Madison Metro's Windfalls

Madison Metro received some good news: it is receiving a bit over $5 million in federal grant money.

Madison Metro spokesperson Mick Rusch said the grant would allow Metro to continue running at its current rate despite the economy while also allowing for improvements to the transit system.

“Before this grant, we saw a decrease in funding,” Rusch said. “This grant allows us to continue replacing our buses at our current rate of about ten a year, or 100 over ten years.”

The grant also includes funds to purchase new wireless fare boxes, which Rusch said would allow Metro to better track passengers and fare usage. Data will be automatically downloaded to Metro’s computer systems, allowing the company to easily keep track of passenger traffic.

Alder Scott Resnick, District 8, said the money would also allow the city to update several unsafe or decrepit bus shelters.

As I said, this is surely good news and I'd like to make a recommendation for the next time Metro gets a windfall. I have bitched in the past about how useless bus stop signs are here in Madison. They tell you where a stop is and what routes serve it but absolutely nothing about the routes themselves. What's the frequency of the routes? Where do they go? What hours do they run? None of this handy information is available on the signs. So allow me to suggest upgrading to something like this:





These are the new signs for Seattle Metro riders. Notice how they actually give the information riders need. In addition to the routes that serve the stop, you are told where the routes go and when you can expect them to be at the stop. Handy.