Over many years, a lot of time and effort has been spent on mass transit in various parts of southeastern Wisconsin. Despite different ideas and approaches, little change has occurred.
However, there is a long list of people in southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois in businesses, economic development, governments, social agencies, education, labor and community interests who agree that mass transit is needed in. In fact, it is fast becoming a critical issue for the economy of southeastern Wisconsin.
Milwaukee is already suffering from the shrinking of the Milwaukee County Transit System, which will be in a severe financial crisis in two years. A public policy research report issued in October by UW-M's Center for Economic Development stated that MCTS and the Waukesha Metro Transit System combined have reduced bus route miles by nearly 20 percent from 2001 through 2007, resulting in at least 40,000 jobs becoming inaccessible by public transit, with only 55 percent of employers now being accessible within walking distance of a transit stop. With current trends, this is forecast to drop to 45 percent by 2010.
Here's an eye-opening story. The Gateway To Milwaukee is focused on economic development around the Airport, having recognized that this area is the principal welcoming and transportation hub of metropolitan Milwaukee. One of our vendors has a new business idea and is seeking capital funding of several million dollars. Potential investors from the west coast liked the idea and did their research.
They concluded that they would fund this start-up potentially if it were in Madison or preferably in Chicago, but not in Milwaukee.
This new business could need up to 60 IT and creative design young professionals in less than 120 days. The investors' concern was that Milwaukee might not attract such professionals quickly. But by opening a location in the suburbs of Chicago near a station accessible by mass transit, they were confident of a successful startup.
Thus, these investors with capital to start a business did not want to invest in Milwaukee. We lost the kind of opportunity our regional leaders are seeking because another city has mass public transit and we don't. Whether or not you agree with their analysis and conclusion, their perception became reality and we cannot ignore it.
Numerous other anecdotes have been discussed and reported. There are job openings and people interested in working, but transportation is an issue. People in northern Illinois want to come to the Airport and downtown Milwaukee by train, but options are limited. Couples in Delafield work in Milwaukee and Madison, but driving back and forth is expensive and time consuming. Car prices and their operating expenses are high. Students need to get to different campuses and jobs. More and more cars are causing parking and air quality challenges.
Greater Milwaukee is one of the only metropolitan areas of its size that does not have some mass public transit. A vibrant mass transit system will not be a luxury. It will be a vital necessity for southeastern Wisconsin to continue its growth with Chicago as a major acropolis in the world. Mass public transit would be a savior if Chicago hosts the Olympics in 2016 and it ultimately will be a necessity for Madison to partner in our growth.
We need to develop a mass transit plan for southeastern Wisconsin and we need to have it supported by a dedicated funding source. This is an investment in the future of southeast Wisconsin for people from all walks of life and economic levels. We have a wonderful place to live, but we need to focus more on economic development or our growth potential will falter, as then will our quality of life.
Mass transit is key to our growth. We citizens need to give this message to the legislators, who were elected to serve us. The timing for this is crucial. We need to get started now as the state of Wisconsin will soon begin its budget work for the biennium. This investment will take a long time to implement, but we can't wait two more years to start.
There is a long list of diverse people supporting mass transit that have come together and are known as the Coalition for Advancing Transit. In the weeks ahead, this Coalition of volunteers will be increasingly vocal in favor of developing mass transit. This issue is bigger than any individual city or county and needs cooperation among all of those entities in southeastern Wisconsin. Our goal is to demonstrate how local and regional leaders can and must work together for the best interests of southeastern Wisconsin.
Transit - let's get moving!
Tom Rave the executive director of The Gateway To Milwaukee.
7 Comments
Tom, we have to get our heads away from the transit of old. The newest LRT's are proving outmoded and too expensive to sustain. It's being proven all over the country. All of them are slowly failing and draining additional taxes to support. And they are doing it in cities with 10 times our population. Some are failing slower than others but all are failing.
Bus Rapid Transit combines all the positives of trains with the flexibilty of buses and none the trains issues; including the enormous expense to implement and maintain.
We need to get progressive and move forward with the advancements in tecknology. Don't copy the past because other cities have failed to move into the future. Leave the old LRT in the past were it belongs. Let's get innovative and move forward with BRT. Why would we knowingly choose and Edsel when we can step up to the Cadillac?
I can't believe that somebody smart enough to be placing venture capital wasn't smart enough to know that Milwaukee has buses and those employees would have no trouble getting to work.
Apparently you forgot to tell them as well Tom.
A bus system that is slowly collapsing is not a mass transit system.
What most people are not concentrating on here is the issue of time, which if you have ever lived in a city that has a viable mass transit system you know, is the key issue. Buses get caught in traffic and make stops every two or so blocks thus making any trip taken much longer than a dedicated rail line. A trip from the East Side of Milwaukee to Mayfair Mall, for example, by car takes around 10-15 minutes. If you take the bus up North Ave it can take an hour. This is the key. People will not take mass transit if it adds considerable time to their trips (i.e. tripling or quadrupling the time needed). Having dedicated light rail with fewer stops (say every 10 to 12 blocks) and timed lights is absolutely essential for a mass transit system to be successful. And stop looking at mass transit like it has to be a profit center. Roads are not profit centers. Transit options are facilitators for growth and the movement of residents for work and pleasure and they need public investment.
One further point, Milwaukee needs to view itself as a commuter city for Chicago. I'm a Milwaukee native and I'm not ashamed to say that. If high speed rail is implemented between Milwaukee and Chicago people could commute to the loop from the Third Ward (like many already do) and it would be a huge benefit for the city. These are the kind of forward thinking initiatives that Milwaukee needs to grow and survive. Cities making investments in their infrastructure, like Portland, Oregon, are reaping the success as they become destinations where people want to live.
It's time for strong leadership in Milwaukee to bypass Scott Walker and the suburban naysayers and get these projects moving.
Matt, everything you described and more is possible with BRT AND it can be viable for more routes and flexibility. Rail is so outmoded and constrained. For the cost of rail between Milw, Racine and Keno. you can have true mass transit between those cities and add Waukesha, Madison, Green Bay, Rockford and Minneapolis. Additionally you can expand the current systems in each county AND provide security on the system. Something we need asap.
Why would we settle for one lane in three counties when we can open up most of the major communities in the state?
I agree we need to subsidize mass transit, but let's subsidize the right choice. Open up this area for REAL. Let's get progressive not regressive.
Bob - BRT lack one pretty big 'detail'. Permenancy.
Beyond moving people from point a to point b transit is also a cornerstone to build upon - literally. Developers can plan around a light rail system because - well - its in the ground... you can't move it. A bus system is, as we have seen all to often in Milwaukee, not permenant.
Bob, BRT seems like it could be a very viable option. Only in specific instances do I think rail is necessary, like the Milwaukee-Chicago connection. Seems like BRT could address the issue of time just fine, which is my main concern.
I wish Bob Johnson provided some evidence to back up his statements, such as the following: "The newest LRT's [light rail transit systems?] are proving outmoded and too expensive to maintain. It's being proven all over the country." Because that is not what I am seeing and hearing in the news. I see citizens voting for more light rail, such as in Charlotte and Houston, and I hear about ridership going up, up, up.
In particular, I must take exception to his claim that Bus Rapid Transit is less expensive "to implement and maintain." I believe light rail is not only faster and more reliable but also cleaner and less expensive to operate than BRT. And unlike BRT, light rail has a proven track record at attracting riders AND spurring investment and development.
My source is the late conservative commentator Paul M. Weyrich, who passed away today. A Racine native who co-founded the Heritage Foundation and was most recently the chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation, Mr. Weyrich was also an expert on urban mass transit. As he pointed out in a 2003 commentary, "a bus is still a bus." Please see: http://www.lightrailnow.org/feature/f_brt005.htm