Milwaukee does not need subways

Transportation planner realizes that subways are not necessary. And without realizing it, shows that commuter trains create hollow out cities by bringing people in to the city [for the day only].  

urbanismnews.com Forrest looked at transit systems in other cities – Chicago and Washington, D.C., for example – to create the Milwaukee system. “A lot of the train system funneled to the Downtown area,” he says. Bringing people into the central business district of a city can spur growth, he says, “especially if they have a viable transit option.” Although Forrest says the map isn’t 100 percent realistic, rapid transit bus and light rail could provide transit “very similar to this without the same capital investment.”

Cars are choking our cities. Subways are a way of mitigating this congestion and prolonging the life of autosprawl. We can make public transit fare-free and eliminate cars from the city. There will then be plenty of room for buses, streetcars, and light rail.