Please read, your help needed.
On Wednesday there is a public hearing on the bus route changes for this year. Usually what this means is cuts in service, but as usual, the information available is overwhelming and not always clear. This time, its actually kind of underwhelming as the maps are not available at the moment. From the brief 2 pager below it seems most of the changes eliminate early morning runs with low ridership, or cut service back when the UW isn’t in session, or eliminate services on some streets. I’m just a little worried because it seems that there hasn’t been much discussion about the changes and my “go to” person didn’t have immediate answers to my questions about who would be affected probably because of the lack of information. These changes are always a challenge to understand and only the bus riders who are affected notice the real changes. So, your help is needed to attend the meeting and check your bus routes and see if the changes are good or bad. One person speaking up in this case can really make a difference and it might also very personally impact your life, so if you ride the bus, please consider attending!
The public notice and brief description, which has been on the buses, is available here:
http://legistar.cityofmadison.com/attachments/de5b0053-a9af-4881-85da-ed46ab303e66.pdf
Here’s the agenda for Wednesday. The meeting starts at 5:00 but the public hearing is at 6:00 in room 260 of the Municipal (Post Office) building.
Normally maps of the route changes with details are available a few days before the public hearing, but they are not attached to the agenda. So, I really don’t know if there is cause for concern or not. I guess the only way to find out is to show up.
An additional item that may cause even more concern, is consideration of a move to add audio advertisements on buses. The WSJ has an article that may help you understand — http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/article_d0dd18c0-8ea3-11e0-81eb-001cc4c002e0.html. You can find more information out on the city website legistar. Look for the Transit and Parking Commission’s June 8 Agenda.
Talk about sneak previews. By publicizing the Public Hearing, attention is automatically diverted from this draconian measure.
The Madison Area Bus Advocates have a meeting tonight, and will probably agree on issuing a statement against such abuse (everyone welcome to the meeting at Madison’s Central Public Library Rm. 201 6-8 p.m.). Consider joining the group — http://www.busadvocates.org.