COMING
EVENTS
On June
10, LATA will host a SMRT ride from La Crosse to Viroqua.
We'll leave La Crosse mid-morning and arrive in Viroqua at about 11
a.m. Lunch and return trip are on your own. Vernon County Over 50
will host filmmakers (and LATA leaders) Obbie King and Rozie Brooks
at noon who will show and talk about their video, Transportation
Liberation. Everyone
is welcome to this free event. Bring
your own lunch or get a catered lunch ($5 on site). RSVP (by June 5
if you want a VCO50-catered lunch) at
https://tinyurl.com/SMRT-TransLib-June10.
On
June 2,
the Wisconsin Chapter Sierra Club will discuss Paved
Paradise – How Parking Explains the World,
a book about the high cost of car dependency, from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
online. Register here: https://tinyurl.com/WISC-PavedBook
On June 4, the Wisconsin
Transit Riders Alliance will host an at-large meeting online at 6:30
p.m. Please email for a link to join.
The MTU Board will meet in person
and online on June 16 at 4 p.m. The May meeting was postponed due
to a schedule conflict. When it's available, the agenda and link to
join will be posted at their legistar page:
https://tinyurl.com/MTUBoard. The MTU ADA Advisory Committee meeting
from May was canceled due to schedule conflicts.
On
June
25,
the High Speed Rail Alliance will host Thinking
Big About Wisconsin Passenger Rail - A Conference Advancing a
Generational Opportunity for Economic Growth from
1:30 to 4:30 at the Oriental Theater in Milwaukee.
“This is the launch of a statewide effort to develop strong
intercity rail connections throughout Wisconsin. Attendees will be
equipped with actionable steps and a community of stakeholders to set
these projects up for success.” Learn more and register here:
https://www.hsrail.org/events/thinking-big-about-wisconsin-passenger-rail/
LATA
Leaders will meet on June 30 at 6:30 p.m. rather
than June 16 to accommodate vacation schedules. Please email for the link to join.
VOLUNTEERS
NEEDED!
We
are looking for
volunteers for an MTU event for La Crosse School District students on
Wednesday, July 8.
We don't have all the details yet, but if you might be available to
help, please email us at LaCrosseTransitAdvocates@proton.me.
RECENT
EVENTS
On May 14, LATA members Alex
McDonough, Obbie King, Rozie Brooks, and Cathy Van Maren met and rode
the bus with about 60 Logan Middle School students and teachers. With
their North side Library closing, the students visited the Main
Street Library to get familiar with resources there and took a ride
on the circulator to get more comfortable riding the bus. We shared
our own bus experiences and some information about the costs of
taking the bus versus the cost of owning and driving a car. The MTU
provided students with free passes for their next trip.
On May 21, Hintgen School students
rode the MTU for a field trip to Trane Park. LATA Leader Liz Fryseth
has been doing outreach to public schools to encourage them to use
the bus more. Liz and Cathy Van Maren talked with the Hintgen class
earlier in the year and Cathy was able to ride with the group during
their May field trip. LATA paid the field trip bus fares for the
group and the MTU provided free passes for students' next MTU trips.
Also on May 21, several LATA members
had lunch with Nick DeMarsh of Forward Together Wisconsin who is a
Milwaukee and Madison area bus and rail advocate to talk about public
transit advocacy and opportunities for expanding transit as part of
rail expansion.
ADVOCACY
We still have not heard anything about
what might replace the SMRT
bus next year or about any
opportunities for public input. Our post-SMRT group hasn't been able
to meet since April. We hope to come together in June to look at how
we can advocate for something other than nothing. Transit champion
Barbara
Cline, who single-handedly built a public transit system in her
rural South Dakota community, spoke during a recent call with the
National Campaign for Transit
Justice. Her story might provide an example.
You might run into a county board
member or state elected official at a community event this month.
Please bring up the importance of the SMRT to them and ask them what
they are doing to ensure we don't lose our regional public transit.
Let them know how important this is for students, workers, elders,
and others who may not be able to drive or be able to afford to
drive.
Does anyone want to build some simple
bus stop benches? In the past few weeks, How inviting is it to see people
sitting on street curbs or in the grass waiting for a bus. We have
examples and plans from activists in many other communities.
Interested? Contact us.
We are still seeking
co-sponsors for Week Without Driving, October 1-8.
Co-sponsors help spread the word and encourage their contacts to
participate. If they wish, they can donate a WWD Bingo prize and/or
host a WWD event or activity. Please ask your fav business, your
faith group, your neighborhood association, workplace, school, or
club to fill out the co-sponsor form at
https://tinyurl.com/wwdlax-cosponsor.
The LAPC has released its RTA study.
LATA hopes to host an information and discussion session some time
during the next few months. Their announcement and more information
is shown below.
The Coalition for More Responsible
Transportation is working on an initiative to gather input and ideas
from transit agencies, governmental bodies, and transit advocates in
preparation for another round of advocacy for Regional Transit
Authority enabling legislation that we can all enthusiastically
support. A survey should be out in July or August along with guidance
for advocates. Dave Steele of MobiliSE in Milwaukee talked about RTAs
at the May 26 Great Waters Group Wisconsin Sierra Club action hour. We hope to find a link to the program soon!
+++
LAPC Announces RTA Feasibility Study
We're
happy to finally share with everyone the finished products of the RTA
Feasibility Study that was started late last year with our consultant
SRF. All three technical memos and the executive summary can be found
on our Modal
Planning page of our website. Additionally, we'll be developing a
one-pager document to capture the brief highlights and purpose of
this study, which will be available by the end of this month.
Next
steps for this effort are to continue engaging the community and
elected officials about this study and advocating for enabling
Regional Transit Authority legislation in Wisconsin. We're thankful
for all the interest and support we've received throughout the study
and are excited to continue supporting regional transit.
Please
reach out if you'd like to discuss further or schedule a meeting
with your respective organization.
Travis
Key (He/Him)
Associate
Transportation Planner
La
Crosse Area Planning Committee, MPO
(608)-789-8548
tkey@lacrossecounty.org
