The MT Position

Posted by Fred Jandt
Mass Transit editor

We’re a nation of rationalizers and justifiers. It’s an unfortunate state, but when it comes right down to it we’ll do whatever it takes to prove our point, even if that means searching for the one person who may agree with us. And this time I think the media really is to blame.

The Mass Transit offices are outside Milwaukee, Wis., deep in the heart of Packers’ country. So this week when Brett Favre announced he was going to be a Minnesota Viking the collective fandom in the Badger State threw up its arms in disgust. What I love the most about this situation is every past Packer and Viking coming out of the woodwork to give their two cents on the situation. And why is that? So fans can justify their feelings on it.

Sadly transit is in the same position. Transit opponents will call on every expert they can find to get that one guy who can justify their claims. Think bus rapid transit is a bad idea for your local system? I bet I can find a study somewhere that proves that BRT won’t work in your climate/environment/region/demographic/you-name-it region. Rail has it even worse.

What are two of the biggest hits rail takes almost every time a system is proposed? Cost and permanency. Transit opponents love to throw out how rail costs so many millions of dollars a mile. It’s a great statistic to scare people with. You never hear that with roads.

The recent upgrade to the Marquette Interchange here in Milwaukee is touted as costing less than $810 million, which is less than the $1 billion it was predicted to cost. The planners designed it with congestion in mind, allowing for expansion down the road. But how long will that take?  Compare this to the planned Milwaukee to Madison rail line. This 110-mile line is projected to cost less than $520 million dollars. A whole new form of transit for almost half the cost of a single interchange.

Oh I can hear the transit detractors coming out of the woodwork already pointing out how important the Marquette Interchange is to not only the region but the entire state and so on. Really? Tell that to the guy in La Crosse how important that is compared to a rail line that could connect them on a line between the Twin Cities and Chicago.

Transit again has to justify itself (I just did). When I started with Mass Transit I loved how each agency was different from the previous one I visited. The uniqueness of these agencies makes each of them special. But the more agencies I travel to, the more I have to shake my head as I see the same issues crop up again and again and again.

Transit goes “from not in my backyard” to “when can I have mine” faster than you can blink in almost every agency I’ve seen. Ridership numbers skyrocket with new system openings and yet we can’t seem to find a way to pay for operating costs.

What transit needs to understand is that while we’re trying to justify why transit works, the guys on the other side of the issue are trying to justify keeping things the way they’ve always been. It’s a fight of justifying an idea versus an ingrained way of life, and that’s always going to be a tough sell.

Thanks for reading the MT Position updated every Friday,

Fred
fred.jandt@cygnusb2b.com
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This entry was posted on Thursday, August 20th, 2009 at 1:41 pm and is filed under MT Position. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.