SUMMARY:
-Pitting Neighborhood Against Neighborhood
-4th most productive route cannibalized
-Punishing success
-Living on Principal
-GO TO THE MEETING AT 5 PM TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CITY TRANSIT AND PARKING COMMISSION (5:00 P.M., MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2003, Conference Room 300, Madison Municipal Building 215 Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard)
************************************************************* DETAILS:
At tonight's CITY TRANSIT AND PARKING COMMISSION (5:00 P.M., MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2003; Conference Room 300, Madison Municipal Building 215 Martin Luther King, Jr., Boulevard), the fate of Bus Route #10 will be discussed, albeit in hush-hushed tones.
Agenda item E.2. states, "2. Executive Secretary Report - Miscellaneous Items a. Inclusionary zoning (memo and map enclosed) b. Route 10 (memo enclosed) c. Public hearing notice (enclosed)"
Nothing in that agenda item would alert the casual reader that the # 10 is being considered for elimination. And supposedly there is an upcoming public hearing on its elimination, but I could find no evidence of such a meeting on the city's website. I only came to this knowledge from casual background conversations with a couple of people intimately involved in transit issues. So, as you can see, city staff is still trying to keep the public ignorant of the fact that they are seriously considering the elimination of this route. They know the firestorm that will ensue once it becomes widely known.
In fact, the heat has already been felt. Apparently it has gotten so hot (despite attempts at stealth), that the Madison Metro chief put out a memo explaining their reasoning for the elimination of the #10. But don't expect to find this memo posted publicly on the website. Only the privileged few received it. Mine came from a shodowy eastside figure.
Here is an excerpt from the memo dated 9/10/03*:
"[1]Route 10 is a nice little route which we invented as a stopgap cure to the problem of bunching of buses in the Isthmus. [2] The route, which operates only during UW fall and winter sessions (i.e. 9 months of year) provides service between 9am and 3 pm (only) between UW and the Johnson St., Jenifer Street, and Bassett/Broome [sic] areas. [3] Ridership is good. [4] It is heavily used by folks going to/from the campus. [5] The route does not provide the 15 minute regularity in both directions for Johnson and Jennifer [sic] Streets afforded by the offset pulse concept...."
Later in the memo it goes on to say:
"[6]One of the major themes of people filling out surveys in the Southeast Quadrant survey was a consistent complaint about the fact that residents of the Southeast Quadrant had to transfer twice when going to the west campus area."
There was more, but I'm out of time. Now I'll address each sentence as indicated by the [] number:
[1] Yes, it is a nice route. Little it ain't. It is the 4th most productive route in the entire city, efficiently serving the most densely populated areas of the city; i.e., people who ride the bus in droves. (According to recent census numbers, 65% of the people living between Blair and Highland bus, bike, walk or carpool to work. Yeah, 65% don't use cars to get to work in the areas served by the #10. 65%!!!!!!!!!) It is a route that is very much in keeping with the mayor's vision of building a vibrant city from the inside out; transit being a key component thereof. As for the 'bunching of buses' (flocking), that is a self-inflicted problem. You might remember that transit riders were very engaged in the bus system revamp into the transfer point system. One of the points hammered on by dozens, if not hundreds of knowledgeable riders was the problem of bus flocking. City transit staff made it a point to ignore transit riders and went with their time honored, masochistic flocking system. Had they listened to us in the first place, the problem wouldn't be exist. In any case, a) transit riders are not opposed to the unflocking of the 3 & 4 and b) the 10 was not set up to address the flocking problem, it was set up to provide cross-isthmus connectivity and better student-->campus connectivity in an underserved, but transit-oriented area of the city. It has served these purposes quite well. So well, in fact, that it should be expanded, not eliminated (more later).
[2] Clearly the strategy of this memo is to minimize the importance of the 10 in any way possible. Yes, it "only" runs during the school year. That is a legacy of the old 9 month bus pass system and pre-free fac/staff bus passes. UW is now in an agreement w/Metro to provide free bus passes for students and fac/staff year round. (Hopefully, the students will bargain hard for a year round #10 in the next round of negotiations w/Metro.) Yes, the hours are limited to midday "(only)." Its function -- direct, fast, etc. -- is taken over by the #11 during rush hour. At the risk of sounding Kissingerian, my prediction is: If the #10 goes, the next domino to fall will be the #11 (you know, Cambodia, etc.....but I digress!).
[3] Indeed. The FOURTH MOST PRODUCTIVE ROUTE IN THE SYSTEM. Did I say it is the 4th most productive route in the system? The #10 is the 4th most productive route in the system. As a matter of fact, if you look at the numbers, it is the fourth most productive route in the system.
[4] So given this success, it should be eliminated?! Or, are we to read between the lines and see it as part of Metro's long-standing cultural bias against 'captive ridership' at the expense of 'choice riders'? In any case, student rush hour doesn't begin until just before 10 AM. The #10 serves this rush nicely. Though given the overloads it could use even *more* service, not the windy, twisty, tortuous, dead-ended one envisioned in the Basset/Broom segment of the #9 (the line that cannibalizes the #10).
[5] But it is so efficient the people out at the far ends of the line are willing to wait for the #10 over any other line. Why? Because if you take any other line, you are guaranteed to get hung up on the square for a minimum of 7 minutes (a rant that will have to wait for another day). This also explains why the #10 is packed before it even gets to the densest of student areas. The overloaded buses in the student areas, is one of the many excuses they use for cutting off the Atwood-Willy St. Corridor. Hence, we are being punished for successfully getting a lot of 'choice' riders out of their cars and onto the bus. The transit growth-oriented solution would be to add buses to the line rather than abolish it.
[6] My heart goes out to the folks in underserved parts of the city such as the southeast side. They should indeed advocate for better bus service, because they deserve it. But their service should not be at the expense of neighborhoods currently doing the right thing. To destroy a successful route like the 10 would be the proverbial shotgun blast to the foot. In the personal finance world it would be the equivalent of burning through the principal of one's retirement nest egg as opposed to living off the interest. In the home improvement world, it would be the equivalent to taking apart your living room in order to build an addition. Et Cetera, Et Cetera, Etc.
The upshot: The Beloved 10 not only serves the transit dependent 'captive' ridership, it attracts 'choice' riders by providing direct, fast and efficient transit service between key transit-oriented neighborhoods and major transit-oriented employment centers, all while providing inter-neighborhood connectivity. What more could you ask for?
Transit riders, if you can make it to tonight's meeting, I strongly suggest you do so. You should also contact your alder and all of the alders in my cc list. Districts 10 (Golden), 5 (Webber) and 2 (Konkel) are on the Transit & Parking Comm. By the time these things get to the public hearing stage, it is a much tougher (but not necessarily futile) fight. If you are expecting me to fight this fight, don't. I won't be able to make it tonight (prep for another commission meeting).
I'll conclude with this: If folks who use the #10 (and there are lots of you) don't turn out, you can expect it to be eliminated.
-Mike Barrett
P.s. Did I mention that Bus line #10 is the 4th most productive route in the system? It is!
*[] numbers are my additions. Apologies in advance for transcription errors. I didn't have much time to do this.
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