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April 19, 2008 (4/19/2008 8:14 am) Dear Editor: Metro is going through its annual reorganization, again doing a two-step in which it tries to rectify past mistakes while cutting further into bone elsewhere. Metro is showing vision with enhancements to the No. 6 run, reinstating what used to be the No. 10-11 circulator, and providing better bus service to the airport, but it also continues to cut service elsewhere in a slow "death by a thousand cuts." Although good public transit is essential for economic development and our quality of life, Wisconsin's infrastructure and transportation tax system are broken. We need regional transit authorities that provide a dedicated source of funding for transit, and we need to give priority to improving and expanding our bus system. All Midwestern states except Wisconsin now enable RTAs. We need a state representative who acts on the belief that decent public transit is a matter of social justice, economic viability, public health and environmental sustainability. We need labor and business to make clear that public transit can not only benefit individual households but can also provide good-paying local jobs and can help the economy grow. Even if improvements in management and marketing could enhance Metro, there is no question that many of the cuts are the forced consequence of inadequate state funding and the need for a regional transit system. In the last number of years, we have seen the state's share of Metro's budget drop from 44 percent to 36 percent and the downward trend is set to continue. It is as if the myriad advantages of public transit have gone unrecognized. That has to change. We need a source of dedicated funding that can be used to improve and expand our bus system. The state needs to enable the existence of RTAs with taxing power. Susan De Vos Madison Area Bus Advocates In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. |