Transit cuts put jobs out of reach of workers with out cars

[hue]

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinal

Report says 13,000 more in Milwaukee area will be inaccessible
More than 13,000 jobs would be out of reach for Milwaukee County residents without cars, if county officials adopt recommended cuts in bus service, a new report warns.

If County Executive Chris Abele and the County Board slice the bus routes targeted in the Milwaukee County Transit System's 2012 budget request, at least 13,553 jobs would be inaccessible by public transit, according to an analysis of the service cuts by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Center for Economic Development.

"One likely consequence of implementing the proposed service reductions for 2012 would be to make it difficult or impossible for transit-dependent workers and job-seekers in Milwaukee to reach many job locations in suburban Milwaukee County," wrote the study's author, Joel Rast, director of the center. "Given Milwaukee's already high poverty and jobless rates, especially for African-Americans, this scenario is particularly troublesome."

The study, released last week, drew concern from two county supervisors. The supervisors and Abele blamed Madison for the bus system's plight.

Following the recommendation of Gov. Scott Walker, the Legislature cut aid to transit systems statewide by 10% in the 2011-'13 state budget. That will be a $6.8 million cut for Milwaukee County next year, partly offset by $1.45 million in new aid for the Transit Plus service for disabled and elderly riders. Together with other revenue shortfalls and rising expenses, the transit system is facing a $15 million budget hole for 2012.

Read more: http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/130541748.html

---

More attacks on the lower class by Walker! More job losses!!

[No Elephants]

1. Catch 22. nt

[lunatica]

3. Exactly. +1

[Katashi_itto]

4. It will be tough short term but eventually WI will look like Somalia

This is actually a good thing. The rest of the country gets to see Republican policies in action. Course Walker may starve a good portion of his constituents.

[McCamy Taylor]

2. The Kochs hate mass transit and trains, because they mean fewer cars on the road guzzling gas.

Read about how trains are a commie plot at Cato.

[formercia]

8. Full circle

GM got rid of the trolley systems in the 30's, so municipalities would buy their Buses. Now it's the Buses that are being removed.
This is just placing the financial burden of transportation on the workers, who, in a lot of cases, could barely survive, even with public transportation.

[newfie11]

5. OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mean while repugs like this ass!

[ixion]

6. The neo-feudal age marches forward

[xchrom]

7. Recommend

[Selatius]

9. And in other news, France celebrates 30 yrs of high speed rail for all its citizens.

We're so far behind so many other industrialized countries. This is shameful.

[iverglas]

10. this is happening in Toronto too

The 'burbs used their clout to elect a right-wing mayor (and his brother) for the Greater Toronto Area last fall, and the bad stuff is happening.

He promised to end the "gravy train" at city hall. As my co-vivant is fond of saying, these guys seem to believe that if they can just get the keys, they will find that secret room where all those people sitting around slurping gravy live, fire them all, and that will fix everything. Well, at least the stupid self-centred people who vote for them may believe this. What happens is they decide to close public libraries and childcare centres ... and cut public transit, at a time when Toronto's aging transit infrastructure actually needs huge investment to keep up with growth.

How much more obvious can it possibly be, in this century, that public infrastructure is the sine qua non of a developed society?? And that the more you cut public infrastructure investment, the deeper a hole you dig for your economy.

Toronto's mayor has eliminated the vehicle registration surtax in the city that brought in significant revenue at minimal individual cost (I think it was $65 per vehicle per year), to use for boosting transit services. This made enormous sense: it is not in the public interest for individuals to use cars within the city, generating demand for more transportation infrastructure for private vehicles, and it is in the public interest to provide excellent public transit, for so many reasons: air quality, resource use, the social and physical environment within the city; maintaining the tax base and minimizing social assistance spending by enabling people to commute to jobs at reasonable cost; reducing crime and other social problems by maintaining people's standard of living ...

The race to the bottom. When will voters figure out that it's a competition that nobody wins??

Large Canadian and European cities have always been distinguished by their excellent public transit and it is one reason why they are so "liveable" compared to most US cities (NYC being the notable exception, with its advanced transit system -- along with smaller cities like Austin). The lessons are so obvious that we know even the right wing gets them.

[HereSince1628]

11. Here is a PDF of the report discussed in the article...

http://www4.uwm.edu/ced/publications/transitjobs_2011update.pdf

Currently Milwaukee transit provides service to areas with 288,000+ employees. There is no estimate of the number of people who actually ride Milw transit to get to and from work. Because of the popularity of car ownership in SE Wi the number of workers who rely on MCTA is much lower than the number of jobs no longer accessible.

The 10% budget cut in state funding to Milw Transit translates to about a 4% cut in the total Milw transit budget. The reaction of Milw Co Transit Authority to the lost funding is reduction in service that lowers the estimated number of jobs accessible by bus by roughly 4%.

IOW...the 4% budget cut translated into a 4% service cut; a proportional cut. Inner city service, where most car-less people live is least affected. Most of the route cuts interfere with service to suburban areas where ridership is currently the least relied upon by residents.

While it would be great if the state had decided to cut transit funding in a manner that better supported MCTA, I am not sure there is an entirely better response to the inevitably required reduction in service.

Complete confounding of the dictatorship of the teahadists isn't possible.

[mojowork_n]

15. But you're missing the larger point.

Yes, the bus company is doing the best they can to minimize the damaging
effect of the cuts.

But why was it "inevitably required?" Gov. Wanker targeted the bus
system while he was County Executive. The declines in service started
as soon as he got into office. It was immediate and the effects were
harsh and severe, as they were meant to be.

It WOULD have been possible to avoid making any cuts at all, but the
Wanker chose to lard the budget with corporate giveaways -- all under
the sacred mantra of 'job creation' -- that have not really created
any jobs at all.

But if the jobs that are available go to suburban residents -- the
ones who 'need cars the least' -- that will be of greater benefit to
the Republican Party. As opposed to jobs going to the Democrats who
live in the city.

[HereSince1628]

18. Really, I didn't miss the points you're making

I moved past arguing the reason for the state cut, and used the content of the study referenced in the JS article to understand it's relationship to the proposed service reduction--along the dimension of job access presented in the study discussed in the article. I state explicitly what the article didn't...the 4% reduction in budget was met with a proportional 4% reduction in access to the number of estimated 'jobs' locations served by MCTA.

What made the planned cut in service inevitable, at least for the short run of the budgeting period, is falling ridership/fares (21% of it's ridership over the past few years), the very real reduction in revenue by the state, and the limitations for increasing revenue placed on the county and municipalities by the state. MCTA must move on to try to plan to deal with these.

The study, with it's discussion of transit accessibility to possible jobs is only part of the story challenging MCTA. The final MCTA response will probably be met with some mix of additional personnel/pay & benefits reductions, reductions in service and some increased fares. Budget enhancements from the state aren't going to be part of it.

[mojowork_n]

20. Nuh-uh, 'moving past... the reason' doesn't = 'inevitable'

When there are fewer buses and fewer routes -- because funding's cut every year (bus drivers have been
on a "wage freeze" for how long?) -- there's going to be a decline in revenue.

What part of "circular argument" needs to be clarified?

What makes it even more difficult to deal with is that the assault on the bus system has been a bi-partisan
hatchet job:

http://www.expressmilwaukee.com/article-7204-death-by-a-thousand-cuts.html

Last Monday, in a move that shocked many who were involved in the push to secure dedicated funding for the local bus system, Gov. Doyle vetoed a half-cent sales tax for local bus service while preserving a framework to create a Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail line... ...Doyle’s veto represents a rejection of the will of the majority of Milwaukee County voters, who approved an advisory referendum last November to raise the sales tax 1% to provide dedicated funding for transit, parks, cultural assets and emergency services while providing property tax relief.

What makes the current transportation picture completely insane is that money (a whole lot of money, 64 million) is still going to be spent
on a 1.8 mile light rail tourist trolley, in downtown Milwaukee. Right down Wisconsin Ave. to near the Art Museum and then north a little bit.

Edit: Couldn't find the link for the light rail in downtown, but it was approved
a couple of months ago. If my memory is off on the exact number -- 62, 63 million? --
that's still many times the number cut from the bus system budget.

[HereSince1628]

22. It's absolutely true that austerity breeds greater austerity.

The Milw streetcar project exploited TIF funding and was approved by the city. I'm not sure what, if any, level of input the county had.

The streetcar project certainly wasn't aimed at increasing the geography of public transit service in the county.

[shanti]

12. happened here in sacramento too

albeit, for the last 2 years or so. the transit district cut service to our light rail system so that it ends around 10pm EVERYDAY (and starts up again at 5am). that leaves out a whole lot of workers!

[Javaman]

17. It's happening everywhere. nt

[bongbong]

13. Great news!

This is great news for the Ruling Class, since their chauffeurs will have less traffic to fight.

[valerief]

14. Public transportation helps the public and our public officials have told the public to go to hell

and die quickly.

[Jkid]

16. They might as well tell the transit dependent to retire from employment and social life.

If they try to fix it by providing the real solution to the problem, the tea baggers will scream SOCALISM!

[tech5270]

19. Beware the rule of unintended consequences

Make it difficult or impossible for low wage workers to do their job and some employers are going to pitch a fit. Sort of like Georgia and their citizenship requirements for renters.

[surrealAmerican]

21. This is what I'm wondering too.

Will suburban employers raise a stink about this? Will they find themselves having to pay more to attract employees who can actually afford to get there? Will it prompt some to move back into the city?