Light Rail in Madison? (Milwaukee, Waukesha: crime, construction, live)

[Milwaukee City]

I think madison needs a website to help people get around without a car, I just looked at the bus system map and it seems like it goes every you would need to go in madison.

Milwaukee Without A Car -- Welcome!

[Milwaukee Jason]

Thank you remcycle, you clearly see the issue like I do!

[ryanj0]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

I think madison needs a website to help people get around without a car, I just looked at the bus system map and it seems like it goes every you would need to go in madison.

Milwaukee Without A Car -- Welcome!

True, such a website would be nice.. And you are correct, the Metro goes pretty much everywhere you would need to go in Madison, the problem isn't coverage the problem is time it takes to get there... Say you want to go from my old address 2843 Cimarron Trail, Madison WI, to the Dane County Airport. It would take almost 2 hours if not that or more... To do the same trip would be about a 20 minute drive (or less) so long as traffic is good.. That is my point, Madison is very "green" many people favor public transportation, they just don't want to add 4 hours to their work schedule just to take the bus... Light rail would be great but would need to cover the whole city..

[Milwaukee City]

Say you want to go from my old address 2843 Cimarron Trail, Madison WI, to the Dane County Airport. It would take almost 2 hours if not that or more... To do the same trip would be about a 20 minute drive (or less) so long as traffic is good.

Couldn't you just take a cab? it's only 12 miles. Granted everyday would get expensive, I'd just bike.

From where you last lived I doubt they would put a rail station right next to your house so you probably have to travel at least some to get to the station. Don't have they have airport bus fliers? I also would say Milwaukee is more progressive when it comes to transportation than Madison. Will all of our bus lines and regional dedicated bus service and a lot of county freeway flyers and the train down to chicago, the trial of passenger train in the western milwaukee suburbs that ran for a year, and all the current plans for some sort of light rail already planned they are just looking for funding at this point.

[ryanj0]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

Couldn't you just take a cab? it's only 12 miles. Granted everyday would get expensive, I'd just bike.

From where you last lived I doubt they would put a rail station right next to your house so you probably have to travel at least some to get to the station. Don't have they have airport bus fliers? I also would say Milwaukee is more progressive when it comes to transportation than Madison. Will all of our bus lines and regional dedicated bus service and a lot of county freeway flyers and the train down to chicago, the trial of passenger train in the western milwaukee suburbs that ran for a year, and all the current plans for some sort of light rail already planned they are just looking for funding at this point.

Oh no, I was not in the least saying that that was where I worked, I was just giving an example... Like you said, it's only 12 miles I do not consider 2 hours to go 12 miles in any transit system to be efficient... That's all I was saying.. And the west and north side are next to each other.. I realize a light rail would require you to go some distance, but it would beat the bus system.. I am glad I never worked at the airport, the commute would be horrendous..

[yoyobubba]

As a resident of Chicago and a former resident of both Milwaukee and Madison I find the obsession with some in Wisconsin over getting light rail to be, uhm, amusing at best? These cities just don't have the density, population, nor the traffic problems that cities with extensive light rail do. Oh, and the money too. A light rail system in Milwaukee would completely flop. Comparing Milwaukee to cities like Boston and Vancouver is also a joke. Minneapolis is also a completely different beast with MUCH worse traffic problems than Milwaukee. Hence light rail makes sense. In Milwaukee, it does not.

Hey, I LOVE Milwaukee with the best of them, but in order to get light rail you first need population growth and you need a traffic problem to deal with. Milwaukee has neither. I've lived in Milwaukee 10 years and used to commute in and out of downtown during rush hour. Just did so a couple times a few months ago too. Milwaukee's rush hour is LITERALLY like Chicago's traffic in the middle of the night. Driving in Milwaukee is like a dream come true. It has perhaps the best traffic in the country (I believe Texas Transportation Institute had it ranked almost dead last in congestion right by Cleveland and Buffalo).

I get the feeling that people that want light rail in Milwaukee just want it to be like a big city, and maybe they have some penis envy of Chicago. I know I did a little when I was in Milwaukee. But enjoy Milwaukee for what it is. I would trade your traffic for Chicago's entire EL system personally, any day of the week.

[Milwaukee City]

Hey, I LOVE Milwaukee with the best of them, but in order to get light rail you first need population growth and you need a traffic problem to deal with. Milwaukee has neither.

Wrong, Milwaukee's population has gone up!! 1.3% hey it's in the black.

Milwaukee's rush hour is LITERALLY like Chicago's traffic in the middle of the night.

Milwaukee's traffic is one of the best however it's nowhere near night time in Chicago at rush hour. I leave my house every morning at 8 and it takes me anywhere from 40min to 60min to work from downtown out to germantown. So there goes your Chicago ego trip.

[yoyobubba]

Originally Posted by Milwaukee City

Wrong, Milwaukee's population has gone up!! 1.3% hey it's in the black.

I realize most city populations are up this year due to the economy and less people moving out to higher job areas, which are in a lull right now. But one year of data does not a trend make. Milwaukee has been losing population for 30+ years now. Either way I'm talking about explosive sun-belt like population growth that makes traffic congestion a big problem like in places like Charlotte. Milwaukee has never had that and does not have that now.

Milwaukee's traffic is one of the best however it's nowhere near night time in Chicago at rush hour. I leave my house every morning at 8 and it takes me anywhere from 40min to 60min to work from downtown out to germantown. So there goes your Chicago ego trip.

Chicago ego trip? LOL. I was bashing Chicago.

I lived in Milwaukee for 10 years up until 2004. Almost my entire family is in Milwaukee and I have to sometimes go up there to do business. Milwaukee's rush hour traffic is like a dream come true coming from here or any of those cities cited that have light rail. It may not be like middle of the night Chicago but it is like middle of the day (noon hour), I was exaggerating a little for effect. You said it yourself, it's one of the best. That's a good thing.

[remcycle]

While I agree that it's silly to think about a light rail system in a town like Madison (oh come on! Madison???), I do agree with some of the comments regarding the bus system. I think the Madison bus system works really really well on the near west and southwest sides, and just horribly for the rest of town. That said, though, all I ever do is hop a bus at a transfer point or downtown, choosing to bike the rest of the way. Having biking be a way of life and not a hobby is one of the reasons I live in Madison at all as opposed to Milwaukee or the Twin Cities.

...and as far as regional busses go, we have a couple of options but nothing spectacular. The Van Galder will get you to Janesville, Beloit and Rockford before it hauls to Chicago. The Badger'll get you to Johnson Creek and Waukesha before ending in Milwaukee.

Honestly, I think if we could get that stupid Amtrak station out of Columbus and move it into Madison then pretty much every regional transit problem would be solved. From there we'd just need to re-draw the bus map and get some more bike paths on the East Side.

[ryanj0]

Originally Posted by remcycle

While I agree that it's silly to think about a light rail system in a town like Madison (oh come on! Madison???), I do agree with some of the comments regarding the bus system. I think the Madison bus system works really really well on the near west and southwest sides, and just horribly for the rest of town. That said, though, all I ever do is hop a bus at a transfer point or downtown, choosing to bike the rest of the way. Having biking be a way of life and not a hobby is one of the reasons I live in Madison at all as opposed to Milwaukee or the Twin Cities.

...and as far as regional busses go, we have a couple of options but nothing spectacular. The Van Galder will get you to Janesville, Beloit and Rockford before it hauls to Chicago. The Badger'll get you to Johnson Creek and Waukesha before ending in Milwaukee.

Honestly, I think if we could get that stupid Amtrak station out of Columbus and move it into Madison then pretty much every regional transit problem would be solved. From there we'd just need to re-draw the bus map and get some more bike paths on the East Side.

Alright, perhaps I will give you on the west side bus service is decent, I will not give you southwest side, as the 51 and 57, which serve a pretty big chunk of the southwest side only come, at best, once an hour. Allied gets great bus service, anything further southwest may have issues. But let's say you were right, there's no right or wrong in such an argument, it's all opinion.

Say the Southwest and West sides were run great by nearly everyone's standards, but, like you said the other sides (excluding downtown, which has great bus service, and for that reason shall be considered a side itself, Main and Carroll see more busses than the transfer points) were run horrible. That still makes an inefficiant and lacking system overall. Although I believe light rail may be a bit "extreme" for Madison, we need to do something to correct the poor public transportation overall.

You can't raise the rates and keep efficiency low, come on.. And I agree, moving the Columbus Amtrak to Madison would solve most of our tri state transportation problems. Hell, you could get to your job in Chicago quicker on Amtrak if it were in Madison than you could to your job in Madison by Metro, if on the other side of town...