For those who live in cities served by public transit, this is the perfect time to make a commuting habit that could save you money and improve your health.

Morning commuters wait for the MARC and Amtrak trains in New Carrollton, Maryland.

Photographer: Linda Davidson / The Washington Post via Getty Images

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By Kendra Pierre-Louis

January 1, 2025 at 7:00 AM CST

New Year's resolutions tend to take on a certain flavor: Pay off debts, eat healthier, exercise more. But this year, city residents might consider mixing things up and embarking on a habit that would be better for the planet’s health as well as your own. It might even be more convenient. This New Year’s, consider pledging to take public transit.

Only 3.1% of US adults use public transportation to get to work, according to 2022 data from the Census Bureau, down from 5% in 2019. That year, almost 76% of Americans said they drove alone to work, a number that fell to 68.7% in 2022 as more people reported working from home. Among those who take transit, 70% were located in one of seven metropolitan areas — Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Washington, DC.

This heavy reliance on private vehicles comes with a steep cost — both personally and to the environment (not to mention the fiscal health of your local transit agency). The average US household spends $13,174 per year on transportation, more than 85% of which go to car payments, gas and other automotive expenses. Driving costs help make transportation the second-largest expenditure for Americans after housing, representing roughly 17% of household income. In the European Union, it’s only 11%.

Transportation also accounts for 28% of US greenhouse gas emissions, according to the US Environmental Protection Agency, with nearly 60% coming from cars, SUVs and pickup trucks. And while electric vehicles can help reduce that figure, research from the California Air Resources Board and others have found that switching to battery-power alone is not enough. To stave off the worst effects of climate change, fewer people need to be driving.

And yet getting more people in the US out of their cars has been difficult. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, transit ridership was falling in most US cities, with success stories such as Seattle’s expanding bus ridership standing out as a rare exception. Even nudges such as offering free fares have not substantially moved people from behind the steering wheel and onto trains, buses and light rail.

A big part of that problem is structural — lots of US communities simply don’t have good enough transit service. But even in cities with bus and train networks that are adequate for commuting, many people still opt to drive. For some of them, driving to work is just a habit, and habits are hard to break. Research has found that people will only change their commuting habits “when they’re starting a new job or when they’re moving,” says Ariella Kristal, a behavioral scientist and postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University. “But they’re not just going to, in the middle of daily life, change an entrenched habit.”

This is bad news not just for transit agencies, but for commuters themselves. One study led by Rababe Saadaoui, a doctoral candidate at Arizona State University, found that when people relied on cars for more than 50% of their daily activities, their life satisfaction declined.

“When you use your car, it provides benefits but up to a certain point,” said Saadaoui. “When you reach over-reliance on cars, we see a negative application between car dependence and their life satisfaction.” In other words, car usage has something of a Goldilocks effect — too much or too little and we’re left wanting.

Similarly, a transit commute might be some people’s best option — they just don’t know it. That’s because people rarely experiment with how they get around, due to a concept called “satisficing.” The word, a portmanteau of the words “satisfy” and “suffice,” was coined by the Nobel Prize-winning economist Herbert Simon. Simon’s work suggests that people often filter through every possible option and rapidly settle on one that is “good enough.” But many commutes could benefit from some experimentation, not least because of the digital navigation tools that are widely relied on to get around. The problem, notes Shaun Larcom, a lecturer in environmental economics and policy at the University of Cambridge, is these tools “often don’t take into account many of the elements associated with a good or pleasant journey.” They just prioritize speed.

When we plug a trip into our GPS, it might automatically pick the driving route as the fastest option, but it doesn’t consider how long it would take to find parking, for example, or how much that would cost. It also doesn’t weigh how we plan to spend our commuting time. Transit riders are free to read, nap, catch up on email, or do all manner of screen-based diversions and chores (plus, walking or cycling to stations provides some much-needed exercise). For those sitting behind the wheel, listening to music, podcasts or audiobooks is just about the only safe option, as attention and eyes need to be focused on the road.

In a recent Slate article, New York City teacher Jacqueline LeKachman confessed to loving her three-hour round-trip subway commute for giving her the space to not only decompress from work before entering a home full of roommates, but to also get writing done. She managed to pick up some editing work on the side that she only completes on the train — all things she’d struggled to do with a shorter commute.

None of this is an argument in favor of longer commutes — research has shown that typically longer commutes, especially by car, are associated with increased risks of everything from hypertension and diabetes to depression (although the risk seems to decline with non-driving commutes). It is, however, an argument in favor of transport experimentation, something that Larcom saw first-hand in a study that he co-authored looking at the impact of a February 2014 transit strike in London.

That year, workers on the London Underground went on strike for two days, shutting down some but not all Tube stations. The interruption forced residents to find creative ways to get to work, school and other destinations. It also enabled researchers to see how the strike shifted people’s routines. When the strike ended, while many people resumed their old routes, a sizable minority shifted their commutes — permanently.

“People didn't stick to their original routes because they found better ways to get to work,” said Larcom.

The trick was getting them to try a different route in the first place. Something like a New Year’s resolution might help with that.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-01-01/for-a-healthier-happier-2025-try-commuting-on-public-transit

See the attached flyer for more information!

2025 Transit Equity Days

In a Facebook post, Eau Claire Transit announced that from January 21-22, bus fares are waived due to the extreme cold. 

The post also highlighted that all of the busses are accessible, with the ability to "kneel" so that entrances are level with the curb. 

For more information about routes and schedules, click here. 

Transit ridership in the U.S. continues to rise, growing by more than 17 percent from 2022 to 2023, according to a recent report from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on transit trends.  

The report notes transit agencies provided 6.9 billion trips in 2023, an increase of 17.3 percent from 2022. Those same transit agencies moved passengers 35 billion miles, an increase of almost 17 percent from 2022. According to the report, with that year-over-year-growth, public transportation grew nearly twice as fast as domestic air travel between 2022 and 2023.  

"Our nation's public transportation systems continue to punch above their weight, providing billions of trips covering billions of miles for millions of people all across our nation," said FTA Deputy Administrator Veronica Vanterpool. "This report shows an upward trend in people using transit, which provides many benefits, including less time wasted in traffic, fewer carbon emissions and better air quality." 

The report notes public transportation is also a jobs generator, as in the past year, 10,000 new workers have entered the transit industry, and salaries have increased more than $1 billion. At the end of 2023, more than 388,000 people worked in public transportation, filling jobs in operations, maintenance and administration. 

According to the report, the growth rate for jobs in the transit industry exceeds other occupations. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of transit jobs grew by four percent while growth in all occupations across the country was two percent for the same period. 

FTA says the 2023 National Transit Summary and Trends report provides an annual snapshot of public transportation based on data submitted by 3,000 transit agencies to the National Transit Database (NTD). Reporting comes from federally supported transit systems, which report metrics regularly during the year for the report that comes out each fall.  

Congress established the NTD in 1974 to support local and state planning efforts. According to FTA, the transit data offers a window into travel trends, workforce data and transit system conditions. 

FTA notes the 3,000 transit providers operate all over the country, from large metropolitan regions to small urban places and rural areas. The report says that while most transit trips occur in large urban regions where transit helps manage traffic congestion and supports walkable communities, nearly a third of transit trips (28 percent) are taken in smaller urban and rural areas. 

According to the report, high-capacity transit systems like light rail and bus rapid transit (BRT) increased substantially between 2013 and 2023. Transit rail miles increased by 12 percent and miles traveled via BRT increased by 44 percent, the largest increase among transit modes, reflecting the introduction of several new BRT systems. 

The report notes that while transit is already an environmentally friendly way to travel, many of the U.S. transit providers are transitioning to greener propulsion systems, particularly for buses. The report, which also analyzes trends over the last decade, found that between 2013 and 2023, the number of zero-emission buses increased four-fold. 

The report also shows a significant increase in improving accessibility for people with disabilities. In 2023, nearly 84 percent of the U.S.’s transit stations were considered fully accessible per the Americans with Disabilities Act, which includes stations that feature modifications such as platforms for level boarding and ramps. The 84 percent is an increase of 4.6 percent during the past decade. 

https://www.masstransitmag.com/management/press-release/55259857/federal-transit-administration-fta-new-fta-report-shows-us-transit-ridership-on-the-rise

The Eau Claire Transit system will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, and with that milestone, the city is looking forward to expanding and improving the system during the next year.

By Angela Curio

Source The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis. (TNS)

The Eau Claire Transit system will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025, and with that milestone, the city is looking forward to expanding and improving the system during the next year.

Eau Claire Transit Manager Ty Fadness said that, while the current bus system was bought out by the Eau Claire Transportation Company in 1975, the city has some interesting history regarding public transit.

“Eau Claire was one of the first cities to adapt horse drawn trolleys,” he said. “It was actually the first to have heated trolleys using electricity in the entire nation. That was developed because of our climate. In the twenties, the trolley system started to decline and [was] replaced by car lines. Buses slowly came after that.”

In 1985, the city built what was supposed to be a temporary transfer center downtown which lasted until it was torn down to build the new transfer center, scheduled to open up this summer.

“So it’s kind of an exciting time not just because it’s the fiftieth anniversary but also because the new transfer center is opening which has been a long time coming,” said Fadness.

When the bus system was first put into place, it was operated using a flag system where people would call to have the bus pick them up at a specific location. Now the bus route has 550 stops and the city is looking to expand it by starting a year-long micro transfer pilot program.

“That is where there are smaller vehicles that will pick people up at their door and bring them anywhere within that zone or to the transfer center,” said Fadness.

He added that this service will be limited to a certain new zone in the city not currently easily accessible by the public transit system.

“The geography is interesting in that it’s relatively low in population density, but the people there are interested in transit,” he said. “There’s lots of zero- and one-car households and we think those people would use public transportation.”

Currently a fixed route wouldn’t optimally serve the people in that area of the city. Over time, he said, the hope is that they’ll learn to make things more efficient and see if this pilot program is something the city will continue to pursue in the long term.

Fares for this new program will be the same as other transit fare prices.

In the meantime, the city is also hoping to find ways to provide free fares for K through 12th grade students and Veterans.

Other efforts are underway to help discover ways to improve the system and increase ridership.

“We’re going to be doing community meetings this spring to meet with [different] groups and tell them the story of transit and why it’s important to the community,” he said. “We want to make sure that the community shapes what the transit development plan is. [We’re hoping to] recommend service alternative for fixed routs, making it more efficient and trying to serve more people.”

He concluded that 2025 offers a lot of promise for the public transit system, being the safest and most fuel efficient option there is in the city.

“There’s all these positives,” he said. “We want to get people on the bus, so we want to make and create a system that meets the needs of the community, and we’re looking forward to another 50 years.”

People get off a bus at Baldwin Street and Washington Avenue in Madison on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024. The newly-constructed bus shelter is part of a nascent bus rapid transit system. Sarah Lehr/WPR

Bus rapid transit was introduced in Madison in the fall, following a complete redesign of the system’s routes. About three months in, transit officials say the transition is going well and more changes are coming next year. 

The new system includes buses riders can board from any door, new stations and a new fare payment system. A new bus rapid transit route, or BRT, was launched in September. 

Metro Transit chief development officer Mick Rusch said it’s the biggest overhaul to the system since the ’90s.

“We redesigned all of our service last summer to get ready for bus rapid transit, and then we got all the routes ready, and we implemented all the infrastructure this year, and we also rolled out all of our electric buses, our new fare technology, all of that all at once,” he said. 

Of all the changes, Rusch said the new payment system “has taken us the longest to get people acclimated to.” 

Before the overhaul, buses used magnetic stripe swipe cards. They stopped selling those in September, Rusch said, replacing them with pre-loadable, tap-to-pay fare cards.

But overall, Rusch said the new system is working well. While they don’t yet have official ridership data, they are anecdotally seeing “full buses.” 

“We’re seeing a lot of people riding during the week, we’re just seeing a lot of people tapping their cards,” Rusch said. 

Getting ready to board the BRT on University Ave., Terry Richardson said he mostly likes the new system. But, he said there is a downside to the rapid service. 

“It moves fast, so that’s a good thing,” he said. “But if you’re not there, if you’re not right there, then it’s gonna leave you.” 

Rusch said more changes are coming in 2025, including a system where riders will be able to tap a credit card or phone to pay on any bus, which will be implemented in April or May. 

“You don’t even have to mess around with getting a fare card,” he said. “You can just use your credit card to board the bus.”

Rusch said Metro will also introduce hourly service to the city of Monona in March on route 38. And, they’ll also start doing outreach on adding a north-south BRT route. While they haven’t yet secured funding for that project, they hope it will come to fruition in two or three years. 

Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2025, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.

Molson Coors to offer safe rides on New Year’s Eve across Milwaukee through partnership with Milwaukee County Transit System

Press Release

December 19, 2024

Molson Coors to offer safe rides on New Year’s Eve across Milwaukee through partnership with Milwaukee County Transit System

The company’s Free Rides program has offered more than 8 million free transit rides since 1988 to help Americans reach destinations safely; over 60% ridership increase in past three years

MILWAUKEE – Dec. 19, 2024 – As the nation prepares for the holiday season and new year, Molson Coors Beverage Company is helping Americans celebrate responsibly in Milwaukee with complimentary Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) rides through the company’s long-standing New Year’s Eve Free Rides program.

Thanks to a partnership with MCTS, residents and visitors in Milwaukee can take advantage of fare-free rides from 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 31 until the end of service on all routes. Service on the following popular routes will be extended to 4 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 1:

• CONNECT 1 BRT
• 14 – Entire route
• 18 – Broadway and Knapp to 121st and Greenfield
• 21 – Mayfair Mall to North Avenue and Water Tower
• 24 – MCTS Admin Building to Southridge
• 30 – Entire route, both branches
• PURPLELINE – Bayshore to Franklin Walmart
• BLUELINE – Fifth and Clybourn to Fond du Lac and Constance (Hampton)
• GREENLINE – Entire route

“To ensure that those celebrating in Milwaukee have a reliable ride, we are excited to activate the Free Rides program once again across the U.S. this New Year’s Eve,” said Alison Hanrahan, community affairs manager, Molson Coors. “In collaboration with MCTS, we are looking forward to fostering community and fellowship as we ring in the New Year.”

The Free Rides program, which began in 1988, has long underscored Molson Coors’ mission to promote responsible celebration. Last year, the New Year’s Eve Free Rides program saw its highest ridership yet, with 200,000 people taking advantage of complimentary transit when celebrating the new year.

Over the past three years, the New Year’s Eve program has experienced a 36% increase in ridership (the overall Free Rides program has grown by 62% during the last three years). The program continues to grow and evolve, expanding to Charlotte last year and Washington, D.C. this year.

“Our ongoing partnership with Miller Lite on New Year’s Eve is one of the highlights of our year,” said Kristina Hoffman, MCTS director of marketing and communications. “It’s a great way to fully enjoy the festivities with a fare-free ride around Milwaukee, the hometown of Miller Lite.”

Through partnerships with local public transit, Molson Coors is also offering fare-free rides on New Year’s Eve for celebrators in Charlotte; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Phoenix; and Washington, D.C.

The New Year’s Eve Free Rides program marks the finale of this year’s Free Rides initiative, with more planned in 2025. In 2024, Molson Coors also sponsored Free Rides in 10 cities across the U.S. for events such as St. Patrick’s Day and various sporting events.

Those joining in the New Year’s Eve festivities are encouraged to plan ahead for a free ride to or from their celebrations. Riders can visit the MCTS website to review routes and arrange transportation before the celebrations begin.

Sneak Peek: Madison Metro Bus and Paratransit Service in Monona Begins March 3

On March 3, 2025, Metro Transit will begin providing service to the City of Monona, bringing residents a convenient, accessible, affordable, fast, and reliable connection to and from destinations throughout the entire Madison metro area. See this page on the Madison Metro website for a sneak peek of Monona routes, schedules, maps, paratransit information, tips for planning your trip, and numerous FAQs. Information is available in English, Spanish, Hmong, and Chinese.  More details to come! 

For those interested in Paratransit, a presentation has been set for Wednesday, January 22, from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM at the Monona Senior Center.  This event will include representatives of Metro Paratransit, there will be time to help people with their applications, and it is open to the public.

https://www.mymonona.com/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1731

Milwaukee County Transit System Begins Collecting Rider Feedback to Shape 2025 Routes

December 09, 2024

Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) is launching a new initiative called MOVE 2025, aimed at collecting rider feedback to help shape bus routes for fall 2025. This effort will guide decisions on whether certain routes should have higher frequencies, more or less coverage, or stay the same.

Riders are encouraged to provide input on how MCTS can adapt its services to better meet their changing needs. MOVE 2025 offers a unique approach where riders can see routing ideas from fellow passengers, bus operators and data trends along with the potential impacts of these ideas. This helps riders, bus drivers and the general public understand the broader effects of any potential adjustments to their routes and how their feedback can guide a recommended plan for the fall.

MCTS Interim Managing Director Julie Esch said, “MOVE 2025 aligns with a significant milestone—our 50th anniversary. Over the past five decades, Milwaukee County has evolved dramatically. Throughout this evolution, we’ve consistently adapted our resources to move public transit where the county is headed. I’m excited that MOVE 2025 offers riders a chance to share their vision of how the bus system could evolve to meet the future needs of Milwaukee County.”

MCTS wants to hear from riders directly. Feedback can be submitted through an online survey, visiting RideMCTS.com/MOVE to comment on interactive maps, or by attending one of five public meetings across the county. Riders have until February 10, 2025, to weigh in.

Key Dates and Locations for Public Meetings:

1. January 14, 2025 — 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Milwaukee Public Library East Branch (2320 N. Cramer St., Milwaukee)
2. January 16, 2025 — 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Oak Creek City Hall (8040 S. 6th St., Oak Creek)
3. January 22, 2025 — 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at Silver Spring Neighborhood Center (5460 N. 64th St., Milwaukee)
4. January 25, 2025 — 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at West Milwaukee Community Center (1345 S. 47th St., West Milwaukee)
5. February 4, 2025 — 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at MCTS Administration Building (1942 N. 17th St., Milwaukee)

Timeline for MOVE 2025

• December 9, 2024 - February 10, 2025: Public input phase through surveys, online comments, interactive maps, and public meetings.
• March - May 2025: MCTS transit planners review feedback and develop a draft plan for additional comment from riders, bus drivers and the general public. Planners prepare a final recommended plan that will be presented to the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors will review and request approval.
• June - August 2025: If the recommended plan is approved, MCTS promotes public awareness of the fall service changes.
• Late August 2025: The changes go live.

The MOVE 2025 initiative follows previous efforts to align public transit resources with passengers’ needs, including a major bus system redesign in 2021 and the introduction of CONNECT 1, a Bus Rapid Transit service in 2023. For more information, visit RideMCTS.com/MOVE.

https://www.ridemcts.com/who-we-are/news/milwaukee-county-transit-system-begins-collecting

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

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

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.”

https://www.dailycardinal.com/article/2024/12/after-40-years-bus-rapid-transit-has-redefined-madison