Milwaukee car culture heavy on the backs of poor workers

WUWM: ""Just to remember, 151,000 rides every day, 40% of our rides on transit are people who need the bus to get to work. The last thing I want to do is make it more expensive for them to get to work," says Abele. "Because if they're at $10-11/hr, then the first hour of work is paying for the ride there and back, and that is regressive.""

Autosprawl draining America, car culture leaves people stranded

Transportation forum to focus on transit, highway alternatives: ""We want to show that there are a lot of local needs that are not being met," said Peter Skopec, director of WISPIRG. "There really isn't enough being done at the local level. Roads aren't being fixed. Bridges aren't being fixed."

Steiner said transportation alternatives will take on added importance as the elderly population is expected to nearly double over the next two to three decades.

"That's a lot of folks who will be probably unable to drive and will need to get to things like health care appointments or to the grocery store or even out and socializing," Steiner said. "Isolation is a huge issue for this aging population."

Van Maren said the forum is all the more relevant in light of the Department of Transportation's decision to focus on new pavement as the long-term solution to La Crosse's north-south transportation needs.

"It sort of plops right into this hole that's been created by the DOT," she said."

Madison, Wisconsin, bus ridership up 40 percent in last 8 years

Channel3000.com: ""Ridership is up 40 percent in the last eight years because we make more efficient use of our bicycle ways, our trails, our lanes," Soglin said.
...
Paul Moore, a principal professional engineer for the consulting firm behind the master plan, said the plan is designed to help create a walkable, bikeable, transit-oriented city.

Madison has steadily made progress toward this goal. According to Moore, the work by the metro bus system and other larger entities like the University of Wisconsin-Madison has increased bus ridership in Madison since 2000."