Commuter rail? NO! 13 against, 4 in favor in WSJ Forum 8/23/07

The Wisconsin State Journal asked their readers if they "support commuter rail for Dane County" in Aug 19 paper. Here are the thirteen "NO" answers and I could not resist adding my own-even if it didn't get published. For the four in favor, please see the link above. Important: Please see Eileen Bruskewitz's Guest editorial here on "Why the Trolley is not dead" and a plea for a truly comphrehensive transportation study- not just a WE WANT A TRAIN!!! groupthink that is Transport 2020. Put train lovers together with car haters like County Exec. Kathleen Falk and Madison Mayor Dave and their appointees - politicians and urban planners who see private property rights as a threat, add in consultants* that consult on building commuter rail and those who will be building the project, provide public money, time, meeting space and Surprise! you get a unifed push to build commuter rail with a recommendation to raise taxes to do it. * The same consultants (Parsons Brinckerhoff) who gave Boston "the big hole" that tunnel in Boston that has run multiple times over budget and you wonder why citizens here are grasping their wallets and purses? Here are the letters against commuter rail from the primitive thinkers (as we were characterized by County Supervisor Matano and the cavemen - Supervisor Soebig.) County needs to expand bus service A common sense look at a Dane County map virtually screams: "expanded bus service i- yes; commuter rail - no. Commuter rail works well on the Eastern seaboard, where New York City, a huge job center, is flanked by a long, narrow corridor of high density suburbs. An average New Yorker's rail commute might run 40 or more miles, one way. In Dane County we are spread out, at fairly low density, in all directions around our lakes, and most people prefer to keep it that way. Buses are the obvious public transit solution here. I would support a regional transit authority with a focus on buses, especially electric hybrid buses. Hybrid buses average 30 percent to 40 percent better fuel economy than diesel buses, and since they accelerate using electric power, they cut typical diesel emissions by around 90 percent. Hybrid buses are still more expensive than their diesel counterparts, but since they are heavily used, even the present cost penalty is usually recouped, and then some, in fuel savings alone, during a bus's operating lifetime. Perhaps most important, federal money is available for buses, not just commuter rail. Bus money can come from the Department of Transportation, and for hybrid buses, also from the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. Responsible policy makers should have made the public aware of this a long time ago. - Tony Finch, Madison Commuter rail won't help traffic congestion Dane County doesn't need commuter rail. Other communities that have built rail systems continue to experience traffic congestion without experiencing greater economic growth than Wisconsin's fastest growing county. Those communities also have the burden of covering their systems' operating deficits, making them less competitive than ours. We are told that the Regional Transportation Authority will address the rail system costs with a half-cent sales tax. Dane County already has such a tax, used to build the jail. With the jail completed, how about using that tax to fund transportation improvements? Why invest additional taxing authority in an undefined RTA and the same group that shifted the "jail tax" to other purposes? On Sept. 1, our transportation corridors will be clogged as 70,000 badger fans head to Camp Randall, even though these fans will be car pooling and Metro Transit will be augmented with private sector buses. A week later, with the Badgers traveling, those fans will be watching from dispersed locations, causing no congestion. Large congregations of people are the cause of congestion. Why don't we follow the path less traveled and look to disperse our growth throughout the county, thus spreading the wealth and avoiding the congestion? - Bob Bucci, Fitchburg Time isn't right for commuter rail idea One day, perhaps, rail will be needed, but presently, no. The plan as presented takes care of Middleton, Sun Prairie and employees of the University of Wisconsin and University Hospitals. How will other communities be served and when? A plan to integrate the rest of Dane County hasn't been presented. Begging the question, has it been considered? Furthermore, nothing is being said as to how buses will integrate into this plan. We are being asked to buy into a Dane County rail plan, and the funding, without a comprehensive plan. As presented, we simply can't afford this idea. - Gari Berliot, Madison Let the voters decide this contentious issue Mayor Dave Cieslewicz says the RTA will enhance life in Madison, but at what cost? The estimate for this rail service is $250 million, but it's wise to multiply estimates by four for the real cost. It could be $1 billion. And what about the cost during construction? University Avenue is a main artery and major retail strip in Madison. How much business will be lost when it's torn up constructing the route? How many small business's will suffer or close? Madison is already getting a reputation as a city that does not want small business. Cieslewicz may be choo-choo crazy, but something this important should be put to the voters in a referendum. Let the people of Madison vote yes or no for the RTA. - Michyle Glen, Columbus Madison continues to wage war on cars Since a couple of mayors and decades ago, Madison has waged war on cars in the city. This time around with the RTA, the nanny-city and controlling county might be about to succeed. Imagine paying hundreds of dollars more in property taxes for a train you'll never use. But even worse, imagine being slowed down on your daily trip to the inner city because trains have the right of way. How will you react when you see passengers from out of town co-opting that right of way, and trains as empty as the buses that already roll over most of the city? Won't you be tempted to move outside the county to avoid RTA taxes so that you can put your money into your personal choice - your car? Tell that to your city and county representatives before they effectively take away your choice. - Bill Fetzner, Madison Derail commuter train idea for Dane County I would like to see commuter rail for Dane County derailed. A more immediate solution to the commuter problems in Dane County would be to expand the present bus services to outlying areas and increase services within the city. It would not take a multi-million dollar sales tax increase to accomplish that. - Linda E. Gerke, Madison Taxpayers railroaded into transit authority First, thanks to those Dane County Board supervisors who took the time to write back expressing their views on the RTA. It's reassuring to know that some of you listen and do not simply vote for a pre-planned political agenda. I oppose the RTA not because I may be against commuter rail, but because I feel we as taxpayers are being railroaded into it. I would like to know: Is it true the Transit 2020 Committee was made up of mostly pro-rail members? Is it true that the Madison trolley is imbedded in the 2020 plan? What would be the effect on the Beltline and University Avenue if there was a North Beltline? Why not test the light rail proposal by putting an express bus on the same route. The bus fare could be 50 percent of the rail fare. Give it six months, then discuss the need for a $250 million project. Questions like these must be answered so citizens who do not simply vote for pre-planned political agendas can make informed decisions. - Russ Frank, Madison Bus and road options cost less, work better I don't want an increase in our sales taxes for the proposed commuter train system recently passed by the Dane County Board. There is no need for a train system in this county when the problem of transportation could be solved with a better bus system or a north or south bypass. This would be a more economical alternative than an expensive train system. Why would the County Board choose an expensive alternative that only 1 percent to 5 percent of the Dane County population would actually use, versus a less expensive plan that 90 percent or more of the population would use? Write your representatives in opposition to the RTA, commuter rail and the large sales tax increase. - Bill McDonald, Middleton Madison, Dane County priorities out of order The city and county need to get their ducks in a row before they are given the opportunity to start taxing $42 million a year for commuter rail. Show the taxpayers they can handle the taxes they are taking now before they ask for more. How? First, they need to get their priorities in order. Give the police the tools they need so every neighborhood is safe before they consider bringing commuter rail to Madison. Then consider the county taking over Metro Transit and expanding it to serve all the communities that have a need for the service, include using vans and contracting out. Consider road construction that will divert traffic around Madison. Once ridership is established, do a cost effectiveness evaluation of a rail system. If it is determined that a rail system is needed and will have users, address all the taxpayers' concerns, lay out the phases of the planned RTA and how its board will be selected. Meanwhile, continue to plan ahead and take into consideration the rail system when planning new developments. Call it the Dane County Transportation Network until other counties hook up, then go for the RTA. - Dorothy Borchardt, Madison, former City Council member Don't tax Oregon for Madison transit plan As residents of Oregon, we think the Regional Transportation Authority is an unjust taxation area for those living outside of areas requiring mass transit. Mass transport should be supported financially by those in that area. Taxation of the entire county to primarily support any rail or trolley system is not justified. In any case, a bus system is much more economical and feasible. - James and Ann Hillestad, Oregon Please, no more taxes The proposal for light rail between Middleton and Sun Prairie is too expensive and will serve far too few people to be economical. My preference would be to extend Interstates 39/90/94 to Highway 12 in Middleton, thereby creating a loop around Madison to provide an alternative to the South Beltline and provide a safer route from the Northeast Side of Madison to Middleton than the current Highway 113 to County M to County Q. I can remember the opposition years ago to building the Beltline through the marsh and for re-constructing Broadway. Can you imagine how congested Broadway would now be if we had gone that route? Let's do it right and build a north highway route, let traffic flow un-impeded and let travelers drive safely with off- and on-ramps, not stoplights and cross traffic. A look at a map of the U.S. shows that most larger cities are surrounded by a highway loop allowing for efficient and time-saving routes, not a hodge-podge of partial highways, light rail, park and rides, etc. The people of Dane County do not want the added taxes that this light rail will incur just to serve a few individuals. We already have a bus system that is working, is flexible and allows for adjustments to accommodate changes in demographics in and around the Madison area. Please, no more taxes. No expensive, inflexible light rail. And no to the RTA. - Mike Cerro, Madison Reader doesn't trust mass transit planners There's bad news for those who ride the bus and like the convenience, price and efficiency. Transport 2020 and Regional Transit Authority people plan to remove the efficient Middleton-to-Madison bus line in favor of a feeder bus to the rail. To artificially boost the projected rail ridership numbers, the bus trip will "count" as commuter rail and make the ridiculously low rail numbers look better. In fact, after the train is in, any bus line that "competes" with the commuter rail will be converted to a feeder system to take riders to the train depot. No more near doorstep-to-workplace, 15 minute bus commutes for UW, Capitol or Downtown people. Now they'll take a bus, wait for the train, take the train and maybe take another bus to the final destination. That's a great example of efficiency in government. Why do they think people will use a more complex, expensive and time consuming mass transit than the present bus system? I think I'll start driving my car to work. - Bonnie Abrams, Middleton Bus transit upgrades make more sense When I was an engineering student in the 1950s, my co-op employer was GM's electromotive division, at that time the world's largest diesel-electric locomotive manufacturer. My lifetime interest in trains has included visits to several steam narrow-gage railroads, rail museums and other railroad attractions. In retirement, one of my hobbies is a garden railroad. I should be pro-commuter rail, right? I am not. To paraphrase the line from the baseball movie, "Field of Dreams," what if you build it and they don't come? We will then have millions of dollars invested in rail bed and rolling stock that will require a draw on taxpayers if ridership doesn't provide at least break-even revenue. A far more flexible solution is to expand the bus transit system, which can be rerouted to meet changing needs without laying down new tracks. - Ron Tilley, Madison I'm fudging it here- I submitted the letter below but it didn't make it in. Myths about trains, trolleys and traffic congestion I attended last Thursday's County Board meeting and heard several myths about trains and traffic congestion repeated by the proponents of commuter rail. The 2006 book, “The Road More Traveled" Why the Congestion Crisis matters more than you think… by TED Balaker, Sam Staley has facts on better mobility in Dane County. My review on Amazon.com is here. Myth: Americans are addicted to driving. Not Addicted, just smart. The car is a better tool than public transportation. Office workers avoid typewriters for computers to accomplish tasks faster, more efficiently. Same with cars to transit. 96% of commuters use cars, less than 2% use transit. Myth: Key factor for commuting by transit or car is gas prices. NO. Key factor is Wealth. Wealthier people around the world choose the convenience, comfort, efficiency, flexibility, freedom, privacy, safety and advanced technology, advantages of driving themselves. 80% of poor people also use cars to commute - with 31% of America's poor owning two cars. Anti-Car policies make driving more miserable, cities less vital, exacerbate the ill effects of congestion, reduce mobility, lower the quality and standard of living. Myth: Public transit reduces congestion. False. Kathleen Falk, Mayor Dave made this statement at the June 28 press conference. Transport 2020 report says trains and trolleys will increase congestion at all crossings and not get drivers out of their cars.