Thanks to everyone who participated in, supported, co-sponsored, and helped spread the word about 2026 Week Without Driving in the La Crosse area.
Nationwide, there were more than 1,200 co-sponsoring agencies, governmental offices, nonprofits, businesses, community groups, faith groups, and individuals! We are still waiting to learn how many people signed up for the WWD experience this year.
Special thanks to local 2026 co-sponsors:
Thanks to those who contributed WWD Bingo prizes: Drift Cycle, La Crosse Area Transit Advocates, La Crosse MTU, Smith's Bike Shop, Sustainability Institute, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of La Crosse, Bridget, and Cathy.
Thanks to those who hosted special WWD events: Drift Cycle, Smith's Bikes, La Crosse Area Planning Committee, City of La Crosse, La Crosse Area Transit Advocates, La Crosse MTU.
Thanks to elected leaders who participated and supported WWD by
Thanks to the La Crosse MTU/Grand River Station Transit Center for hosting the WWD display from October 1 through 8 and for hosting the October 1 press event.
Thanks to the La Crosse Public Library for hosting our display from September 23 through 30 and for use of a room for the screening of Cycling Cities (you can watch it online!)
You can still send us your video or written experiences of Week Without Driving - did you have a pleasant surprise while riding the bus? Did you run into trouble trying to bike commute? Did you notice some hazards on your walk downtown? What insights did you gain by doing WWD bingo activities? Has WWD changed how you think about transportation? equity? non-drivers? siting of public facilities?
Email your story or your suggestions for next year's WWD or use this link to submit something anonymously: https://tinyurl.com/MyWWDExperience.
If you would like to help plan for Week Without Driving 2027 - September 30 through October 6 - please email us!
If you are attending in person, register online at
https://reg.planetReg.com/E916173715160286 or use this form and pay by check. Early registration ends November 7th. The registration fee goes from $40 to $50 on November 7th.
If you are planning to stay over night In Oshkosh, the Oshkosh Marriott is offering us a special rate until October 20: $140 plus tax and fees.
Tentative Agenda
9:00 a.m. Coffee, Pastries
10:00 a.m. – Noon Speakers
Noon Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 2:45p.m. Speakers
2:45 p.m. Elections
3:00 p.m. Adjournment
Thanks to all who participated in Week Without Driving! Remember to get your WWD Bingo cards in by the end ot the day on MONDAY (new date)! You can drop completed cards at the Transit Center or with any MTU bus driver on the bus. OR you can scan or take a photo of your completed card and email it to us at LaCrosseTransitAdvocates@proton.me.
Didn't get a bingo card? Print this one, fill it in, scan it, and email it back right now! Remember, we have PRIZES!
Also, if you had a special experience or delightful surprise or unexpected glitch during your week without driving, please share it with us by emailing or filling out the form at https://tinyurl.com/mywwdexperience. There is no deadline for sharing your story!
Going beyond Week Without Driving, there are a few important public input opportunities coming up!
By the end of TODAY, please take LAPC La Crosse Regional Transportation Safety Plan survey! https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/eaa42a08ed3b43a58f5f45163928955b
AND
The City of La Crosse Board of Estimates will meet on MONDAY, OCTOBER 12 at 4 p.m. at City Hall to discuss the proposed 2027 operating budget for the city. There will be a public hearing at this meeting. Please consider coming to testify and/or emailing council members to support strong public transportation funding given that public transit is an essential service for tens of thousands of La Crosse residents and an important climate action tool. Remember, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation estimates that 40% OR MORE city of La Crosse residents are non-drivers and the city's climate action plan calls for improving transit services to reduce vehicle miles traveled and corresponding transportation-related carbon emissions. You can find your council member's contact information here OR consider emailing all using the form at https://cityforms.cityoflacrosse.org/Forms/ContactCityCouncil.
AND
PLEASE take this opportunity to tell MTU what you think about these proposed updates. If you have other ideas, share those, too.
AND
From 1000 Friends of Wisconsin:
Now is our chance to speak up! We encourage you to:
How can you participate?
Thank you to those who wrote, called, and testified at the SMRT bus hearing. There were far fewer people speaking this time, but the reasons we need a regional transit service are as important as ever.
We appreciate those county board supervisors who expressed support for finding a way forward!
At its September 17 meeting, the La Crosse County Board of Supervisors voted to add a new item to its strategic plan as noted in the meeting minutes:
Healthy Infrastructure
• New Outcome Measure - Collaborate with the MPO to investigate “Multi-County Transit Commission,” “Multi-Jurisdictional Transit Commission,” or similar organization structure, as a means to establish fast and reliable public transportation alternatives to meet the needs of all la crosse county residents, including those with mobility barriers. This organization would also gather perspective from municipal partners to act on the investigation’s recommendation.
If you live outside of La Crosse County, please contact your county board and ask them to participate in an effort to find a SMRT replacement.
Those who live in the county - please contact your county board member and thank them for adding this important item to the strategic plan and encourage them to be transparent and open to public input as the work proceeds.
From Abby Vans: Abby Vans has been made aware of a Public Hearing for the residents of the City of Tomah regarding possible discontinuation of the Tomah Transit service effective January 1, 2027. We are sharing this information in case you were not aware. Any interested person, please plan to attend the public hearing on Monday, September 14, 2026, at 6:30 p.m. at the City Hall, 819 Superior Avenue, Tomah, Wisconsin.
And, we have learned from a La Crosse County Board member that a public hearing on the discontinuation of the SMRT bus will be held by the La Crosse County Board Executive Committee on Tuesday, September 15 at 4:30 p.m. We have not found the public notice in the La Crosse Tribune, we were told it was published on July 30.
Here is the notice emailed from the County Planning and Zoning Department:
While testimony at the meeting will likely not change the plan to discontinue the SMRT at the end of this year, it is an opportunity to go on the record about the process and the lack of planning for something to replace this vital service. If you are able to attend, please be polite and keep your comments short (I think the time limit is three minutes but it might be two!)
There is no online option for providing testimony. You can learn more about the County Board Executive Committee, including members' email addresses, here: https://www.lacrossecounty.org/countyboard/committees/standing-committees-boards-and-commissions/executive-committee
Just as the UN has released a report about the dire climate situation if we do not stop fossil fuel emissions immediately, and as the cost of private car ownership becomes ever more unaffordable, we are losing funding and support for public transportation around the country. Taking every opportunity to remind electeds that public transportation is a vital, essential service is important.
Please spread the word.
Thanks to those of you who attended our Transit Talk & Treats event. To be honest, attendance was low and we are looking at changing things up for next year. On the bright side, the food was plentiful and great and almost everyone won a door prize. We would like to thank those who provided the prizes, including People's Food Co-op, LATA, The Root Note, Pearl Street Books, Kroner's Hardware, and Markos Apparel.
CAN YOU HELP? LATA will table at postsecondary back-to-school events this fall: Viterbo on 9/3 between 12:45 and 2:15 p.m. WTC on 9/8 from noon to 1:30 p.m., and UWL on 9/9 from 10:30 a.m. to noon (the later shift is filled). It's a great chance to highlight the availability of car-free transportation options and connect with students. If you can help out by taking a shift at our table, please sign up at https://tinyurl.com/latatablefall26.
The La Crosse Area Planning Committee's advisory Committee on Transit and Active Transportation is scheduled to meet at 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, September 10 in person and online. The meetings are open to the public. The agenda is not yet published but may include ranking of 2026-2030 Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) applications. Details about the meeting along with information about the TAP applications can be found at https://www.lacrossecounty.org/metropolitan-planning-organization/committees/committee-on-transit-and-active-transportation
LATA Leaders will meet on Tuesday, September 15 at 6:30 p.m. online. The agenda will focus mostly on Week Without Driving planning. If you would like to join the discussion, please call or email us for the link to join (or phone number to call in).
ACTION ALERT!! From the Coalition for More Responsible Transportation. "MCDOT director Joe Lamers sent out this email with an attached template letter. This is regarding a critical issue facing federal transit funding. Please engage your Congressional representative before they return from the summer recess. Also, pass this on to others!" Read details and access the email template here.
On September 8 at 10 a.m., the Cities for Everyone webinar series hosted by Canadian planner Gil Penalosa will feature Anna Zivarts, author of When Driving is Not an Option. These webinars are usually super interesting, especially the Q & A following the presentation. Anna is a founder of national Week Without Driving event. Learn more and register here: https://gpenalosa.ca/webinar
Week Without Driving is October 1 through 8 this year. We are now trying to finalize the schedule of events and hope to have info available by mid-September. There are a few things you can do to help.
If you are with an organization, business, faith group, or non-profit that supports the effort to increase transportation options in our community, please consider being a co-sponsor. There's no charge – you just agree to help promote the event and encourage your contacts to participate. Sign up here asap: https://tinyurl.com/wwdlax-cosponsor
Call or email your city council representative and county board member. Identify yourself as a transit user or advocate to ask them to participate in Week Without Driving by signing up at https://weekwithoutdriving.org/join and/or scheduling a ride on the MTU between October 1-8 at https://tinyurl.com/wwdlacrosse (after September 13).
Write a 250 word letter to the editor about why we need more and better transportation options in our community. You can email your letter to letters@lacrossetribune.com.
If you are able, participate in and attend WWD events. At the very least, fill out a WWD bingo card (and maybe win a prize!) which will be available soon at https://tinyurl.com/wwdlacrosse.
For more ideas, visit https://weekwithoutdriving.org/participate/
Tuesday, August 18 at 4 p.m., there will be a meeting of the MTU Board in person and online.
The agenda is shown below. Find links to supporting documents on the .pdf agenda page.
Members of the public who wish to zoom in should email Adam Lorentz (lorentza@cityoflacrosse.org) for the link.
Agenda
YOU'RE INVITED!
Tonight's meeting of the MTU ADA Advisory Committee meeting has been canceled due to quorum issues. They will reschedule to September.
From MTU:
At the beginning of service on Wednesday, August 05, through Friday, August 14 the intersection of Hwy 16 and Gillette St will be closed for road construction. Route 5 will go through the industrial park to get to the mall and back.
The bus stops on Hwy 16 will be closed and the bus stop at Office Depot will be demand response during this time.
If you have any questions, please ask your driver or call MTU at 608-789-7350.
There will be a special meeting of the MTU's ADA Advisory committee on Tuesday, August 11 at 6 p.m. The link to join will be added to this post when available. The meeting is open to the public.
Call to Order
Roll Call
Approval of Minutes
Agenda Items:
Public Input Regarding Transit ADA Issues
LATA Leaders will not meet in August. Our next meeting is on Tuesday, September 15 at 6:30 p.m. Please email if you would like to join us.
Wisconsin Transit Riders Alliance will host a meeting of all members on Thursday, August 6 at 6:30 p.m. online. The agenda includes discussion of WTRA feedback on RTA legislation, connections with other transit-friendly state organizations, and reports from around the state. Please email for the link to join.
The MTU Board is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, August 18 at 4 p.m. in person and online. The agenda is not yet available but will be at https://tinyurl.com/LaxMTUBoard when finalized. The public is welcome at these meetings.
CAN YOU HELP? LATA will table at postsecondary back-to-school events this fall (Viterbo on 9/3 between 12:45 and 2:15 p.m., WTC on 9/8 from noon to 1:30 p.m., UWL on 9/9 from 10:30 a.m. to noon OR noon to 1:30 p.m.). It's a great chance to highlight the availability of car-free transportation options and connect with students. If you can help out by taking a shift or two at our table, please sign up at https://tinyurl.com/latatablefall26
Week Without Driving is coming soon! We are hoping to host a WWD Stories event this year including written and recorded personal experiences of non-drivers and those who will try to be non-drivers during the week. Look for details on or before September 1! Also, if you can donate a WWD Bingo prize like a gift card or useful item please let us know before August 31. Please consider being a co-sponsor of our local WWD event, October 1-8, by signing up at https://tinyurl.com/laxwwdcosponsor. If you are planning a WWD event, please get info to us no later than August 31 if possible! Email with questions.
The next Week Without Driving (WWD) webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, August 26 at 1 p.m. online. These webinars help people connect their lives, agencies, communities, and organizations to Week Without Driving to elevate and amplify both. This link takes you to a registration page and includes links to past webinars: https://weekwithoutdriving.org/organize/
As you know, the La Crosse County Board decided to end funding for the current SMRT program after this year. They are still required to hold a public meeting but we don't know when that will be. Some board members have indicated they would like to find something to serve La Crosse county residents, but of course if that ends at the county line, it doesn't really help workers, patients,students and others get here and back from out-of-county locations. If you have opportunities to speak with county board supervisors—in your neighborhood, at events, at public meetings—please bring this up and encourage them to keep working on it.
In July, the Coalition for More Responsible Transportation hosted an online forum on the possibility of Regional Transit Authority (RTA) enabling legislation coming back to the legislature next year. A regional transit authority would ensure that system administration is shared among those who benefit and that there is a way to fund the system. The CMRT group is working to gather suggestions from advocates, operators, planners, electeds, and transit users that will help a new RTA bill be the best possible that everyone can support. If you haven't yet completed the survey (which also provides links to educational materials), please do so at https://forms.gle/pNWKNMWdPbL44bA28. We expect there will be a statewide RTA advocacy campaign later this year. We will keep you posted.
Election Days - August primary, August 11. Congressional election, November 3.
From the American Public Transportation Association:
DOT Proposes to Eliminate All Guaranteed Funding for Public Transit and Passenger Rail
"On July 22, Secretary of Transportation Sean P. Duffy sent a letter to Senate Committee leaders outlining the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) proposals for the Surface Transportation Authorization Act or related Surface Transportation Authorization Extension Act.
"APTA strongly opposes DOT’s proposals to eliminate all guaranteed funding for public transit and passenger rail by eliminating the Mass Transit Account of the Highway Trust Fund and advance appropriations. These proposals jeopardize more than 85 percent of Federal public transit and passenger rail investment across the nation, including all public transit formula grants. On July 23, APTA issued a statement urging Congress to reject these funding proposals and build upon current public transit and passenger rail investment in the next Surface Transportation Authorization Act.
"We strongly encourage APTA members to make their voices heard on these and other critical issues. We urge all APTA members to invite your Members of Congress to Site Visits during the August recess to allow lawmakers to see firsthand the impact of Federal public transportation investments and connect policy decisions to their local constituents. To assist with your planning, please use APTA’s Guidance for Planning Site Visits and Events with your Members of Congress."
Read more here: https://www.apta.com/advocacy-material/u-s-department-of-transportation-submits-surface-transportation-authorization-proposals/
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From Transportation for AmericaTransportation for America: "If there was any lingering confusion about the Trump administration’s willingness to faithfully and fully implement any current or future bipartisan deal on transportation reauthorization that Congress might consider, USDOT Secretary Duffy’s unhinged letter to Senate leadership about the administration’s reauthorization priorities should put a nail in that coffin.
"Congress should extend the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) for a year to keep the transportation funding moving, and then they should not even consider coming to the negotiating table on a long-term bill until past grants that are rescinded are restored, frozen transit capital projects are restarted, and ironclad protections are put in place to ensure that USDOT faithfully implements whatever Congress assembles—whether it aligns with the administration’s priorities or not."
Read more here: https://t4america.org/2026/07/27/usdot-letter-shows-it-will-likely-undermine-any-bipartisan-reauthorization-deal
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From Urban Wire: "Adjusted for inflation, the BUILD Act would authorize lower overall transportation funding than the current federal transportation legislation, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), which expires on September 30, 2026. Transit and rail programs face some of the deepest cuts under the BUILD Act, which prioritizes funding instead for road and highway infrastructure."
Read article: https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-will-congresss-proposed-cuts-transit-funding-affect-your-state-and-congressional
Please mark your calendars and plan to join us for a few minutes or a longer time on Thursday, August 20 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the La Crosse People's Food Co-op Community Room (2nd Floor), 315 Fifth Avenue South, for our annual TRANSIT TALK & TREATS open house Meet & Greet.
We'll have refreshments, music, info about upcoming events and advocacy opportunities, and DOOR PRIZES (including transit essentials and gift cards from area businesses). And it's all TOTALLY FREE and OPEN FOR EVERYONE!
Please help us share the flyer! Here's one to share online and here's one to print and post.
To donate a door prize, please contact us at LaCrosseTransitAdvocates@proton.me.
We don't expect the resolution to fail. But, the year is not over yet, and the commitment many of us heard when they re-funded the service for 2026 is unfulfilled. If they vote to end the SMRT, what will be next? We must insist that it's not nothing. The same issues people wrote, called, and testified about last year are still valid. People still need to get to work or school. Patients still need to get to treatment. Folks still need to get to the train or the mall or the bus to Minneapolis.
It is especially important for SMRT riders/advocates who live in La Crosse county to feed back. Your story is most important. If you want some other talking points,
It is also important for those who live outside the county to weigh in. Your counties have already said no to funding, but we don't know what options they had, what other models were considered, or how much input they had in the process.
This board is mainly focused on La Crosse County, so whatever you can do to highlight how your ride benefits the county might have impact. Many come for work, school, shopping, medical appointments, social or recreational activities. It's too bad you have to justify your transportation needs by demonstrating how it benefits someone else, but that's where we are!
The recently published La Crosse Area Regional Transit Authority Feasibility Study (Executive Summary here) noted that for every $1 invested in regional public transit in our area, we can expect at $4 to $5 return in economic activity. There are also some other quotable quotes you might want to include.
No matter what happens on Thursday, we need to keep up advocacy for something. Non-drivers need a connected, accessible transportation system. Fewer cars means less air and particle pollution and lower greenhouse gas emissions. More people on buses means fewer traffic deaths and injuries.
We will try to focus on what that or those programs might be in the coming months.
The City of La Crosse collaborated with the MTU for a free ride on Tuesday for students. We were told that it was a Scavenger Hunt. Students from across the La Crosse area were able to ride on the bus from wherever they started to the Transit Center. La Crosse Transit Advocates were there to give them information about riding the bus, and nylon backpacks which the kids really liked.
Here’s the story from WIProud – City of La Crosse collaborating for youth summer ride.
Rozie Brooks, LATA Member
