Commuter Bus Ridership Up in Milwaukee, But After Years of Service Cuts It Won’t Be Able to Handle Increase
Data from the first three months of the year shows that Milwaukee commuter buses are seeing an increase in ridership that matches the national trend, which is something I’ve been predicting would happen for months now.
But there’s a problem with the increase in ridership here in Southeastern Wisconsin: after years of service cuts (and fare increases), transit officials now say they cannot handle a big increase in the number of riders.
Why? Because of poor long term planning and service cuts which have crippled the system and made it into a shell of it’s former self. When you completely drop nearly 20 routes, raise fares, and cut back on other routes throughout the system with a purposeful and deliberate goal of drowning what was at one time the best transit operation in the Country, this is what happens.
You have more demand for a service, but a deliberate willingness to not increase supply, and commuters in and around Milwaukee now are paying the price.
The kicker is that even at this late hour, with gas prices over $4.00/gallon, Southeastern Wisconsin still has no action plan in any regard to handle the desire of it’s residents to utilize more mass transit options:
As more drivers in the Milwaukee area convert to riding commuter buses from designated lots in Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee counties, those buses are becoming more crowded. But after years of slashing service, beleaguered public transit systems can’t gear up quickly to handle a major influx of new riders, transit officials say.JSonline.com
Those opposed to mass transit in Wisconsin, led by County Exec. Walker, have successfully blocked any real progress on mass transit for the better part of a decade now. As residents actually start to feel the repercussions of that policy, more and more will start to ask the very valid question of, “Why are we the only metro area in the Country moving backwards on transit?”.
That’s something Walker and his supporters should have to answer for.
Even Ford and GM understand that high gas prices and global warming are a long term trends that demand changes in the ways of doing business. Without good public transit alternatives to the car, high gas prices will cripple our local economy.
If Doyle and Busalacchi are interested in differentiating the Governor from a potential Walker candidacy, they should be working hard to get federal money for building KRM and Light Rail. How about putting more pressure on our congressional delegation? It would not be hard to claim (and rightfully so) that lack of public transportation is a form of defacto discrimination against minorities. We needed good regional transportation as a way to mitigate our systemic regional segregation.
The same argument holds true if Doyle is serious about dealing with global warming. A recent study concluded the average US household can reduce its carbon footprint by 25% through the use of public transportation in place of a second car.
Walker’s brain (Charlie Sykes) refuses to believe in peak oil or global warming. Walker and his cadre are ideologically apposed to rail transit, because they only read transit studies put out by fellows of the Cato institute. Thus these are Walker’s weak points.
Walker claims support for KRM but refuses to find a means of financing it. Walker’s arguments against light rail are pure unadulterated ideological propaganda. Rail is cheaper to operate than bus and it is better suited at dealing with increased traffic since one operator’s ability to haul more passengers is only a coupling away … ’cause you can’t train a bus. For example, the San Diego trolley system’s operating cost is 20 cents per passenger mile while MCTS’s operating cost is 80 cents per passenger mile.
If you amortize the cost of light rail infrastructure and equipment over the life of the system, it is cheaper than the bus on well utilized corridors. Use electricity generated from solar, wind, or biomass to power your trains and it is zero emissions as well. Unlike expressways, you don’t need to rip up a rail system every 40 years to completely rebuild it.
Perhaps change is afoot.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPPOUdzeyBo
40 years ago today America was forced to take a fork in the road that lead to Nixon and Reagan. Walker is a product of Reagan, as are Sykes and Belling. Milwaukee is weaker because of Walker and his conservative cadre, not stronger. Our region can not survive economically with a leadership incapable of accepting, or dealing with, the systemic structural changes required of a world with peak oil and global warming. Walker and his cadre of radio propagandists stand against historic mega trends that will sweep him and his ilk into the dustbin of history.
“There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not.”
– Bobby Kennedy
“The dustbin of history.” Now where have I heard that phrase before?