May 12 2008
Mass Transit Usage Up Across The Country; Sadly Milwaukee Can’t Keep Pace
In part because of record high gas prices, usage of mass transit is booming around the Country as more and more people take advantage of the options for mass transit their cities and counties provide:
Mass transit systems around the country are seeing standing-room-only crowds on bus lines where seats were once easy to come by. Parking lots at many bus and light rail stations are suddenly overflowing, with commuters in some towns risking a ticket or tow by parking on nearby grassy areas and in vacant lots.
“In almost every transit system I talk to, we’re seeing very high rates of growth the last few months,” said William Millar, president of the American Public Transportation Association.
Some cities with long-established public transit systems, like New York and Boston, have seen increases in ridership of 5 percent or more so far this year - International Herald Tribune
Unfortunately due to the decisions of some Milwaukee and Wisconsin politicians to purposely halt any progress on mass transit and to even cut existing mass transit services, we here in Milwaukee are limited in our choices for getting from point A to B.
While the rest of America moves forward in providing its citizens with more choices for getting where they need to go, Milwaukee remains stagnant. Due to that stagnation, we’re missing out on a key revenue stream that will only continue to increase as the price of gasoline remains high - not to mention providing residents with the ability to cut their costs for commuting by a substantial amount.
To people like County Executive Scott Walker who is so out of touch that he suggested the solution to transit in Milwaukee was for everyone to “have a car” - we can all say thanks.
It’s thanks to your short sighted policy proposals that the metro Milwaukee area finds itself dead last in the race to provide affordable transit options to it’s citizens.
Additionally WisDOT is pushing to spend $1.9 Billion to expand I94 in the face of $4.00 a gallon gas! Brilliant.
Wanna know the reason that Milwaukee’s “Not keeping pace”? It’s because they shouldn’t. There is absolutely no reason the citizens of the greater metro Milwaukee area should have to pay MORE taxes for a mass transit system that is plain and simply a boondoggle. In practically every city, especially those cities that are comparable to Milwaukee, ridership is ill forecasted (ie: Memphis Medical Center Project: Projected Average Weekday Booking - 4200, Actual Weekday Booking - 707, Baltimore Central Double Track Project: Proj WDB - 44,000, Act WDB - 28,541 amongst MANY others, which I can name if needed)
In 1990 there were 10 Light rail projects around the country with a total estimated ridership of 2,157,560 with an actual ridership of 1,179,235, compare that to the 19, 2003 projects, where there was a forecast of 889,349 riders with an actual count of 505,850, and lastly the 18 projects done in 2007, where the projected number of riders was 598,998 and the actual ridership was 357,809. With poor forecasting comes higher average cost of ridership, costing people more money. Even if you take away the money aspect of things, with “forecasting” like that, do we want those people determining how our hundreds of millions of dollars should be allocated?
Milwaukee’s population has been in a steady decline for decades, along with a decline of businesses staying or entering into the tax base (with the exception of Manpower - woo hoo). That’s not because of a lack of mass transit (ask Pittsburgh) it’s because of goofy ideas like light rail, and the costs associated with it. There may be a recent rise in ridership because of gas prices, but that certainly does not justify building a train system. You state that Milwaukee’s “missing out on a key revenue stream” but after reading the entire article you posted, they freely admit the fares only cover 1/3 the cost of the train - ONE THIRD!!! What covers the other 2/3??? Taxes! Raising taxes in a region like Metro Milwaukee is not only dumb, but irresponsible. Revenue stream??? The only way there’s going to be a revenue stream is if we raise the taxes beyond the cost of the trains, and the maintenance of the tracks, buildings, cars, etc. Let’s just call it what it is, just another waste of tax payer money.
First off, Milwaukee’s population is not in decline.
I know it’s a favorite line that certain right wing talk radio hosts like to throw around in an attempt to bolster their incorrect opinion that “taxes are so bad here everyone is leaving”, but it’s factually incorrect.
The population of Milwaukee County has risen 1.2% since 2000.
Same with businesses. It’s easy to make up statistics to support an opinion to further a pessimistic view of this area, but it’s just not grounded in fact.
As for your thoughts on transit… As always that’s your opinion, which an ever smaller number of people share as prices for gasoline continue to rise with no end in sight. I also disagree with you trying to make this into a “TAX INCREASE!” issue and still don’t understand why you hate the idea of even a pitance going to improve the community you live in, but apparently have no problem with what is in effect an increase in the “tax” you’re paying for gasoline which only serves to line the pockets of Big Oil.
You are correct Milwaukee County has increased by 1.2%….Yippee. That certainly does not constitute REAL growth, especially considering our neighboring counties (Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha, Washington, and Ozaukee saw an average of 6.1% growth, and by the next census (probably by next year) will take over Milwaukee county with the number of total residents (7/2007 – Milwaukee County: 951,252, Total of surrounding counties: 951,166). Prior to July of 2007 the only growth anyone was seeing around here was coming from the surrounding counties, not Milwaukee. While Milwaukee was seeing a decline of population from 2000-2006, those counties I reference above saw an average of 7.5%. Now let’s assume Milwaukee will keep a 1.2% increase going for the next 5 years, that does not justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars for a transit system that was scrapped 50 years ago (for good reason). Light rail is slow, expensive, takes up too much street space (which in many areas we don’t have enough of), and annoying.
As for businesses, my personal research into commercial and residential properties and the taxes associated with them, indicate that the city and county of Milwaukee in fact have higher taxes. We will see, in the very near future, how businesses view Milwaukee and how Milwaukee is able to retain business. Miller Brewing is more than likely going to move its headquarters. The Bowling Congress, although small, is indicative of Wisconsin’s and specifically Milwaukee’s attitude towards the business community. Their departure honestly is a blip on the radar, but it is telling. There will be more, and unfortunately, Milwaukee is going to get nickel and dimed to death. It is more than likely that companies like Johnson Controls, and NML will not up and leave, but the departure of small to medium businesses will continue (and it IS happening now). This movement out of Milwaukee will create more development in the surrounding counties, just like they have for the last 20 years. Unless Milwaukee looks to create an environment that businesses feel is good for them, they will continue to move to the North, South and West. Oh, there will be the small developments like in the Menomonee Valley, but over time, projects like that will be dwarfed by the slow but sure migration of jobs and companies to outlying counties or worse, different states.
As for this being a tax increase issue, the reason I bring it up is because it is a tax increase issue. As I mention in my original comment, the fares for transit make up only one third the cost of the system. The balance of the cost is made up by the tax payer. To pay for this system and the maintenance of it, taxes have to be increased. You say you don’t understand why I hate the idea of even a pittance going to improve my community well, for one, the cost of building and maintaining a mass transit system would not be just a “pittance”. It is a major cost to people, and when only 8% of people use our current mass transit, why should I approve of spending the money that is required to build new mass transit systems? Two, I enjoy having my car, as does 90+% of the citizens of SE Wisconsin. Lastly, I have as much or more disdain for paying high taxes to the government for gas as I do “big oil”, but at least big oil is making money for investors, mutual funds, and the like.
My point wasn’t which areas are growing faster Sean, it’s that your initial argument was based on an foundation that was incorrect.
Mass transit options benefit those in the surrounding communities as well.
Sean, your point on the ridership is well taken, as far as it goes. I said much the same thing in a recent discussion. But we draw two different conclusions from it. You say it proves mass Transit is a bad idea for Milwaukee, I just think it just proves MCTS is badly managed.
(I’ve seen them cancel routes that were so crowded there was no place to sit on the bus, and keep routes active that were serviced by mainly empty buses.)
But Dan’s point, which you missed entirely, is that businesses would be served by a well-designed and well-run transit system, and that the tax money spent building and maintaining it could, if it’s done right, result in more revenue from other sources. (When people can easily and efficiently get to where they work, businesses don’t need to offer bonuses and higher pay just to get sales clerks, for example.)
Just like any large business, government can’t be run effectively with blinders on. Almost every large business has depts that make money for it, and depts that cost money, when you look at them narrowly. But those same money losers are actually money makers when you view the larger picture.
I’m one of the people who never use MCTS, but that’s simply because most of the places I need to go I can *walk* to faster than I can ride the bus. Mass Transit does work, and work well, but only when the routes are calculated to serve the needs of the population. My daughter, for example, tried to ride the bus to work, but needed to transfer in order to do it, and the transfer she would get would *expire* before the bus she had to transfer to would arrive! That’s not intelligent design.
If we had a good transit system here in Milwaukee, far more than 8% would ride it. But we don’t.
Arlen,
I agree with you 100% in regards to the management of MCTS. That management is just one more (albeit important) reason to not build a light rail system in Milwaukee. The last thing we need is the same group of bureaucrats running a larger more intricate system. That mentality breeds more waste and inefficiency. Do we stop looking at alternatives? Absolutely not, that’s short sighted, but from everything that I’ve seen and read, there is no proposal that I feel comfortable with. That is especially true when the same group (MCTS) would be running it.
I could be a strong advocate of alternative forms of mass transit, if they made sense. When I travel to large cities (Boston, Chicago, DC, etc) I take mass transit whenever possible. I just have a hard time, with a city like Milwaukee and how it is layed out, to justify spending the kind of money that is required to build a proper system. Milwaukee has a terrible track record when it comes to large projects such as this (ie: deep tunnel). Let’s, before we decide to spend hard earned tax dollars, fix our current mass transit system so we can make an intelligent, informed decision on adding to it.
When you talk about management, are you referring to the fact that the operation of MCTS is contracted out to a private company? You realize of course that MCTS is actually run by a private company, Milwaukee Transport Services, Inc. If that’s the case, thanks for again showing why privatization is not always the best solution to many of the services government should provide.
Or when you talk about management, are you referring to the fact that MTS reports to County Executive Scott Walker? If that’s the case, why hasn’t he “cleaned it up” after 6 years in office? What’s the problem?
We can make intelligent informed decisions about the future of transit in Milwaukee and Southeastern Wisconsin in addition to fixing our current mass transit system. They’re not mutually exclusive.
You don’t suppose that Scott Walker, big George W. Bush backer that he is, has figured out that one way to supress the Democratic vote is to make sure people who rely on the bus can’t make it to the polls, do you?
According to a transit survey in Portland, 77% of light rail riders have access to a car, but prefer rail.
And, according to the Transportation Research Board, rail attracts 30-44% more riders than buses.