I think it's also important to note in transportation funding discussions how much money people spend now on automobile transpiration.
A recent figure of commute miles in Dane Co. is about 13 million miles per day. (I'm not sure if that includes shopping miles, too.) At a lower end estimate from AAA recently of $.39 per mile to own and operate a car, people in Dane Co. are spending $5 million PER DAY driving around. (That equals $1 BILLION DOLLARS for the average 200 work days per year...) Many of those people could experience a significant net savings by using public transit, a wider bike system with covered parking, or other means of getting around. Public and private costs for treating asthma and other pollution-caused ailments would also decrease. Unfortunately, the estimated capacity of 6,000 trips per day on a Middleton-East Towne beginner rail route would not produce any measurable public health benefit. About 10 years ago the ridership estimate was 17,000 per day. I could not find anyone at the last 2020 public workshop who knows why the capacity goal has been lowered. Jeff Schimpff Bureau of Science Services Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources "Bus, Bike, Walk or Carpool to Work for Clean Air for Kids" (*) phone: (608) 267- 7853 (*) fax: (608) 267-5231 (*) e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 2:40 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [Bikies] Action Alert! (Dane Co. Bike Funding) and furthermore. Dave Trowbridge's powerpoint presentation includes this excellent slide comparing the cost of Transport 2020 to the cost of various highway projects, real or imaginary, around the Madison area. Note that somehow this comes up as a two slide powerpoint presentation, with the first slide being blank. Al > Bikies, > > If the amount of fuss we caused at the State level is any indication, a > lot of you care deeply about finding for bicycling. It turns out there > is a great opportunity to voice your support for bicycle funding right > here in Dane County. > > Here is how you can help: > > 1) E-mail your county supervisors in support of the Regional Transit > Authority proposal. http://www.countyofdane.com/coboard/supervisors.asp > > 2) Make an appointment for Thursday, August 16th at 7:00pm to attend the > Dane county supervisors meeting. > > 3) Reply to this e-mail if you plan to attend. I will put together some > useful background information for people who wish to speak at the County > Supervisors meeting. If you have web links to good sources for > background, please share them! > > 4) Keep September 4th open - that's the Madison City Council Meeting on > the same topic. > > > You can read some details at the 1000 Friends of Wisconsin Web Site: > > http://www.1kfriends.org/ > > > Basically, the Regional Transit Authority (or RTA) that is being talked > about will add a 0.5% to the local sales tax, and dedicate a portion to > funding bicycling projects. Given the reluctance at the State level to > fully fund bicycling according to federal recommendations, the RTA and > the tax are sorely needed. Yet, some anti-rail/anti-bike forces are > starting to rally against the RTA. The RTA plan as I read it really > helps everybody and it would be a shame to let the anti-smart > transportation folks win the argument. > > Thanks to all! > > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
