September Updates

We are still hoping to find a few volunteers to help with back to school tabling at Viterbo (8/28), Western Technical College (9/2), and UWL (9/3). If you can spare an hour or so to help promote public transit to students, please sign up here: https://tinyurl.com/fall2latavol

Thanks to those who attended and helped with our August 13 Transit Talk and Treats event. Thank you, People's Food Co-op, for the great space and for donating a fruit tray. Thanks to Pearl Street Books, Markos Apparel, and Larson's General for donating door prizes! We were able to talk to Tom & Tom from MTU about the new app, detours, plans for the future, and more. The La Crosse Area Planning Committee (LAPC) had information about their work (see below). We enjoyed sharing ideas and meeting fellow transit users and advocates.

 

The LAPC is accepting comments on its draft 2025 update of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan through September 16. They did two public info sessions in August. You can view the slides from the public programs, read the draft plan, and learn how to comment at https://www.lacrossecounty.org/metropolitan-planning-organization/planning-and-programming/metropolitan-transportation-plan They are also working with SRF Consulting on a feasibility study of establishing a Regional Transit Authority for our area. More information will be published at their site as it's available. https://www.lacrossecounty.org/metropolitan-planning-organization/planning-and-programming/modal-planning

ALERT: The Scenic Mississippi Regional Transit (SMRT) bus service is experiencing budget issues and needs our support and advocacy. We don't have details yet, but the issue will probably become more clear as the county starts talking about its budget. SMRT is a miracle regional transit system in a state that forbids regional transit authorities. LATA has advocated for better marketing and rider information in past years to improve commuter participation and use of the service by other groups. If you use the SMRT or support the SMRT for transportation equity and/or climate action, please stay tuned for more. Ask your County Board representative to keep you up to date on the SMRT. We will provide more information when we can.

The MTU Board met on August 19 to approve contracts for the coming year with postsecondary institutions and other municipalities. The cost for a year pass per student is about $1 per month. It was disappointing to see no upgrades to service for Onalaska or French Island. Woodmans, the airport, and the industrial parks near the airport as not well served by transit with limited weekday only service. More advocacy is needed! On the plus side, they continue to update their fleet, and newer buses have Scroll screens and clear audible stop announcements. Some even have audible bus ID when you board! aIn addition they are fixing up bus shelters and will be installing Solar lighting at 11 of them.

LATA Leaders will meet on Wednesday, September 10 at 6:30 online. Our main agenda items will be reviewing the August 13 event and planning for Week Without Driving (WWD), September 29 through October 5. If you would like to join the meeting, please reply to this email for access information. We keep our meetings to one hour at the most.

The LAPC's Committee on Transit and Active Transportation is scheduled to meet on Thursday, September 11 at 3:30 p.m. in person at the county's administration building and online. For more information about the committee and its agendas, visit https://www.lacrossecounty.org/metropolitan-planning-organization/committees/committee-on-transit-and-active-transportation

 We are still open to more co-sponsors for WWD. If your group, club, office, business, agency, or organization is interested, please fill out this form: https://tinyurl.com/wwdlaxcosponsor Co-sponsors help promote the event and encourage their contacts to participate. If they want, co-sponsors may donate a prize for WWD Bingo and/or host a WWD event or activity.

We will have information about La Crosse area WWD specifics in early September. Several events are planned including a kick-off press event, a display at the public library, a panel discussion of non-drivers, a film and discussion at the library, a bus ride with local leaders, a SMRT Transit 2 Trails ride to Coon Valley, and more. You can learn more about the event in general at https://weekwithoutdriving.org. You can also sign up for the WWD Experience--pledge to try a week without driving and journal your experience—at that site as well. For those who don't feel they can sign up for the week experience, we will have a WWD Bingo card (with prizes) to help you participate.

We will do another update later in September when WWD details are finalized. Please consider supporting this important event and participating however you can. If you can try the experience, help spread the word, talk to your city council and county board representatives about how we support and serve non-drivers, and/or attend one or more WWD events, it will help promote more discussion about accessible transportation options in our community.

Please consider officially joining LATA here: https://tinyurl.com/joinlata to help us grow and have a stronger voice for public transit.