After 40 years, Bus Rapid Transit has redefined Madison

BRT’s long-awaited debut this fall has helped streamline Madison’s public transportation system, but it’s taken a lot of planning to get to this point.

December 5, 2024 | 5:00am CST

Chris Phistry has lived his whole life in Wisconsin’s capital. When he began working on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus as a front desk agent at the Fluno Center five years ago, Phistry needed a way to commute into the city from his west side residence.

In Madison, the choice is clear: he takes the bus.

Five days a week, Phistry takes the bus to downtown, and in September, he began using the brand-new Bus Rapid Transit system.

“In the last 40 years, I've been paying attention to the bus system,” Phistry said. “I’ve seen it shift from a much wider coverage of the city to concentrating a lot more on the corridors that see the most service.”

BRT as a whole has been a growing movement in American cities, with cities like Madison receiving federal funding though the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and Small Starts Grants to implement and build their systems. Wisconsin’s capital city isn’t the first. The federal government has been funding BRT systems since the first lines debuted in Pittsburgh in the early 1980s. As of 2016, there were over 300 miles of BRT service in the U.S., according to the Federal Transit Administration.

Route A, the BRT line Phistry takes to and from work, services the east-west corridor of Madison, running just past I-90 on the east side to Junction Road on the west side. On Sept. 22, Madison Metro Transit launched the line, debuting a project over 40 years in the making.

In 2012, Metro Transit Capital Projects Manager Mike Cechvala and his colleagues at the Greater Madison Metropolitan Planning Organization drew the first map of the BRT system, running through the same east-west corridor that Phristry and other commuters use every day. The city formally applied for a federal grant to fund the project in 2017 when Cechvala was working for Metro Transit, he told The Daily Cardinal.

After a $107 million investment in 2022, Madison received a $110.6 million construction grant for the project from the FTA in 2023. The Biden administration announced plans to allocate an additional $118.1 million in funding to Madison’s proposed second BRT line, running through the city’s north-south corridor, which is expected to open in 2028, Cechvala said.

‘A generational improvement’

Construction for Madison’s initial BRT project began in 2022 and was divided into three contracts: early works, main body and widen sidewalk. Cechvala said much of the construction dedicated to the new stations, bus lanes and infrastructure was part of the main body project.

As part of the BRT system, Metro Transit implemented several new features for the ease of travel, streamlining of transit and sustainability efforts. On the roads, passengers can expect to see a few changes, including new stations and bus-designated lanes painted red.

There were 31 new stations constructed for the BRT, according to Cechvala. Stations are equipped with benches, heaters and overhead covering. Each contains a farebox where riders can reload their cards with cash, and real time tracking to give minute-by-minute updates on when passengers can expect the buses to arrive. They’re also raised off the ground, allowing for easier accessibility on and off the bus.

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“I think [the stations] are super nice,” Jack, a graduate student at UW-Madison, said. “I haven't used the heater yet, [but] I'm sure I'll appreciate [it] when it's zero degrees.”

Cechvala said the new stations offer good infrastructure and services that are simply easier to use.

“If you see a bus stop sign on the side of the street, I think to most people, they look at that and it's just kind of invisible,” Cechvala said. “If you see the BRT stations and see the real time signs, it kind of feels [easier]. It's respectful to people who ride the bus.”

Jack has noticed the bus-only lanes have allowed buses to bypass traffic during particularly busy times of the day, such as weekday rush hour. Jack, who lives near the UW-Health University Hospital, has made Route A, which runs down University Avenue westbound, his main mode of transportation.

Madison’s BRT also debuted their new fleet of electric buses purchased from New Flyer, Cechvala said. The electric buses will work on Route A and service some of campus buses like Route 80. The buses will be charged on the opposite ends of the line, but also are capable of en route charging, allowing them to run throughout the day, he said.

The buses are also a crucial part of cooperation between the city of Madison and UW-Madison, with the latter assisting with the purchase of the buses, according to UW-Madison Transportation Services.

A spokesperson for UW-Madison Transportation Services told the Cardinal that although the project predated Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin’s sustainability initiatives, the project will be a crucial part of her goals and help accelerate sustainable progress.

Metro Transit will spend the next few months improving the service of Route A before turning their attention to Route B, Cechvala said.

For Phistry, Jack and the thousands of others will use the BRT, the next months and years will determine the success of the new line.

“This is a generational improvement,” Cechvala said. “We really hope that this investment pays off, and we're really excited about BRT and glad that people are using it.”

After 40 years, Bus Rapid Transit has redefined Madison

BRT’s long-awaited debut this fall has helped streamline Madison’s public transportation system, but it’s taken a lot of planning to get to this point.

By John Ernst