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March 3, 2011 by

Walker’s budget guts transit

Governor Scott Walker released his 2011-2013 State Budget yesterday. This budget reduces State funding for transit systems by 10% for each transit system. For the Milwaukee County Transit System, this is $7 million dollars. In addition to cuting transit funding, Walker is removing it from the State’s transportation fund, which is funded by gas taxes, to the State’s General Purpose fund – meaning that transit funding at the State level will be just as unstable as it is in Milwaukee County. This comes at the same time that millions of extra dollars are being put into the Transportation fund to speed up unnecessary highway expansion projects.

State funds account for 42% of the Milwaukee County Transit System’s operating budget. At a time when MCTS has been stretched to the brink due to a lack of dedicated funding source, this will result in devastating service cuts. “Service cuts and fare increases are always our last resort,” stated Anita Gulotta-Connelly, MCTS Managing Director, “but with the reduction in State funding and rapidly escalating fuel prices, difficult decisions will be necessary.”

“This $7 million cut in State operating assistance, if approved, could force the County to raise bus fares and eliminate all Freeway Flyers (including service to Summerfest and State Fair), late night and early morning service, and numerous route segments. A reduction in paratransit services would remove transit access for individuals with disabilities in Milwaukee County’s southern suburbs and north shore communities,” Milwaukee County Board Chairman Lee Holloway said. “We’ve been asking for dedicated funding for years. After serving as County Executive for more than eight years, Governor Walker is well aware of this need. But, instead of protecting mass transit in the transportation fund, he is removing it. Mass transit is a form of transportation, so why can’t it be protected, too?”

These cuts will have a tremendous effect on people in Milwaukee County, whether they ride the bus or not. As with other cuts, there will be a negative effect on the local economy.  “We’re losing our ability to connect workers with jobs,” Chairman Holloway added. “If the business community still supports transit, then it’s time for our business leaders to meet with the Governor and Legislative leaders to inform them of the important role transit plays in the transportation and economic infrastructure of this region.”

Whether you are a business leader or not, you should contact your legislator and/or Governor Walker and tell them to sustain transit funding and keep it in the transportation fund.

You can find your State Senator’s contact information at http://legis.wisconsin.gov/w3asp/contact/legislatorslist.aspx?house=senate.

You can find your State Representative’s contact information at: http://legis.wisconsin.gov/W3asp/contact/legislatorslist.aspx?house=assembly.

You can find Governor Walker’s contact information at: http://walker.wi.gov/.

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February 25, 2011 by

Budget Repair Bill will destabilize transit statewide

A controversial bill was promulgated 11 days ago in the Wisconsin State Legislature that would permanently eliminate collective bargaining rights for state employees, authorize no-bid sell offs of state utilities and jeopardize BadgerCare.

The bill, known as AB-11 The Budget Repair Bill, will also cost the state $46.6 million in Federal transit aid. Under Federal law, if collective bargaining rights are eliminated Federal transit aid to that system is eliminated.

Even though Milwaukee County Transit System drivers are private employees and would retain bargaining unit status, this loss of $46.6 million would likely result in ALL transit systems losing some funds from the state to make up the difference. This would be IN ADDITION to any funding cuts from the 2011-13 state budget.

This bill was rushed through the Assembly late last night. It is still awaiting approval from the Senate, which is unable to reach a quorum. This bill will be a disaster for transit riders, drivers and others if passed.

For additional information regarding this bill, or to find contact information for your State Senator, visit http://legis.wisconsin.gov.

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February 13, 2011 by

Fact-checking Abele on transit

Milwaukee County Executive Candidate Chris Abele has largely avoided making definite statements on what he would like to do if Milwaukee County voters give him the opportunity to serve as County Executive, but he has emerged as hostile towards fixing Milwaukee County Transit System funding.

Abele has said “Tax increases are the first instinct of career politicians.”, although this solution did not come from a career politician. The transit sales tax was passed in 2008  by a grassroots effort known as the Quality of Life Alliance. The Milwaukee Transit Riders Union was a member of the Alliance, which pooled the resources of member groups to publicize and educate the public about the referendum and how it would save vital services (transit, parks, emergency medical services) while cutting property taxes. The referendum was to shift these services from being funded from the property tax to being funded by a sales tax. The property tax levy was to be cut by the same amount, so this wasn’t a tax increase either. The referendum was passed by Milwaukee County voters.

Abele wen further to say that instead of a dedicated funding source, the Milwaukee County Transit System needed to be run more efficiently. We believe firmly in an efficiently run transit system, but as long as the funding mechanism is broken the bus system will not be able to be run effecively. Milwaukee has the last major transit system in America still funded by property taxes. Other cities stop using property taxes to fund public transit decades ago.

Abele’s claims that increased efficiency are a substitute for a stable funding source are disingenuous. The 2011 transit budget is $150 million. Any cuts from MCTS management and clerical services and staffing would be minimal. In fact, the Milwaukee County Transit System has the lowest percentage of administration employees of all of it’s peer transit systems. MCTS also has one of the nation’s highest farebox return ratios in the country, meaning that fares fund a larger share of the budget than most other transit systems. The Public Policy Forum has the following to say about the efficiency of the Milwaukee County Transit System:

The cost effectiveness of MCTS buses was best among peer systems in 2006 based on data
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration,
indicating that further cost savings due to efficiency improvements may be limited.

The Milwaukee County Transit System is a vital service to the community and we need real solutions to it’s funding problems rather than such blatant political posturing.

Reminder:
There will be a primary election for Milwaukee County Executive on Tuesday February 15, 2011. For any additional information call the Milwaukee Election Commission at (414) 286-VOTE.

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February 12, 2011 by

MCTS to split up Route 23

Since December 2010, the Milwaukee County Transit System has been proposing splitting up Route 23 Fond du Lac Avenue on the northwest side. This plan has been finalized by the Milwaukee County Board’s Transportation, Public Works and Transit Committee and will proceed on March 27, 2011.

The plan calls for turning the segments of Route 23 that serve northwest side industrial parks into a new Route 223. The segments were created in 2004 when Route 101 Silver Mill-Park Place Shuttle and Route 102 West Loop Shuttle were eliminated as a cost-cutting measure. The Mill Road Transit Center at 76th/Mill was also closed.

It seems strange that MCTS is taking a segment of existing service and branding it as a new route. According to an article about the change produced by the bus system the route is being ‘created’ to ‘serve businesses’. On the other hand, a report from the Managing Director of the bus system to the Transit committee says that the current Route 23 is hard to manage and requested the route.

The real threat here is that the full-service ends of this route, at Vincent High School and at 107th/Fond du Lac will be redesignated as Route 223 and be reduced to limited service. Scott Walker has attempted to eliminate these parts of Route 23 in the 2008 County Budget.

The 91st Street branch of Route 23 has full service up to Vincent High School at Granville/Calumet. The Mill Road branch has full service up to 107th/Fond du Lac, where a sizable, transit dependant residential district is.

Little has been released about the changes yet. We will publish updates soon.

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February 2, 2011 by

February 2, 2011 meeting cancelled

Due to the blizzard, the February 2 meeting has been cancelled. At the time of writing this the bus system is not operating and many streets are impassable.

UPDATE: MCTS bus service has been suspended for the remainder of today. Bus service will resume tomorrow February 3. More info at the News section of the RideMCTS website.

There will be a special informal meeting on Saturday February 5, 2011 instead of this meeting. See this bulletin for more details. Stay safe!

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January 20, 2011 by

New study shows most expressway expansion in area is unnecessary

According to an article from today’s Journal-Sentinel, recent findings from the Texas Transportation Institute show Milwaukee as the 44th most traffic-congested city out of the top 50 largest American cities.

What does this mean?
It means the constant calls for expanded freeways are wasteful. Milwaukee’s freeways are some of the least congested in the nation. Aside from approximately 3 to 6 hours each weekday, Milwaukee’s freeways have no congestion whatsoever. At times, some are virtually empty.

At the same time as having some of the fastest freeways for suburban residents, Milwaukee has among the lowest level of transit service for it’s city dwellers. Unlike freeways, buses suffer from chronic overcrowding throughout the day. Billions of dollars have been pumped into expanding Milwaukee’s already sufficient freeways over the past decade, but the Milwaukee County Transit System has been consistently cut at the same time.

Other than being blatantly unfair, this drastic imbalance of funding priorities is bad policy. Milwaukee is the nation’s fourth poorest city. Milwaukee’s poverty rate has soared while transit has been slashed.

Where can we go from here?
We need to make sure that our tax dollars are being spent where they are needed, on transit. These decisions are made on the state level, and we will need to keep a close eye on the state legislature to make sure that they look out for our best interest instead of lobbyists for the road builders. This blog will be focusing covering the state as well as Milwaukee County and we’ll keep everyone posted.

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