ONLINE: North Side Impact of Bus Rapid Transit

From Alder Syad Abbas' blog (find maps referenced below at this link):

At last week's Common Council Executive Committee (CCEC) meeting, Metro staff gave a presentation on the BRT network redesign. Here is the link to the presentation for your reference.

There are a few things I have concerns about that I would like to share with you - see below images of the proposed BRT route side by side with the current existing Metro route. On the left you will see the BRT ridership map proposed by city staff and presented by Metro; on the right is our existing Metro route during COVID. The red lines represent the proposed BRT route.

My concerns include the following points:

1. This network redesign will take many local services away from various Northside neighbors, especially people of color and low income communities. For example, Route 17 will be discontinued. This route provides a much needed connection for Northside residents to access Pick 'N Save, Woodmans, and the USPS at Milwaukee Street. Route 17 was originally created on request from the Neighborhood Resource Team (NRT) to address equity and provide workforce opportunities for people to work at Pick 'N Save, Woodmans and other places along the route, and for people to use services on that route. Those who are not familiar with Northside (NRT) can read more info about NRT here. By discontinuing Route 17, it will disproportionately impact people of color and low income families who rely on that route to access services and workforce opportunities. 

2. The BRT network redesign has also stranded the 1200 low income and affordable housing residents living in mobile manufactured homes on Packers Avenue, and hundreds of senior affordable housing residents at Tennyson Lane. Many of those people rely heavily on Route 21 to connect with city services and the proposed BRT redesign doesn't consider.

3. Oak and Pawling Streets have a lot of naturally occurring affordable housing options. Many residents living in these apartments are low income and people of color, and some of these people are living with disabilities. At the moment, bus number 4 picks many people up from their doorsteps. However, in the new BRT network redesign these individuals will have to walk many blocks to catch a bus. 

4. Further north, the city's proposed BRT network redesign has removed access to Delaware and School Roads, leaving those communities also stranded or asking them to commute via their own vehicles to access city services. Not only is this inequitable and a possible inconvenience, but it will also increase the city's carbon footprint. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this and as always, thank you for sharing your thoughts and concerns with me. Please note, I have shared these concerns with the city staff and I am hoping they can address some of the concerns at the January 20th (virtual) neighborhood meeting which I have organized. Meeting details are below - I hope you can join:

When: January 20, 2022, 06:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

Register in advance for this meeting:

https://cityofmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpf--hqzstGt3mgi_tbvkX1oT69fjLZQWI  

Engaging at this early stage is a great way to have your northside voices heard. 

As your alder, it is my responsibility to keep you informed and keep holding our system accountable. 

Thanks and all the best,

Syed