At the September 8 La Crosse County Planning Committee meeting, County Associate Administrator Sara Koopman recommended ending the Scenic Mississippi Regional Transit system at the end of 2025. There is a current budget shortfall (I don't think the cause was noted) and ridership is declining over the past two years. Among the 13 daily buses, three to Tomah, three to Prairie du Chien, and seven to Viroqua, there's been an average of 33 riders per day.
Emplify (formerly Gundersen) employees make up the largest group of riders. Emplify is one of the business sponsors of SMRT. Other riders include workers and patients of Mayo, WTC and UWL students and fac/staff, members of the Amish communities, those going to the Amtrak station, youth, older people, and families. Some SMRT riders do not drive cars.
The SMRT system started in December 2012. This site provides a brief account of its origins. And here (at 36:55) is Peter Fletcher, at the time, head of the La Crosse Area Planning Committee, talking about the SMRT at the 2022 annual meeting of the Wisconsin Transit Riders Alliance.
We don't have the Sept. 8 presentation recording link yet but will post it when it's available.
Low and falling ridership and the high per-rider cost were provided as reasons to end the service. There was no research presented about why ridership was declining (Might fare increases in 2024 and 2025 have played a role?)
LATA has been promoting SMRT for several years including hosting group rides. Over the past couple of years, our group has sent suggestions to SMRT administrators to improve the rider experience, marketing, rider information, and infrastructure. To be honest, the system is not set up to invite new riders. In La Crosse, some pick up spots are not marked or the wrong spot is marked. There's little information on SMRT signs about which buses come when and where they go. There's no route map. There's little information about how to request a special drop off or how to find out if the bus is delayed. We don't know what kind of outreach has been done to employers, but we have not seen any local or social media advertising for SMRT. We don't know what outreach is being done to encourage regional economic development groups, tourism groups, and others to co-sponsor.
For older riders and those with disabilities, there are other options, but these are clunky, sometimes requiring that you set up a ride a day or more in advance, and expensive. On our group rides on the SMRT, we've encountered older people and their grandchildren going to visit family members or going to medical appointments, youth going to jobs, students going to classes, nondriving elders going shopping, Amish families going to the Amtrak station, and patients going for treatments. Without the SMRT, they will need to rely on less safe private car travel if they can get a ride from a friend or family member, or just skip the trip.
Earlier this year, Delta airlines required a large payment to consider bringing a route back to the La Crosse Regional Airport, a facility where other airlines already provide service. The county coughed up $250,000 for this fund with little discussion.
The La Crosse Area Planning Committee is currently doing a study of Regional Transit Authorities, banned in Wisconsin since the Walker administration, and other options for funding and operating regional public transit. This move to end our regional transit before these options have been examined and, it seems, without considering other operating models or possibilities, seems premature.
There will be a presentation about the RTA study at the September 11 Committee on Transit and Active Transportation meeting at 3:30 p.m. in person and online (view agenda and access link here: https://www.lacrossecounty.org/docs/default-source/metropolitan-planning-organization/ctat-9-11-25-agenda-packet.pdf?sfvrsn=e58c849e_1)
Please consider contacting your county board representative and letting her/him/them know that you believe regional public transit is an essential service and that the county should do more to identify ways to increase sponsorship and ridership, should do more to seek temporary funds to fill current gaps, should do more to improve outreach and marketing, and should do more to center low-income riders and nondrivers in transportation decisions.
This is exactly the reason we are promoting Week Without Driving, September 29-October 5. Most times, decisions about transportation projects, priorities, and budgets are made by drivers with (only) drivers in mind. A 14 year old needs to get around. A family that can't afford a car needs to get around. A person who can't get a driver's license needs to get around. Businesses need employees. We need to reduce the numbers of private vehicles spewing emissions, pollution, and plastic particles. We need safer, less expensive transportation options for rural residents.
We will post more about the timeline for making the final decision as soon as we can. For now, please contact your county board representative and ask them to protect regional public transportation. Find out who that is here: https://www.lacrossecounty.org/countyboard/members
And, consider signing up for the Transit 2 Trails ride from La Crosse to Coon Valley on the SMRT bus as part of Week Without Driving on Tuesday morning, September 30 (sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/crsct2twwd
And consider signing up to watch FREE TO RIDE at the La Crosse Public Library on Tuesday, September 20 at 5 p.m.
