Walker trying to finish the job on Milwaukee County transit?

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported today on the desperate state of the Milwaukee County Transit system. We've seen this kind of report nearly every year over the last 5-8 years. Each year the problems have become progressively worse. However there is no mystery as to what brought us to this situation. Milwaukee County's transit wounds were largely self inflicted by the political opportunist that now resides in the governor's mansion.

Nearly every year that Scott Walker was Milwaukee County Executive he cut transit routes and increased fares. Over the years endless studies have shown that this failed policy both reduces ridership and long term revenue. But we didn't need to read studies because we saw it happening in real time on Walker's watch. While transit numbers were growing all over the country and in other parts of the state, they were shrinking at a record pace in Milwaukee County.

The only thing that kept the Milwaukee County Transit system from completely collapsing during the final years of the Walker administration was the federal stimulus money. The very same stimulus that Walker once pretended to reject. Classic Walker: attack the federal stimulus to benefit yourself politically while at the same time taking the money and postponing your total transit disaster.

If you had any doubts about Scott Walker's actual transit indifference while he was Milwaukee County Executive, those doubts should surely be resolved by now. We saw his pattern, we saw the results and now we see his $6.8 million cut in state aid. The survival of Milwaukee County transit no longer helps further Walker's political ambitions so apparently he is resolved to help finish the job that he started years ago.

150 Years and Counting (Walker's Bad Policies)

Today the Milwaukee County Transit System is celebrating its 150th. The system has been and is a critical element to economic development in the Milwaukee area. Unfortunately it has been in deep trouble, especially over the last number of years.

An editorial in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on the subject today calls out state officials but conveniently leaves out two key names that should be held to account regarding MCTS. Those names would be Scott and Walker and the politically motivated short term thinking that he brings with him. He has continually cut routes and boosted fares during his time as county executive. The Public Policy Forum produced a study which showed a direct correlation between those short term moves and a rapidly declining ridership. So it should be no surprise that twice during Walker's administration the system hit historic levels of decline in ridership.

Today's festivities will include free riding on Route 15 and the unveiling of a new look for the 90 new Clean Diesel Buses. Most of those new buses come to us courtesy of the federal stimulus that Scott Walker was against and then for (depending on who was asking). In fact, it sounds like a decal or emblem of some sort will be prominently displayed on all of the new buses reflecting the fact that the stimulus bailed out Walker and paid for the much needed new buses. "Thanks for saving me from myself, Mr. President!" -Scott Walker

So while we celebrate MCTS 150th, perhaps we can hold out hope that the system's best days are still ahead of it. A key to that hope will be a County Executive that is capable of thinking about good public policy and long term solutions rather than self promotion and the politically motivated short term. When we get to that destination, maybe we can celebrate by having George Takei back to cut another commercial for MCTS.

Walker Tries to Transfer Transit Blame

Once again, Scott Walker is trying to blame someone or something else for his failed policies in Milwaukee County. This time it is after a report that Milwaukee County transit ridership plunged to a 35 year low. Walker's response was predictable as he placed blame elsewhere. This time it wasn't an actual person or entity, this time he played the economy card. While the economy certainly could have played a role, it is no wonder that Walker ignored the other contributors that have made the problem so much worse.

This isn't the first time that ridership levels have plunged to historic depths on Walker's watch. The last time was before the Great Bush Recession, so placing blame solely on it now is just a weak attempt to transfer blame. Perhaps Walker would like to forget that 2007 was also a record breaking year for MCTS plunging ridership numbers. Again, that was before the Great Bush Recession and it was at the same time that transit systems nationally were soaring to a 50 year high. No, these latest numbers can't be laid at the feet of the economy alone. One can't seriously address this problem without addressing Walker's short-term thinking on transit. Short term thinking that totally ignores the devestating long term consequences that it breeds.

Scott Walker has proposed eliminating routes, raising fares or a combination of both in almost every budget that he has ever proposed as county executive. Those kinds of short sighted polices have consequences, and we started seeing them dramatically in 2007. Now we are seeing that they got even worse in 2009. There is no mystery here. The analysis of the historic 2007 ridership drop and the current drop both focus on the role of constantly rising fares and cuts in service.

In 2008 the Public Policy Forum released a study focusing on the desperate state of the MCTS. In that study they found a direct correlation between route cuts, fare increases and dramatically reduced ridership. They found that during years when there was no fare increase, the average annual ridership went up by over 184,000. They also found that during years of fare increases, average ridership numbers went down by an amazingly high 2.1 million.

Although all of the available data shows a very clear connection between raising fares and losing ridership, Walker continued his flawed short-term thinking on transit. In fact he tried to step up his short term thinking by inventing brand new ways to charge riders such as his proposed transfer fee. Not only did he continue the bad policies but he even went out of his way to create more. Not only did he promote these proven ridership killers but he did so at a time when people were already struggling to survive the Great Bush Recession. Walker may try to transfer his self inflicted transit problem, but eventually the truth will become one route that Walker just can't cut.

UPDATE: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel later reported that the current ridership plunge in Milwaukee County was more than twice as fast as the national average.