The SMRT is dead. Long Live the SMRT.

 

Last fall the La Crosse County Board voted to fund the SMRT in 2026 to give time to find a more sustainable regional public transportation system.

So far, it seems little effort has been made to research those options, talk to those who rely on the SMRT, or do anything but demand a huge increase in payments from counties. 

So it was that last Wednesday night, an article in a Viroqua paper reported the Vernon County Board had been told they had to decide right away whether or not to pay a lot more in 2027 to keep the SMRT going. We don't know who decided the amounts, what they would have paid for, if any changes to the current system or any other models were considered, or who had or didn't have a role in making the plan. We had asked to be informed and involved as the process played out, but we were not. We have heard that some La Crosse County Board members didn't even know what was happening.

Of course the Vernon County Board voted to not pay the much higher amount. So, it seems, the SMRT is dead. 

But the commitment made at that La Crosse County Board vote last winter has not yet been met. There still needs to be research and effort made to find a solution. Public transit is essential, especially now that the costs of private driving are rising exponentially and global heating, driven in part by transportation emissions, is accelerating.

We don't know if those responsible are really this unimaginative or disinterested or uninformed about the importance of investing in maintaining a connected network of public transportation infrastructure. But, if the job is to find a more sustainable system, the job is not done. More work is needed.

La Crosse Area Transit Advocates is reaching out to riders, advocates, agencies, and electeds to plan next steps. We can't let this be the end. Ending things here is unacceptable. That's what we need to push for now.

If you would like to join the Zoom planning meeting in April 17 at 6 p.m., please email or text for access information. We are trying to collect more data and would like to host a public forum or town hall in late spring or early summer to bring attention to this ongoing need and illustrate that solutions are possible and must be investigated.

Saturday, 3/28 - WISARP spring meeting

 

On Saturday, March 28, 2026, WisARP will hold its Spring Membership Meeting. We’ll hold this event online, starting at 9:00 AM for a couple of hours.

—> Register Here (Free) <—

Originally, we planned to hold this event in Milwaukee. The upbeat atmosphere and connections we’ve had at recent in-person WisARP events can’t be beat!

The reason that we’ve switched this meeting to online is because nationwide No Kings rallies were announced for the same day we planned on. And the reason that we didn’t just pick another date is that WisARP’s bylaws currently require holding this meeting on the last Saturday in March (we’re working to change this for the future).

We know that some WisARP members want to attend both our membership meeting and a No Kings event because you told us, proactively—thank you. And even for those not interested in No Kings, those events have been big, bringing out tens of thousands of people in cities like Milwaukee. This would probably have caused trouble for everyone traveling to and from the WisARP meeting.

Bipartisan bill to support rural transit

Rounds Introduces Legislation to Support Rural Transit

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) introduced the Investments in Rural Transit Act, legislation that would help rural transit providers improve their services. Rural transit operators provide essential lifeline services to millions of Americans, getting them to work, school, grocery stores, medical appointments and more. Co(sponsors included Minnesota Senator Tina Smith and Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin.

“Whether you are in a big city or a rural part of our state, every Wisconsinite should have access to good public transit. Unfortunately, that is just not the case in too many places and limited transit options are a significant barrier for folks trying to get to work, the store, or the doctor,” said Baldwin. “Our bipartisan legislation will invest in rural communities so workers and families are better connected to what they need.”

Specifically, the Investments in Rural Transit Act would:

• Increase federal share for operating costs. 
• Cut red tape. Rural transit providers are often small and efficient, but federal reporting requirements and other rules add significant administrative burdens to their operations without meaningful benefit. 
• Make procurement easier. 
• Support Tribal transit agencies.

Learn more here: https://www.rounds.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/rounds-introduces-legislation-to-support-rural-transit

Email or call Senator Baldwin and thank her for supporting rural transit.

SMRT RED ALERT (again)

We recently received a March 17 article about the SMRT (below). We have been asking county board members since January how SMRT riders could have input into finding a more sustainable system going forward and have been told no one knows anything yet, they'll let us know when they know something, etc. And now it appears that the same thing has happened as happened last year. Someone has made a decision without any public input (that we have heard about).

The La Crosse County board voted to continue funding the SMRT in 2026 in order to provide time to look at other more sustainable options going forward, not to give more time to craft a nicer death notice. It appears there has been no effort to look at other systems and other options.

Please call your county board members and ask them what other options have been considered and what input your county board had in this plan. How were the contribution amounts determined? Did they look at van pools, on-demand service, expanding paratransit to include anyone needing a ride or other systems? If not, will they? Was any rider input solicited? What will they do to assist non-drivers and those who don't want to drive going forward? 

Transportation is the second highest (higher than food) household expense in the United States and the cost of driving is expected to rise sharply as oil prices climb. Transportation greenhouse gas emissions are the highest of any sector. Public transit (per the American Public Transit Association) is 10 times safer than driving a car.

We really cant accept You're On Your Own as a final answer.

If you have suggestions for action or for post-SMRT solutions, please contact us. Some of us will be in Viroqua on Friday and would be happy to meet with transit/SMRT advocates over lunch. Please email.

+++

Supervisors face Thursday vote on committee proposal to axe SMRT Bus

March 17, 2026 

VERNON COUNTY, Wis. – The Scenic Mississippi Regional Transit bus system (SMRT Bus) could be reaching the end of the road in Vernon County.

Following a temporary reprieve late last year regional partners are now facing a funding shortfall for 2027 and the Vernon County Economic Development Committee voted March 5 to advance a recommendation to the full county board to formally end support for the program after 2026.

Administrative Coordinator Cassandra Hanan first broke the news to the General Government Committee on March 4. She explained she recently with stakeholders in the system in La Crosse and La Crosse County, which administers the program asked partner counties to drastically increase their contributions.

“They are looking at an increased contribution for Vernon County of $100,000 dollars more than our current contribution,” said Hanan. “I do not know how that is going to be sustainable for Vernon County currently contributes $15,000 to the system.

The next day Hanan brought numbers to the Economic Development Committee. She noted that La Crosse County is currently subsidizing the program by over $250,000 dollars and regional partner support appears to be waning. Hanan said Monroe County representatives did not attend the meeting and a major hospital system have already indicated they will drop out of the funding agreement entirely.

“What lacrosse is proposing should this continue is that Vernon County contribution goes to $113,977 dollars,” said Hanan. “I do not have an additional $100,000 dollars in the county budget to support a program that supports 11 riders a day.”

Hanan shared that ridership on the Vernon County route dropped from an average of 13 riders a day in 2024 to just 11 in 2025. She reminded the committee that strict state levy limits restrict the county from simply raising property taxes to cover the massive increase in operating costs.

We reached out to Running Inc. that has the contract for the SMRT bus to see if those numbers were accurate but we have not received a comment from them. 

“If we were to move forward with this we would have to find somewhere else in the county that we are cutting by $100,000 dollars,” said Hanan. “And realistically that is not possible.”

Citizen committee member Karen Dahl pushed back against the cuts arguing that the bus is a vital lifeline for rural residents. She noted that the program was originally funded to help low income individuals access jobs and medical care outside the county.

“Not everybody has a car and it takes senior citizens from up to the hospital clinics and dentists,” said Dahl. “If we stopped funding this or paying our part anyway they are going to be stranded here.”

Hanan countered that the county already funds the Aging and Disability Resource Center to provide medical transportation and a minibus for seniors. She argued it is financially irresponsible to spend nearly $10,000 dollars per rider annually on the SMRT bus when other local options exist.

“We are talking about subsidizing essentially $10,000 dollars a person when we have programs that are already available for those people,” said Hanan. “And what county services then are we willing to cut in order to provide convenience for someone who does not want to drive to La Crosse?”

Committee Chair John Pedretti agreed that the financial model simply does not work. He pointed out that for the proposed subsidy amount the county could practically buy a car for every regular rider.

“I think it is important that we let everybody be clear that in 2027 there is not going to be the money for it,” said Pedretti. “So people have a year to a year and 10 months to figure out their next steps.”

Supervisor Patrick Sullivan echoed the need for clear communication so residents are not caught off guard by the cancellation.

“Look at better things maybe moving forward having those conversations about maybe ride share programs something to help those people,” said Sullivan. “But I do not think this is a viable option.”

Dahl asked if the committee should invite Justin Running of Running Inc. to attend a committee meeting get more details about ridership and options to save the program. 

“How about Justin coming and talking to us?” asked Dahl.

Committee Chair John Pedretti immediately responded to her suggestion by saying, “I think it’s already done past that”.

Supervisor Nathaniel Slack supported advancing the recommendation to end the program but urged the county to handle the public announcement delicately. The push to end the program follows an intense budget battle in November 2025 where dozens of residents packed county meetings to plead for the service and the Vernon County Board ultimately voted to restore $15,000 dollars to keep the bus running through 2026.

“I do think if we could include coming up with a thoughtful public information release on it kind of explaining what happened where it is going,” said Slack. “Because there was some fairly upset people at the board when you were discussing.”

The committee unanimously approved a motion to send the recommendation to the full Vernon County Board of Supervisors. The board is scheduled to vote on a formal resolution to discontinue SMRT bus support after 2026 during its March 19 meeting.

March updates

The Wisconsin Transit Riders Alliance annual spring meeting, 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 14 (in person and online), will include a free online program, Advocating for Seamless Intercity Public Transportation in Wisconsin, with guests State Rep. Amaad Rivera-Wagner; Chris Ott, President of Wisconsin Association of Rail Passengers; and Gary Goyke, All Aboard Wisconsin. How can we advocate for better multimodal connections to make travel in Wisconsin using public transportation better? Case in point – to attend the meeting in Madison using public transportation, someone from La Crosse would need to spend three days traveling there and back because of the pitiful schedules. WTRA is our “parent” organization and connects us to the state and region through its associations with other organizations. Please consider attending both the public program and the following WTRA business meeting. You are a member of WTRA if you consider yourself a member of LATA. Register here: https://tinyurl.com/WTRA2026 or learn more here: https://witransitriders.org/events/Annual-meeting.

The ADA MTU advisory committee is meeting on Tuesday, March 10 at 5:30 p.m. online. This meeting is open to the public. Access by zoom here: https://cityoflacrosse-org.zoom.us/j/86319223115?pwd=VmliZVpWK29qTW01bG5FNG9QeXBNUT09 Meeting ID: 863 1922 3115 Passcode: 811321

The advisory Committee on Transit and Active Transportation of the La Crosse Area Planning Committee will meet on Tuesday, March 12 at 3:30 p.m. The meetings are open to the public. Learn more at https://www.lacrossecounty.org/metropolitan-planning-organization/committees/committee-on-transit-and-active-transportation

Our LATA leaders next meeting will be Tuesday, March 17 at 6:30 p.m. Going forward, we will meet on third Tuesdays. If you are interested in joining us, email or call (608-315-2693). We'll discuss Earth Month activities, continuing SMRT advocacy, and planning for Week Without Driving among other issues.

TENTATIVE: We will do another SMRT outreach and education ride to Viroqua on Friday, March 20. We take the Yellow Route 2 from La Crosse and get to Viroqua at about 11 a.m. We'll spread out with SMRT info materials and talk to people about how they can support the SMRT bus. If you would like to participate, please email or call us (knowing how many will go helps us know how many pieces of lit to print (if you'd like to donate for printing costs, let us know!))

We are working on SMRT info for Prairie du Chien and Tomah routes. If you are a regular rider on either of these routes, please email or call us – we want to make sure info is clear about exactly where to stand to catch those buses.

LATA leader Liz Fryseth has been working to cultivate transit advocates at State Road and Hintgen Schools! She's met with classes about taking public transit and some students have written letters advocating for stops closer to their school.  If you would like to help talk to school students about using the bus,or if you are a teacher who would like to set up a talk, please reply to this email.

We will have some opportunities to table and do outreach during Earth Month activities in April. For example, can you spend an hour or so tabling for LATA at the Earth Fair on Sunday, April 26 between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.? If yes, please sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/42626-latavol (one or two people per shift).

SMRT UPDATE: We still have not heard of any opportunities for SMRT riders to be involved with planning for beyond 2026. For now, the best advice is to talk with all current, past, and potential funders – county board members, city or town councils, schools, employers, businesses – and ask them to help fund this system. We may put together a program to collect ideas and input if there are not other options. Stay tuned!

MTU UPDATE: The City of La Crosse is updating its website soon which means the MTU site will also be updated. We have not heard of opportunities for riders to provide input on planned changes but will request this. For the first time in forever, all the MTU buses are now operating within their official “service lives.” The Transit Center is now open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. If you would like to request a stop at a location near you OR a shelter OR just plain old seating, please use the MTU “Request a Stop” form at https://tinyurl.com/LaCrosseMTU-Ask4Stop

SMRT Lit

For several years, LATA has been asking when SMRT would do more and better outreach, rider education, and marketing. We've shared ideas and we've shared resources (like the great Rural Transportation Assistance Program Marketing Toolkit). 

Spurred by new connections and friends made last year during the campaign to save the SMRT, we made our own info, rolling it out in draft form at the February 4 Transit Equity Day Open House and during a February 6 SMRT Outreach and Education canvassing event in Viroqua.

So far, we have a 3-up, two-sided rack card that encourages people to check out the SMRT for regional travel, and the Viroqua version of a Schedule/Connections flyer that should help people know how to ride, where to catch the bus (really where to catch it), and how to make connections with other public transit systems to expand car-free travel options at the La Crosse hub and at the terminals.

We will be working on flyer versions for the Prairie du Chien (Red) and Tomah (Green) lines next. Please let us know if you have suggested edits. If you want to print and pass these out on your own, go for it. They look great in color but are also pretty ink-friendly for printing in black and white. 

This lit is NOT official - it's made by LATA volunteers from information available at SMRT, MTU, and other systems' online sites. 

As we found when we visited and handed these out in Viroqua on February 6, they are great conversation-starters about transit, the costs of travel, connections, and more. 

Thanks to LATA volunteers for researching info, suggesting content, and feeding back on drafts. Thanks to Sue at Graffolio for bringing her experience, creativity, and logic to packing so much info into a relatively small space, 

Please check it out, feed back, and print some out to share with others. Check out the sample car-free day on the rack card to see how far we can go with a SMRT fare and an MTU day pass!