Fiscal Note
No additional City appropriation is required with the adoption of the Metro Network Redesign Plan. City costs associated with implementing recommendations within the plan will be included in future capital and operating budgets, subject to Common Council approval.
Title
Adopting the Metro Network Redesign Plan
Body
WHEREAS, the current Metro transfer point system forces people living in peripheral areas of the City of Madison to make transfers to get to most destinations in the City; and
WHEREAS, peripheral areas of the City of Madison contain higher proportions of people of color that the City as a whole; and
WHEREAS, previous ridership surveys have confirmed that people of color have substantially longer trips and are forced to transfer at a significantly higher rate; and
WHEREAS, Metro has received extensive complaints about trip durations, required transfers, safety concerns at transfer points, and the complexity of the system being difficult for Metro users; and
WHEREAS, in 2020 Metro selected a consultant to study how a redesigned network could benefit most people in the City of Madison; and
WHEREAS, in 2021, that study, called the “Network Redesign” conducted a public outreach campaign that favored a shift to a network that provided fewer routes, running more often, that no longer used the transfer points but instead traveled all the way across the City; and
WHEREAS, in 2021 the Transportation and Policy Board directed staff to prepare a Draft Network Plan that followed that guidance; and
WHEREAS, from January to April 2022, Metro staff shared a draft network plan and attended over 50 public meetings and collected over 3,000 public comments on the draft plan; and
WHEREAS, Metro staff have prepared amendments to the draft plan in order to address many of the public comments; and
WHEREAS, upon adoption of this plan and amendments, Metro staff will prepare final details such as start and stop times, bus stop locations, Title VI analysis, implementation timelines, driver run cuts, and final cost estimates for approval by the Transportation Commission; and
WHEREAS, Metro will make future budget requests in accordance with this plan and subsequent Transportation Commission approval.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Common Council does hereby adopt the Metro Network Redesign Plan, comprised of the draft network along with specific amendments as approved by the Common Council, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Common Council directs Metro staff to prepare implementation details in accordance with the goals of this plan and forward to the Transportation Commission for consideration.