Tomorrow will be a dangerous day to breathe. That's what the
Wisconsin DNR has declared with an Ozone Action Day for Madison. The
DNR also says that getting more people out of the cars and onto transit
will help clear our air.
Tomorrow, Madison's Common Council can do its part to keep
Madison's air clean by rejecting Metro's short-sighted move to get
higher fares from fewer riders. According to Madison Metro's figures
some 122,349 people will no longer ride the bus if the proposed fare
increases are adopted.
Transit activists with the newly-formed Madison Area Bus
Advocates Alliance (MABAA) predict that many of these former riders
will get in cars instead. They predict more bad air days as a result.
MABAA volunteer, Michael Barrett said that "Metro's numbers
add up to fewer riders, more congested roads and dirtier air. When you
make mass transit over-priced, people start making hard decisions.
They'll get off the bus."
Lisa Subeck, who works with disadvantaged families in Madison
said, "If they support Metro's call to foist $800,000 of its deficit
onto riders, our alders will be voting for decreased access to transit
for struggling families. Metro is the first step in getting to a job
interview for many people. Raising fares raises the bar to getting into
decent jobs."
Barrett sees other ominous portents with this fare increase:
"If they pass the buck onto riders now, the council will also be
effectively sending a whopping bill to the taxpayers because increased
fares reduce ridership and reduced ridership decreases revenues. The
taxpayers will have to make up for that. And when the revenues don't
materialize, the council's next step will be to cut services, which is
yet another fare increase in disguise. The taxpayers will have to
make up for that too."
Barrett added, "If they really want to do something about spiraling
costs, they should look at the wasteful highway expansion budget of
City Engineering. Madison Metro can't keep up with that sprawl."
Tim Wong, longtime transportation activist and current member of the
city's Transit & Parking Commission, notes that the city plans to
spend nearly $18 million of local money for road expansion projects in
calendar year 2006. Wong notes that four projects alone--High Point
Road (4-laner between Midtown Rd. and Twinflower Drive--$850,000); Lien
Road (developing 4-laner, $730,000); Pleasant View Road (one mile at
$3.18 million); and Valley View Road ($1.65 million) account for over
$6.4 million in local spending. Wong adds,
"Is it really the view of the majority of the council that spending
$6.4 million on these roads most Madisonians have never even heard of
is worth twelve times more than saving Madison Metro from a
never-ending spiral of fare increases followed inevitably by service
cuts when the fare increases fail to generate additional revenue in the
long run? I would hope not."
Michael Jacob, who spent time last week speaking with more
than 300 bus riders about Metro's proposed fare increase, stated, "If
this fare increase passes, this administration and this council will
have voted to raise bus fares by over 44% over the last two years. In
an inflationary environment of 2.5% those are exorbitant increases.
There are plenty of ways to plug Metro's budget hole and we stand ready
to help the council do that. But they need to have that discussion with
us at budget time, not after sneaking through a
massive summertime increase onto riders."
The council will be voting on a resolution tomorrow night directing
Metro to move ahead with its massive increase or they will vote to give
themselves
the chance to weigh the value of Metro in the context of all other city
spending, including that for roads and parking structures.
Barrett noted that of 70 comments sent to the Transit &
Parking Commission, five favored the increase and 65 were against. He
added: "The numbers are clear: It's 13-1 against this increase. The
question is, will the council back its constituents and vote for long
term thinking and priority setting? Or will they take the easy way out
and send Metro further down its death spiral?
The Madison Area Bus Alliance encourages everyone to contact their
alders and the mayor to oppose this fare increase. Their contact
information can be found here:
http://www.cityofmadison.com/council/index.html. MABAA also encourages
people to turn out to tomorrow's Council meeting in the Council
Chambers, Rm. 201, City-County Bldg., 215 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd,
August 2, 2005.
People who want to testify on item #65, have to register to
speak at the beginning of the meeting--at 6:30-- even if the discussion
is not brought up until a long time after. The meeting will also be
televised on City Channel 12.