Transport 2020, as stated on their web site, is “a study of transportation improvement alternatives for the Dane County/Greater Madison Metropolitan Area.” David Trowbridge, Transport 2020’s Project manager said that his organization was created about 10 years ago as a collaboration between the City of Madison, Dance County, Madison Metro, UW Madison and other interested parties for the purpose of evaluating commuter transportation in the greater Madison area. They are charged with looking at the overall current public commuter transit situation in the greater Madison area as well as determining what future transit needs will be and creating and presenting possible solutions. In addition, it will be up to Transport 2020 to suggest methods of funding the new transit plan and to oversee implementation.
The current study is centered on public commuter transportation in a 13 mile long railroad corridor running from Greenway Center in Middleton through the isthmus to Madison’s east side. Solutions such as commuter rail, commuter buses and park-and-ride lots are being considered to “address the problems and challenges facing transportation in the study area.” Transport 2020 will consider improvements in the transportation system as well as how those improvements will impact the availability of commuter transportation to the public not only in Madison but also the surrounding suburbs, the environment, the business climate in and around the corridor and overall cost and funding.
When Transport 2020 is mentioned, many people instantly think of Madison’s current hot-button issue – streetcars. However Transport 2020 and the Madison Streetcar Study are two separate studies. Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz’s streetcar project is being considered by Transport 2020 as one of the ‘Madison’ components of the bigger commuter transit picture and a few of the members of Transport 2020 including Trowbridge have been appointed to the mayor’s Streetcar Study but they are separate studies. In fact, one of Transport 2020’s big areas of study is diesel powered commuter rail running between the City of Madison and outlying communities like Sun Prairie, Middleton, Fitchburg, Verona, Stoughton and Waunakee which seems to go against Mayor Cieslewicz’s dream of electric street cars.
“There are existing, lightly used rail lines already extending to many of the communities,” says Trowbridge. Transport 2020 is trying to find ways to use the existing rail system when possible to reach those communities. Other plans include using express busses to outlying communities where no rail lines currently exist with the understanding that, as the area grows in population, rail lines will eventually be added and become part of the overall regional transit system. “Many regional transit systems [in other metro areas] started small and extensions came over time,” stated Trowbridge.
Once the study is complete in late spring of 2007 it will be up to Transport 2020’s Implementation Task Force (ITF) to put the plan in motion. ITF is made up of representatives of local community and government organizations including representatives from the University of Wisconsin Madison, the Governor’s office, Madison Metropolitan Planning Organization, a joint city and county appointee who is classified as a “transit dependent citizen”, the Mayor’s office, the Dane County Executive’s office, and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.
Certain citizens of the greater Madison area have been very vocal against the creation of a regional transit system citing the apparent lack of use of the existing metro system. Trowbridge stated that a proper regional transit system will actually increase Metro usership by bringing commuters into the Madison area where they will need to use the bus system to get around within the city. “It’s a myth that the bus system isn’t used” says Trowbridge. “Depending on when you look at [the bus system] it may be full or it may be empty” but that’s the way it is, he said. Just like the road and highway system, there are peak use times and low use times. “[Madison Metro] cuts routes down and cuts hours to reflect the changing needs of its services” according to Trowbridge.
The biggest question on many people’s mind is funding. Some of the options being considered are a tourism-related tax, an increase in fuel tax, a localized increase in property tax, a new wheel tax and an increase in sales tax.
Trowbridge estimates that “50% of the funding will be federal funds. The state may be a partner to help fund the rest and local financing may also be needed.” One of the methods of local funding currently being considered is an increase in sales tax. “We need [a funding source] that is fairly stable” and one that “we won’t have to keep going back and asking for increases” Trowbridge continued; “people don’t seem to blink when gas goes up. Why not have a nickel increase that goes to pay for transit?” At this point, however, since the solutions have not yet been finalized putting a price tag on them is virtually impossible.
Jennifer Alexander, president of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce says the businesses in Madison also see the need for a regional transport system. “The population in the area has increased by 60,000 in 10 years. That’s like adding [the population of] a Stoughton to the area and we don’t see any indication that the population growth will slow down. That really pushes our infrastructure and we need to be addressing that with an overall integrated plan.”
“…there’s discussion about commuter rail and discussion about streetcars but what businesses ask for is one integrated system,” said Alexander, a system that would bring commuters from the outlying areas to the city to work, play and most importantly support Madison area businesses.”
Transport 2020 is apparently on the right track, getting support from Madison, the suburbs, businesses and citizens alike. The only questions remaining are how commuter transportation in the greater Madison area will look in the years and decades to come and just how much we’ll have to pay for the convenience.
Check back next week for the second part of this two part series - The Lunacy of Transport 2020
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