Yesterday the Joint Finance Committee took up Amendment 431 to the State Budget. This amendment, also known as the Transportation Omnibus, closed the $63 million deficit for 2015 and included some benefits to transit riders:

• 4% of the 10% annual cut in State transit aid has been restored.
• Transit will still be removed from the transportation fund in 2015, but only for a one year period.

What the second point means remains to be seen. Keep reaching out to your elected officials and let them know how important transit is!

Other details of the transportation omnibus:

• Delay $14 million in spending on the Zoo Interchange until the 2015-2017 budget.
• Delay $19 million in spending on the Ryan Road/I-94 exit until the 2015-2017 budget.
• Cut $12 million from repairing State highways.
• Cut $10 million from the Hoan Bridge project.
• Cut $7.3 million in major highway development funding.
• Cut $2.5 million from routine highway maintenance.
• Shift $900,000 from an air quality program to one for repairing highways.

Not able to make the official budget hearings, but you still want to weigh in? No problem, the Joint Finance Committee is accepting written input on the budget. Be sure to email your comments to BudgetComments@legis.wisconsin.gov.

More detailed contact information can be found here.

The cutoff for inclusion in the official record is today, April 30, 2013 at 5:00pm, so the sooner you send in your comments, the better. You can still submit budget comments after that date up to the point where the legislature is through considering the budget, however those comments will not be part of the Record of Committee Proceedings (ROCP), a report that is distributed to legislators.

Milwaukee County Transit System managing director Lloyd Grant is resigning. Grant will be leaving May 1, 2013.

This comes after a few questionable decisions from MCTS, such as arranging for fareboxes that don’t produce transfers, stonewalling low income and youth bus passes and overlooking an error on a bid that prompted an emergency contract for TransitPLUS service.

Grant will be succeeded by deputy manager Mike Giugno.

The Milwaukee Transit Riders Union is looking forward to new leadership of the bus system and optimistic as to what this will mean for Milwaukee bus riders.

Milwaukee County officials have announced today that they will seek bids for management of the transit system. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel story)

The Milwaukee County Transit System is partially privatized. Milwaukee County government owns the buses and buildings and sets policy like fares and routes. The actual day-to-day managing, community relations and planning is done by a private company; Milwaukee Transport Services, Inc.

Milwaukee Transport Services, Inc. (MTS) has been managing the transit system since 1975. They have their own set of positives and negatives; on the plus side they are a not-for-profit and as a result they are not profit-driven to provide the least amount of service for the highest cost. On the down side they are not as open and transparent as they should be, which presents serious questions about their accountability. They have also been very reluctant to embrace innovations that make riding the bus more pleasant and attract new riders.

We will be discussing this issue in depth as an organization to find out what can be done as part of the contract process to make bus riders’ experiences better. For instance, the county can add performance measures to the contract that mandate improvements to attract new riders and help transit dependent riders.

Gov. Scott Walker has released his recommended budget. Unfortunately, he ignored all of the recommendations of the Transportation Finance and Policy Commission in his transportation budget.

The transportation budget

• Does not restore the 10% cut from the previous budget
• Transit funding remains flat for the entire biennium
• Moves transit out of the transportation fund in 2015 at the same time that $55 million in new funds is moved to the transportation fund
• Does not establish Regional Transportation Authorities
• UPDATE Gov. Walker has announced that he intends to borrow $1 billion for freeway construction. His recommendations on funding transit remain unchanged.

Cuts not restored
Transit aid from the state was cut 10% across the board in the previous state budget, resulting in cuts to bus service across the state. Milwaukee was able to avoid most cuts with funds that expire in early 2014. The Transportation Commission recommended reversing the cut and restoring the money taken from transit, but that recommendation has been ignored.

Transit funding will remain flat
State money to local transit systems will be frozen at 2012 levels. Since the cost of running buses increases with inflation like everything else, this is actually a service cut.

Moving transit out of the transportation fund
This is the biggest danger of the budget. If transit is moved out of the transportation fund it will be pitted against other crucial programs like education in the General (GPR) fund where it will be cut year after year. This is the same problem that Milwaukee County has, where transit service has declined 20% since 2000.

Transit IS transportation and it belongs in the transportation fund, not the overburdened general fund. Bus riders deserve the same treatment and consideration that drivers get, not a budget that marginalizes them.

No regional transportation authorities
One of the key recommendations of the Transportation Finance and Policy Commission was to create regional transportation authorities (RTAs) to fund buses and roads. These RTAs were to raise money and spend 75% of it on transit and 25% of it on roads. As with other common-sense recommendations of the Commission that would have raised the standing of bus riders in Wisconsin, this recommendation has been ignored.

An RTA would potentially have had a positive effect on the Milwaukee area, which is the most segregated major metro area in the nation according to the Census Bureau.

UPDATE $1 billion for freeway megaprojects, $0 for bus riders
Gov. Walker has announced plans to borrow $1 billion for freeway construction. This is a surprise to bus riders, who have been told that restoring $9.3 million to transit service annually is too expensive.

Summary
This budget is a step backwards for transit, economic justice, environmental justice and sustainability in Wisconsin. We need our leaders to show vision and push for a 21st century transportation network in Wisconsin.

Download flyer

Starting April 6, 2013; the Milwaukee Transit Riders Union will be having it’s monthly meetings at 10:00am.

We are making this change to ensure that we have wheelchair accessible space for our meetings.

Starting with the next meeting people should enter through the parking lot door on the south side of the building. Please do not try to enter through the front door, it will be locked. This is because we will be using the rear hall for all of our meetings.

There are no other changes to our meetings. We will continue to meet on the first Saturday of each month and meet at the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 Hall.

For more information, see the flyer detailing these changes, and the meetings page on our site.