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April 16, 2008 About 80 people jammed a basement meeting room at the City-County Building on Tuesday to speak out against proposed Metro Transit route changes. The public hearing before the Madison Transit and Parking Commission lasted four hours. Many of the speakers pointed out that proposed cuts disproportionately affect the poor, people with disabilities and those without any other method of transportation. Others complained that service at night and on weekends is poor to nonexistent. North-siders turned out in great number and were particularly vocal. "It's kind of like a class issue to me. A lot of these changes are in the low-income areas. We can't afford cars," said Benito Olivas, who lives in the Vera Court neighborhood on the city's north side and takes the No. 22 bus to his second-shift job at Webcrafters. The proposed changes would cut down on the frequency of the bus stops. Olivas also warned about cutting service on the 17 bus after 7 p.m. The route connects the north side to Woodman's grocery store on the east side. A lot of north side residents can't afford to do their grocery shopping on the north side, he said. "I strongly suggest you leave north side buses alone. We need them," he said to loud applause. Metro maintains the current proposals focus on improving the declining on-time performance and capacity due to recent service reductions. Service changes proposed for August are online at www.cityofmadison.com/metro. Bob Paolino, another north sider, lives 5 miles from downtown, but traveling there by bus can take 50 minutes or more, not counting waiting time. "This is an unacceptable standard of service," he said. Paolino noted that the city is trying to become a platinum bike city and wondered aloud why it couldn't become a platinum city for transit service. The mayor has spoken about his reluctance to increase the subsidy for Metro, Paolino said. "The subsidy? We don't use that kind of language in referring to other core city services," he said. "I never hear anyone speak of the subsidy to the Fire Department, Police Department or trash collection. Don't do it for transit either." Northside Planning Council co-chair Helen Marks Dicks said that, according to the 2000 census, north siders are 10 percent less likely to have a car than people in the rest of Madison. She called on the committee to keep the night schedule the same on routes 17, 20, 21 and 22. Metro staff need to know that the north side has an active night life, she said. A lot of people work second and third shifts and depend on the bus to take them to work. There are nighttime activities at the Warner Park Recreation Center, and the north side has expanded its library so it now offers evening hours, Dicks said. "We want our kids at Warner Park and at the library and we need the buses to get them there," she said. South side concerns Barbara Pietz, who lives in the Bay Creek neighborhood, was one of many voicing concern about proposed changes to Route 13, which would operate as a one-way loop south of Olin Avenue, cutting the frequency of service to the Goodman Pool and south branch library. "The city is putting a great deal of money into renovating the Villager Mall, including $2.7 million for a south branch library, and we wouldn't be able to take public transportation even though we live a mile away," Pietz said. She said she could take her two kids to the library, but would not be able to get home, depending on the time of day. Taylar Foster, 24, a UW-Madison graduate student, said she has ridden buses in Rome, Prague, Budapest, Amsterdam, San Francisco, Minnesota, Chicago and New York City with ease. "I've been trying to figure out this system for five years and still haven't gotten it," she said about Metro. Foster, who doesn't have a car, said she stopped working at one job because the bus took too long. She volunteers on the south side and grocery shops on the near east and far east sides. "It's really hard to live your life depending solely on the Madison bus system the way it is set up," she said. Ed Kuharski, 54, an architect at Marshall Erdman & Associates who lives on the near east side, started riding the bus to work four weeks ago and says it has changed his life. By taking the bus four days a week, he saves $1,600 a year, not to mention 1,400 pounds of carbon dioxide, he said. But his biggest delight is in the chance social interactions with people from all walks of life, he said. "It's going to cure racism. It's going to cure cancer," he said. After the meeting, Sharon Persich, planning manager for Metro, said she and members of the committee acknowledge the riders' difficulties with the plan, specifically, reductions on routes 22, 17 and 38. "Clearly, we will go back and rethink," she said. |