The Grand Redesign - First Thoughts

I took my first trip on the newly redesigned Madison Metro bus system yesterday. Although it was a weekday, it was also Juneteenth and so buses were running on a Saturday schedule. Not sure why this would be considering that the holiday is not observed by the state nor the UW. Epic Systems apparently doesn't either because the routes serving their campus down in Verona were not offering abbreviated service. Juneteenth should be observed by all. But, until that day comes, bus service shouldn't be downgraded.

This being the case, my work commute yesterday will not reflect my journeys going forward. My old commute involved taking one bus that I boarded on Milwaukee Street that dropped me off near my place of employment out on the west side. With that route now history, I have to take 2 buses. It is the A bus that goes by my office so I need to get on one of those as soon as possible.

Ideally I could catch a D bus on Milwaukee and get off at North & E. Washington. I'd then walk across the street and enjoy perusing lingerie in the windows of Red Letter News for a short spell before my A bus arrives. Unfortunately, the D is scheduled to get me there at either the same time the A is scheduled to arrive or a minute before which is not enough time for a reliable transfer.

So I took the C.

Instead of walking to Milwaukee Strasse, I now go to Atwood Avenue. The walk is about the same length but I get a nice bus shelter on Atwood instead of being at the mercy of the elements at my previous stop. I alighted the C down on campus yesterday and then had 25ish minute wait for an A.

Again, this was a Saturday schedule so I shall not have to deal with this situation again until next Juneteenth. But it illustrated how routes that Metro touted as being frequent with 15 minute headways only are so at certain times whereas the promotional materials I saw gave the impression that they'd run at that frequency outside of traditional 9-5ish work hours Monday through Friday. The earliest A buses run every 30 minutes on both weekdays and weekends and start their much-touted frequent service only after I needed to catch one yesterday. Similarly, the C bus runs every half hour on weekends and holidays so the truly good service is reserved for typical weekday commuters.

Despite all of the talk about catering more to people who don't have a 9-5 Monday through Friday job, the new network has only taken baby steps to accommodate these people, in my opinion. Better than no steps at all, though.

It will have to wait until next week to see how my work commute has truly been affected. It appears that I'll be taking a C to campus and catching an A as I did yesterday but I'll benefit from 15 minute headways. Going by the schedule, it appears my commute will be a few minutes longer than it was previously. I suspect that when the A becomes BRT next year, it will shorten. I don't really mind having to transfer, especially with an expected wait of less than 10 minutes, but I think I will miss a nice solid 35 or so minutes of uninterrupted reading time.

It's early days but I hope that schedules get tweaked for shorter waits to transfer which was one of the benefits Metro touted in favor of the redesign.

A few observations:

--both the C and A buses I took yesterday were well-populated. The A was packed. While the C wasn't, it still had quite a few folks aboard, most of whom seemed be headed to UW Hospital. The A had several people going west beyond my stop which wasn't the case with my old route.

--in addition to calling out the stops, the disembodied bus voice now also gives transfer opportunities. Very long lists, in some cases too. Can they be shortened? Perhaps not say "route" each time. Say it once and then list the letters and numbers. Maybe a landmark or 2 as well. Also, the guy pronounces "route" as "root" instead of "rout". No a problem, just an observation. What parts of the country use which pronunciation?

--with a new bike path on Walter Street, I wonder if it will be plowed on a timely basis. Walking down Walter to Milwaukee in the winter to catch a bus has often times involved tackling sections of icy wastes where people didn't shovel before the temperature dipped. It'd be nice if I don't have to deal with that so much.

Again, it's early days. Drivers and passengers both will get used to things. It will be interesting to see how things go in the fall when the students return. And then next year we get a BRT route so more change is on the horizon. Plus, I hope to start using the new system to get to places other than work.