Before Governor Doyle signed the budget,
he vetoed the part of the provision establishing the Dane County Regional Transit Authority (RTA) that required a binding referendum on the tax to pay for it. Kind of a surprise there since the Dane County leadership has repeatedly said that they are going to hold a referendum no matter what.
Dane County leaders said they’re committed to letting voters decide whether to adopt a half-cent sales tax for regional transportation improvements — even though Gov. Jim Doyle vetoed a binding referendum on the tax.So the Governor vetoes the provision, but the net effect is going to be nothing if the referendum is held anyways. I'm not sure what the point of the veto was, unless it was a just a point of principal. In addition, the Governor also vetoed the provision that would allow some of the RTA money to be used on roads:
Doyle also vetoed language lawmakers agreed to that would have allowed Dane County to spend up to 25 percent of any sales tax generated by the RTA on roads.This one I actually like. RTA money should be used for RTA projects. We already have funding for highways and the like (at least when it doesn't get raided to pay for something else). As for the larger issue of the RTA, it's hard to say whether it's a good thing or not, since there isn't a solid proposal. It will likely include commuter rail and buses, and the rail line will probably go between at least downtown Madison and Middleton and somewhere east of the city (initially). But beyond that, it's all vapor. Who knows what it could be? Of course, this has not stopped the Dane County
Republican party from opposing it. How can you oppose something before you even know the proposal? Commuter rail has working examples all over the world. If there is a good proposal, it's worth supporting.
Commuter rail has a lot of potential to alleviate traffic congestion (we can't road build our way out of traffic jams, just look at LA), to drive commerce, and to provide a clean way of travel (clean air! Yay!).
But what would a good RTA plan look like? Here is what I think would make a good plan (regardless of the technology used to move people):1. It gets people where they want to go (work or entertainment): Yeah, I know, this is something very obvious; however, sometimes, I'm not convinced that this is always the case with Madison Metro. This is priority #1 for express buses or commuter rail.
2. Fast and reasonably priced: So if point 1 is addressed, the next step is to make sure it's fast and has a decent price for riding. These things are critical to the success of any transportation system.
3. It needs to fit in with other modes of transportation: It should go to the airport and it should hook into any area Amtrak stations.
4. It needs to have a commuter rail line that goes from Middleton to Downtown Madison to the Dane County Airport and to Sun Prairie: All these locations are critical for the first three points. This route integrates places people want to go, with other modes of transportation. The line can't stop in the Town of Burke (there could certainly be a stop there), but it needs to go all the way to Sun Prairie, because that is where the people are:
But Sun Prairie Mayor Joe Chase said the problem isn't the idea of the commuter rail. The problem, he said, is that it hasn't been well thought out. He said the stopping point would be two miles away from Sun Prairie in the town of Burke.
So once you get to the station, you' re still a bus, taxi or good old walk away from downtown Sun Prairie, Chase said.5. There needs to be strong oversight of the RTA. If we're going to spend the money and if it's going to be the next big transportation thing, there needs to be strong oversight from the RTA board. Any big project has the potential to fail, so there needs to be an account of what the RTA does and where and how the money is spent.
6. There needs to be something for the cities and towns outside of the initial commuter rail area. This needs to either be express bus lines or promises of future expansion of the rail line or both.
7. Security/Cleanliness: Something I really like about the Metro system in Washington, DC is how it's very clean. Eating on the subway carries a big fine and because it's located in the nation's capital, there is decent security too. Not sure what the fines should look like for littering or eating, or which law enforcement body should have authority (depends on the locale? The sheriff?), but it needs to be part of the plan.
8. No trolley: Seriously, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's trolley plan was/is a bad idea. It would detract from the Madison bus system, which already works well downtown. The trolley tracks would rip up the streets downtown, narrow the streets considerably and potentially interfere with bicycle traffic (just try getting over those rails). And it would cost a lot of money to do all the a fore mentioned things, none of which are very good. This idea, hopefully, is not going to be raised any time in the near future, but since it was a 'big thing' a little while ago, it bears mentioning that it is still a bad idea.
As previously stated, there isn't a plan ready right now. And fall of 2010 is the earliest there would be a referendum. But it's good to start thinking of the plan now. The Dane County Republican party certainly is.