By Anita Weier
Northside News
Madison’s Bus Rapid Transit system — a high-frequency, high-capacity, limited stop service that is planned to dramatically reduce travel times for bus riders — will not reach the Northside for years.
The first route to open will serve the east and west sides, hopefully by 2024. Specifically, the buses will travel between West Towne Mall and East Towne Mall, said Transportation Director Tom Lynch. The cost of building that route will be $80‒$200 million, much of that from federal funding. The annual cost of running the line could be $3 million.
Asked whether shuttle bus service would connect the Northside to the east-west BRT routes, Lynch said, “We plan on having good Metro route connectivity to the east-west BRT from the north and south sides. Our route study, which will be conducted this year and next year, will help shed light on how best to do this.” Planning remains to be done on specific BRT routes for the Northside.
“We may begin planning the north-south BRT lines even before the east-west lines have gone into operation,” Lynch added. “It has not been fully decided if the north-south line will go on Sherman Avenue or on Packers Avenue and how we will connect to the airport. These are all decisions that will occur in the planning phase that will occur in the next couple of years.”
District 18 Alder Rebecca Kemble said Packers Avenue is a more suitable route than the narrower Sherman Avenue, but more people live along Sherman. “We need to analyze how far people would have to walk to BRT,” she said.
The 60-foot-long BRT buses would bend at the center. Stations are envisioned to have fare-ticketing machines, covered waiting areas, level boarding from concrete platforms and real-time transit information.
Kemble remains dissatisfied about current bus service on the Northside. “I told our mayor and transportation director that we can’t just put money in BRT,” she said. “People on the north and south sides need better bus service, which would increase ridership. We can do that without BRT.” However, once the east-west line is in place, she expects to see direct lines from the Northside.