Leaders Must Realize that Transit and Jobs are Linked

This op-ed originally ran on Oct. 20 in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

by Peggy Shulz

It's mystifying how something 40 feet long and weighing 13 tons can be virtually invisible as it travels our city streets. Yet public transit here is suffering from woeful inattention at best.

In Milwaukee County, approximately 330 buses are on the streets at the height of rush hour. On a typical weekday, 140,000 rides are taken on the Milwaukee County Transit System. How can that many vehicles covering hundreds of miles for nearly 24 hours a day go virtually unnoticed by so many people, including those in the position to dictate the future of transit?

Perhaps most important to the transit discussion is this vital statistic: Nearly 45% of those 140,000 daily rides are taken by workers going to and from their jobs (as reported in a study by the Public Policy Forum).

As a nearly lifelong transit advocate, I've shared my devotion to transit on these pages a number of times. But recent developments make it even more crucial to get across this point: Access to transit equals jobs. Please repeat after me: Transit and jobs are inextricably linked - and not just for the minimum-wage worker who can't afford a car.

The transit system reports that in a recent survey of adult riders, 30% had household incomes of $28,000 or more; 53% had taken at least some college level courses or had college degrees.

The latest 2012 county budget proposal seems to put a plug in the bleeding of the transit system. But it's by no means a certainty, and even if Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele's plans work out, it's for one year only.

In the spring of 2008, I picked up the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce's relocation guide. I saw "transportation" on the table of contents and eagerly turned to the listed page. There was mention of the airport, Amtrak, I-94, even the ferry service across Lake Michigan. I held my breath, waiting for some mention of the transit system. Not one word.

Recently, I obtained the 2011 edition of the guide. The same transportation description was there. But again, those considering moving to Milwaukee were left clueless as to the availability of public transportation here.

MMAC President Tim Sheehy, to his credit, co-signed (with Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, Abele and school leaders) a letter to state legislators this past spring urging them to give Milwaukee County most of the assets of the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority (which has been disbanded).

It is all the more incomprehensible, then, to see that the MMAC's own publication continues to ignore the very existence of the transit system.

Visit Milwaukee publishes an "Official Visitors Guide." In the 2011 edition, on the pages that outline transportation and tours, one can read about Mitchell International Airport, private coach tours, limousines, car rentals, taxicabs and, of course, the Lake Express Ferry. And the public transit system? What public transit system?!

This year, the transit system made a route alteration in response to a request from Actuant Electrical in Menomonee Falls to provide bus service for its employees. Other hopeful signs that at least some businesses are getting it with regard to transit are announcements in recent weeks of two different employers moving from areas not reachable by the transit system to locations in the city convenient to bus routes.

Stella & Chewy's, a pet food manufacturer, is relocating from Muskego to Milwaukee's south side near two bus routes. J.F. Ahern Co. will open a new facility in the Menomonee Valley, replacing its existing building in Menomonee Falls. But those two employers are, seemingly, swimming against the tide of most businesses in our state.

It's October, so the BuySeasons.com annual hiring blitz is in full swing. Yet the company is located in New Berlin, beyond the reach of the transit system.

Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance recently announced plans to demolish one of its downtown Milwaukee buildings. The company will decide whether to replace the building there, in a location well-served by a variety of bus routes, or in Franklin, to a spot inaccessible to public transportation.

My question: Is the "Welcome to Wisconsin" mat out only for those businesses that refuse to accept the value of public transportation?