn't, less congestion is good for all of us.
The RTA seems like a an obvious approach to pursue. Its been endorsed by both the WSJ and the Cap Times .Of course we do not start down this pathway knowing all the answers, but this is one journey we need to take.
Sunday, July 08, 2007
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One thing that brought me to Monona 15 years ago was our little commuter bus. My husband used it to get to his job off the Square, I used it to get to school. Now, though, he works nowhere near the Square, and I need to get home well before that afternoon bus would get me here. I looked into Madison Metro, but it would take about 90 minutes to get somewhere it would take 15 minutes to drive. If only Monona had better bus service.
ReplyDeleteWe are so far behind the rest of the world in mass transit. At least as applied to big cities.
It's surprising that the RTA idea is being rejected by Sun Prairie so soon.
ReplyDeleteCounty wide transportation seems like a great idea.
I'm not sure trains or trolleys would work, but buses feeding from smaller communities to main routes is worth discussing.
Monona to MATC on public transportation takes too long, and a very long walk is required.
The irony of Monona, Suslick on transportation, and Thomas on Parks.
I want to know more before I can support this. All of the rail plans I have seen won't help anyone in Monona, but if it would make us part of a regional bus service that would actually be usable,(I agree with Amy above), I may be inclined to support this. I don't work regular hours, so I have no public transportation available to me. This is ridiculous in the middle of an urban area.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand Monona would not be on the rail line. We'll all be paying for Madison's trolley. What I mean by focus on auto traffic is making the way 90%+ of Dane County Residents travel. The RTA could be part of this although I don't see the need to add more layers to a issue so easy to attack. Look at the roads in Dane County and make the task of driving from here to there, as efficient as possible. This would improve the quality of life for 90%+ of Dane County residents. Makes sense. And, I am Co-Chair with Doug on Transit. A nice committee for me to be on. I offer a different perspective. Not all committees need to be filled with only one point of view. We need a sharing of ideas in order to get the best ideas at times. Dale Suslick 575-5511
ReplyDeleteHey Suslick, are you listening?
ReplyDeleteThere are people who don't drive, who don't have cars.
They can't live in Monona because there is minimal public transportation.
Don't act like you were elected by a large majority, because you weren't.
Dale,
ReplyDeleteI drive my car to work because I don't have a bus as an option. That silly Monona bus runs only a few times in the morning, a few times in the afternoon, and not at all on the weekends. Please find me a community in the heart of a major urban area, such as Monona, that has such pitiful public transportation. You've been heard to say that if Madison is doing something, that's a good reason why Monona shouldn't. Well, my Madison friends have the option of taking a bus to work.
Kyoto Doug-
ReplyDeleteAre those ramblings in the paper true about our great looking shelter.
The plumbing is not designed for winter?
Kyoto Doug, oh, ha ha, very funny. I think we should do something about global warming so you lamely ridicule.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're off-topic, but I plan to cover the shelter next week after the council meeting.
Other stuff: 'Thomas on Parks'? Kathy generally is pretty supportive of Parks.
ReplyDeleteThe train may not go through Monona, but we can get other benefits from an RTA. The RTA would provide funding for roads and bus as well as rail transit. Besides, even if you don't ride the train or the bus, you can beenfit from making it more useful/atractive/reasonable for other people to use it by reducing congestion and pollution.