Removing bus stops in major transit corridors. I’m not kidding.
That’s right, when we build dense areas, and have high usage of bus riders, apparently the thinking is that they don’t need as many bus stops. Tonight the Transit and Parking Commission is considering a trial project where they would remove the bus stops on E. Johnson and E. Gorham at Brearly, Few and Livingston – as well as on Jennifer St. And, removing a (or two) bus stop on E Washington at Brearly.
My snarky response was that this was revenge for the Isthmus being strongly opposed to bus wraps and against raising the bus fares. Probably not true – but the three decisions together make you wonder, what’s the big picture here?
All of this focus on efficiency and a tiny portion of the income for Madison Metro ($650,000 of $50M) seems to be ignoring something very, very important. THE RIDERS!! Seriously, what is the message Madison Metro is sending to its loyal riders? We’ve cut back on early morning, late night and weekend service in the last few years, we’ve wrapped the buses in dark, difficult to see out of bus wraps and now, we’re asking them to walk farther to get to their stops. The message is clear – we don’t value the riders, their needs or their comfort.
What’s going on? I don’t believe that the staff at Madison Metro don’t value the riders. But wow, their timing couldn’t be worse. And their methodology – giving the alders less than a week’s notice to inform people – seems to be bad form. The public had little opportunity to hear about this proposal, as it just came out on the agenda on Thursday or Friday.
I’m guessing all the candidates in District 2 would join me in saying – bad idea!! As they agree about not raising the bus fares. (Comments on bus fares at end of this, not sure what Sherman was saying about bus fares except that it was inevitable.)
I’ll be at the Transit and Parking Commission meeting tonight, I hope others join me. Meanwhile, here’s some of the feedback I’ve gotten:
Brenda, where did this come from? I a signed up to receive e-mail alerts from Metro but I do not recall seeing this. How can there be a trial when nobody knows about it? What is the reasoning behind that?
I have several concerns about closing the Brearly/Jenifer stop. It has a shelter and many other stops on Jenifer don’t. The other and more important concern is that there are a number of programs for children after school at the Wilmar Center and during the summer. Are they going to make these young kids walk a block in either direction and possibly crossing in the middle of the street. Right now, they just cross a Brearly and both bus stops are near the corner.
I personally see this as a service cut, no matter what they call it.
I am concerned about eliminating bus stops. Bus service is an
essential part of our City’s infrastructure. We don’t expect to make a profit on snow plowing but we do it to keep our City going.Bus service is needed by riders of all ages, low income, and disabled. I led blind skiers at the Ski for Light. As we skied along, my skier explained that if the bus fares are not increased, the routes will be cut which would make it much harder for blind people to get to work and other places. The fares were increased and now the City is considering cutting bus stops. Perhaps the ones who are proposing cutting stops have not experienced a temporary or permanent disability. After an accident, I could not drive and walked with a walker. Walking half a block was very painful. We need to keep our basic services so our residents can continue to keep the jobs they have rather than requiring assistance.
Thanks for the update. I don’t know if I can make this meeting or not, but please pass along my concern that I think this is a bad idea especially for those who are elderly or disabled. This will make the bus less handy for people to take when we want more people to be taking the bus not less. I don’t think a slightly faster commute time for people who live outside the Isthmus is worth this change.
Here we go again more cuts. that makes for a long cold walk in the winter if you ask me. Especially if you are going to work. By the time you get there you are already freezing cold, now you have freezing cold and soaking wet by the time the snow melts off your clothing. (you do have to factor weather in there somewhere you would think) A lot of the passengers have to already walk a couple blocks more this way or a couple blocks more that way where buses no longer travel due to less stops and less stops in their neighborhoods.
In my opinion with the cost of bus fare the way it is then still having to walk forever to get where you would need to go, on top of that add on the bad weather rain snow and high humidity and needing to bring a change of clothes to change into if need be. I would have to say I will drive my car and save me the hassles of getting there by bus even though it is more expensive and less eco friendly.
While it is just a couple blocks all those blocks add up and sooner or later people that have vehicles will just start driving them again for the matter of convenience
Then you have older citizens you need to think about who cant walk those extra blocks. While this may sound harsh it is a fact that while the bus service provides a service to the community the community doesn’t have an obligation to use the service.
This is what I have noticed over the years. Prices keep going up for everything. Services keep going down and getting lesser and lesser.
In fairness, I also got two comments from able-bodied people saying that they would walk further. And one saying that if Wilmar was for it – it was ok, but we need shelters. I got several other messages as well, but I felt this was a good representation of the sentiment.
This really just seems like a bad idea. If they are going to do it, they need to get feedback from the users of the bus stops and give them fair warning. If there are enough people using a stop to put in a shelter, its seems absurd to then eliminate that same shelter. And when the shelters are located near services – the Yahara House also gets served by one of these stops – that seems wrong to remove these stops as well.
I’m afraid, this is something the staff will just do, but I think they need to hear from you! mymetrobus@cityofmadison.com or 266-4466 or comment here.
