Bill Sell's pen name is dedicated to the grief of the children whom Socrates was convicted of ruining and for which he was ordered to drink the hemlock. Any resemblance to the goings on in the 21st century are purely intentional. Sell became a transportation maven during the study of a bicycle path on the Hoan Bridge (Milwaukee) and the inability of Wisconsin's Department of Transportation to dedicate space for bicycles after an exhaustive study proved its value and safety. He gave up his own car five winters ago.
BusStop – It's their own fault. The Common Council creates its own problem with Intermodal Station
Posted June 9th, 2008 by SocratesChildren
in
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, June 8, 2008
Civic, business leaders disagree over proposed restaurant for Amtrak station
Installing a restaurant at Milwaukee's new Intermodal Station does not need an argument about donuts. It needs people. The solution to this small town brouhaha is waiting for a question a bus rider would ask.
The question is: Why does only one minor bus route (#57) stop in front of Milwaukee's major transportation terminal?
About 10 nearby County bus routes bypass the new Milwaukee Intermodal Station. Only one of those routes stops in front.
Slight deviations in some of the other 9 routes will make Intermodal Station a practical destination, supporting dense development in the immediate area, and making arrival in Milwaukee by train a pleasure.
Where there are people there is a restaurant market.
This obvious solution to creating a restaurant market is people. Lots of people.
Too bad the Milwaukee Common Council did not understand this when it voted to sabotage the potential of Intermodal Station. Back on February 6, 2007, the Council voted to hold KRM (Kenosha Racine Milwaukee commuter rail proposal) hostage to a properly funded Milwaukee County Transit System.
While well intentioned, this kind of move points out the problem that governments have in the long haul for executing any plan. Defending of our buses is now popular. And our alders voted in a populist clamor to claim some kind of moral high ground.
The way to fund public transportation is to have a vision or goal for the system as a whole. If funding turns up to finance part of the vision, don't get smug. Take it. And keep your eye on the goal.
Pretending you're a defender of Transit, while undermining Transit's potential is just dumb.
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The Common Council
I am a bit baffled by your post. The real problem is Scott Walker, not the Common Council. The argument supported by the Common Council is ... that the RTA should have a funding mechanism to support the bus systems in Milwaukee County, Racine and Kenosha. This is an approach agreed upon by many transit advocates.
Your starting point about the bus routes has nothing to do with the Common Council, since Milwaukee County runs and (under) finances the bus system.
The obstacle to good mass transit and KRM is clearly Scott Walker. Walker apposes any taxes, so the RTA cannot raise money. No money no KRM. Read his posts on Sykes. He refuses to fund mass transit:
"The reality is that mass transit is for those who are transit dependent: people who need a ride because of income or health status. Its primary purpose is not to thrill people. Its primary purpose is to get people from one spot to another."
"Study after study shows that no matter how “exciting” rail is, the overwhelming majority of workers will stay in their vehicles and drive to work. So why spend millions and millions extra to move a percentage or two into mass transit?"
-- http://www.620wtmj.com/shows/charliesykes/19282834.html
Baloney!
Mind you that in fact more people will ride a train than a bus based on the same route, that trains are cheaper to operate than buses, and the high price of gas is causing record numbers of people to ride public transit nation wide. The exception to the rise in ridership is Milwaukee -- due to the poor management and funding of the system by Scott Walker. The biggest rise in ridership was on --- light rail -- up more than 10%. In fact if you amortize the cost of light rail line over a 30-year life, including the cost of the overhead wire and track, the savings in operating and maintenance costs make it cheaper than a bus line.
(Warning! Sarcasm!) Scott Walker's followers, led by his brain (Charlie Sykes,) don't believe in global warming and they think current oil prices are just a bubble. If we drill in ANWR and in the offshore places those hippie environmentalist keep us from, then gas will be cheap and we can go back to driving our gas-guzzlers up and down our newly expanded 1.9 billion dollar highway. (End sarcasm)
Our problem in Southeastern Wisconsin is a group of people incapable of developing pragmatic and realistic transit options because they have an irrational ideological viewpoint that runs counter to factual data, environmental science, and supply and demand economics.
So when the local economy collapses under $5.00/gallon gas when no one will drive anyplace and they have no alternatives ... remind them all … that we owe putting Southeastern Wisconsin into the toilet to the visionary efforts of Scott Walker, Charlie Sykes and Mark Belling.
Read http://www.vtpi.org/railcrit.pdf -- it gives a good counter argument to rail critiques and it shows the positive impact that rail can have on bus ridership.
BTW -- Walker and Sykes base their transit "facts" on the works of the same group of Cato institute fellows mentioned in the above PDF.
Council and Transit and Rail
Mr. Klein
The Common Council would get raves from me if it supported transit and rail. It is their position 'no transit no rail' that is short-sighted. I quote from the Daily Reporter: "Milwaukee aldermen urged their colleagues to take a stance opposing the transit authority's plan because it didn't commit any money to the Milwaukee County Transit System."
All of the pieces of public transportation need each other just as a house needs all of its walls. If we have to take a step at a time, let's take the step.
best
Bill
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"Let us put our minds together, and see what life we will make for our children."
---Tatanka-Iyotanka (Sitting Bull) --- Hunkpapa Lakota chief
So what would you have the Common Council to do?
I ask, 'cause I don't think 'no transit no rail' is a fair assessment of the Council's intent.
Common Council and transit
Supporting transit can take many forms. What the County Exec is not doing is showing any leadership on Transit. Some leadership could come by way of the simple act of riding the bus. We need to dig the Bus system out of its 'loser' profile and encourage riders of choice. Alders can ride the bus and draw attention to the bus riders, interview the riders, bring the press along. Lena Taylor did that and was a fantastic front of the bus speaker during her campaign.
Alders could be more supportive of the mayor's transit/rail proposal.
Generally, Why are there so many conflicting voices coming from friends of transit? This is a bad position to be in because the nay-sayers are ready (and do) shoot down each new proposal, one at a time. We should have the vision that includes a complete, modern public transportation system, and grab each victory that comes along. Otherwise we are all waiting for each other to make something work, and nothing is done.
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