Within the next 18 months, if everything goes as planned, the site of 60-foot, mostly electric-powered vehicles will be ubiquitous along the first route of Madison Metro Transit’s $190 million bus rapid transit (BRT) system. In the meantime, the network infrastructure construction, which began this past spring, will proceed with the city trying to minimize the disruption.
MetroForward, the city’s plan to rebuild its transportation backbone (of which BRT is one of four tiers), promises to speed up workforce transportation while reducing congestion as Greater Madison continues to add to its population. It’s a program that’s been 30 years in the making, and key community leaders, from Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway to Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce President Zach Brandon, have touted the potential economic benefits of an interconnected transportation system that includes BRT.
During a December 2022 groundbreaking for the 15-mile, east-west portion of the transit project, the first of three routes in the BRT buildout, Rhodes-Conway said the city will provide it in a transformative way for people across the region. “Think about it — 120,000 jobs, 80,000 residents, three hospitals, and two colleges will be within a 10 minute walk of the east-west BRT line,” she stated, “and we will grow those numbers even more when we implement north-south BRT.”
During the construction phase, which will be funded with the largest federal grant the city of Madison has ever received, expect the same scenes — lane closures and shifts, orange barrels, temporary traffic signals, and modified traffic patterns — that are a typical part of a Wisconsin summer. But what will be the impact on businesses along the construction corridor that includes main thoroughfares such as University Avenue, Whitney Way, Mineral Point Road, and East Washington Avenue? Will customer traffic be negatively affected?
Bus rapid transit has its skeptics, and even business groups that support the concept had reservations about the proposed initial route. Downtown Madison Inc. supports BRT but opposed the city’s preferred downtown routes and the size of bus stations on State Street and the Capitol Square. Now that the city is moving ahead, can the disruptive aspects of the infrastructure prep work really be minimized?
We’ll find out over the next 12–18 months as infrastructure work continues with staged construction projects. The first route, the 15-mile Route A, will feature 31 bus stations between Junction Road on the west side, where the first station will be built, to East Towne Mall on the east side. It will run on University Avenue, through the downtown area, and on East Washington Avenue. The second route (Route B) will be a north-south line that will intersect with the east-west line through downtown and the isthmus.
To assess the construction phase and the promised benefits, we spoke to Tom Lynch, director of transportation for the city of Madison; Justin Stuehrenberg, general manager of Madison Metro Transit (Madison Metro); and Mick Rusch, chief development officer for Madison Metro. From 2014–2020, Stuehrenberg served as vice president of planning for IndyGo, the BRT system in Indianapolis, Indiana, so this isn’t his first rapid transit project.
BRT benefits
BRT’s promises for a faster, more frequent and reliable system sounds too good to be true. The vehicles, about 1.5 times larger than Madison Metro’s existing buses, will allow more people to be transported, even with storage space on each bus dedicated for bicycle parking. With larger buses, all-day service with direct routes and fewer stops, the use of dedicated bus lanes and special traffic signals to get buses through intersections faster, and branded stations to serve the system, the city hopes to accomplish for public transportation what Major League Baseball has done with its pitch clock — speed things up — while also making public transportation more reliable, attractive, and comfortable.
To produce a reduction in travel times, BRT promises less frequent stops along the east-west route. Bus stations will be constructed along the new lines — stations where fares originally were to be collected beforehand at kiosks rather than on the bus. The Route A line will run every 15 minutes on weekdays and Saturdays, and every 30 minutes on evenings and Sundays. In addition, BRT buses will have traffic signal priority at intersections, allowing the buses to move through congested intersections more easily.
On the west end will be a new park and ride near Junction Road, and on the east end the system will be served by the existing Sun Prairie Park and Ride, along with bike parking at some of the stations along Route A. The all-electric buses will be charged by high-powered chargers placed at both ends of the route, allowing the bus to “top off” during a layover.
While there will be 31 locations for the stations, sometimes there will be platforms on each side of the street — 45 platforms in all — where people wait for the bus, and these will be customer designed shelters generally 60 feet long and varying in width from 10–12 feet.
Now that the design is finalized and construction of the initial 15-mile route has begun, what can Madison businesses and residents expect over the next year with infrastructure work that will include the the BRT stations and signal priority?
The construction process involves excavating and removing the pavement and the existing medians and traffic signals and other hardware — most of the construction occurs at the intersections. Then, workers will build a platform and the station structure, which eventually will be outfitted with electronics such as real-time information signs. Finally, pavement markings will be added to designate the bus-only lanes. If the construction phase goes as planned, the buses could be running in late 2024.
There will be necessary lane and driveway closures and disrupted bike lanes during construction, and to the extent possible, the city has pledged to keep two lanes of traffic open in each direction on each major arterial, and keep the sidewalks and pedestrian connections open throughout the BRT corridor. Minimizing disruptions during road construction is always a challenge, especially when the BRT work has to be done in coordination with other, non-BRT road improvement projects, including reconstruction work on University Avenue, Atwood Avenue, and Broom Street.
“I want to clarify that there is a lot of construction out there right now,” Lynch notes. “Some people think that a lot of this construction is fully bus rapid transit. This is summer in Wisconsin, and this is a particularly busy year. So, for example, Atwood Avenue is down to one lane in one direction. Broom Street is being closed for another construction project. On University Avenue as well as a lot of the construction on East Washington Avenue right now, people may think that’s associated with the bus rapid transit, but that’s actually a Wisconsin DOT [Department of Transportation] project.”
Noting that some disruption is inevitable with any road construction project, Lynch repeatedly uses the phrase “to the extent possible” when addressing the city’s attempts to keep traffic lanes open and sidewalks accessible along the east-west BRT route. There will be a few exceptions where the city has to reduce access to one portion of a street, but for the majority of the corridor, two travel lanes will be maintained.
“An example might be that on Mineral Point Road, we’ll be putting in a shared-use path right on top of a sidewalk,” Lynch notes. “So, that sidewalk obviously will have to be closed while we’re constructing a widened sidewalk on top of the existing [infrastructure]. Perhaps similarly, curb ramps and the like will require some closure of sidewalks temporarily, but to the extent possible, we always seek to provide an avenue for cyclists and pedestrians.”
At each construction area, there will be outreach to local businesses impacted by BRT construction. Bill Plumley of AECOM, the firm the city has contracted with for project development and other engineering services associated with BRT, is the designated liaison to the community, including local businesses. He will be the link between the community and Zenith Tech, the construction company hired to build the east-west route. There will also be several points of contact — including the website madisonbrt.com — for the public to get updates on the construction project (see construction contacts box on page 33).
As BRT was being debated, questions arose about the possible loss of parking and delivery space in front of businesses during and after construction, but Lynch says that dedicated transit lanes won’t affect much of the parking supply. “On Mineral Point Road, the outside lanes are already transit lanes,” he states, “and then, on East Washington Avenue, we are putting our transit lanes in the middle, and parking will be preserved for the majority of the day.”
There will be a no-parking rule during the peak hour in the peak direction on East Washington Avenue, but it will be similar to what occurs on Williamson Street. “If you think about what happens on Williamson Street, where we preserve the parking so that it supports the businesses there, that travel lane is only really taken during the peak period, and that’s really what we’re doing on East Washington. So, that parking will be available on weekends and during the majority of the day, except for the peak hour in the peak direction.”
Fare standards
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the city recovered roughly 25% of bus transit operational costs from fares, but that has come down since 2019. Will that be the mark for bus rapid transit, especially with the city disputing the charge that BRT will lead to a large increase in bus fares? “I wouldn’t say we have a specific goal or target,” says Madison Metro’s Mick Rusch. “Historically, pre-COVID, our total budget was about 25% supported by fares. Obviously, with COVID, ridership came down a little bit, and that percentage has come down a little bit as well, but we do anticipate it climbing back up to somewhere in that [25%] neighborhood.
“The BRT line will be part of our overall transit system,” Rusch adds. “We won’t really track fare revenue for it separately from the rest of the system, and we will track ridership of course, but there is no specific target.”
Stuehrenberg says there will be no need for fare monitors on the buses because instead of a payment system where riders pre-pay at a kiosk inside the station, which critics called “an honor system” that led to reduced fare capture for the Indianapolis “IndyGo” system, Madison will be using a different model. “We’ll be asking people to tap their card as they board the bus,” he states.
While that should prevent fraud, it could also slow down the buses and make the system less rapid. Another criticism, one that is leveled at every form of public transit, is that fare capture doesn’t cover even half of the operating costs. Responding to criticism that taxpayers, not fare revenue, will subsidize most of BRT’s operational costs, Lynch says fare revenue capture should be put in context. Yes, transit is supported by subsidies, he notes, but so are other modes of travel. “I’m going to use Williamson Street because I’m an east-sider. We have the parking spaces on Williamson Street and Jenifer Street. Those are all paid for by the property tax. In fact, those streets are paid for by the property tax — the construction of those streets and the plowing of those streets.
“A lot of people think the gas tax pays for those, but not really,” he adds. “The gas tax pays for the Beltline, so we subsidize lots of different forms of transportation.”
The IndyGo system, operational since 2019, is struggling to find enough drivers, but Stuehrenberg says that won’t be an issue in Madison. “This is a topic that Madison can claim a lot of credit for,” he states. “We are nearly fully staffed at this point for drivers, and that is not the case for many cities around the country. So, a lot of agencies are having trouble with hiring, and we’ve been very fortunate. We’ve had those problems in the past, but we’ve overcome them, and we are essentially fully staffed now.”
According to Rusch, the new batch of all-electric buses are fully compliant with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provisions and accessibility requirements. In advance of the system opening, the city plans to take people with disabilities on tours with trainers and have them get acquainted with the stations and new vehicles. In fact, it has already fielded multiple requests for those tours.
Access Madison
While the travel benefits come more quickly than the economic benefits, a study of 10 BRT systems in the United States conducted by city transportation planner Philip Gritzmacher show they do eventually arrive — albeit in mixed fashion. In nine out of the 10 communities, the business case for the system was pretty substantial, especially when “heavy BRT,” or a system in which most BRT system best-practices are adhered to, was implemented.
Those systems resulted in higher property values for single-family homes in the immediate vicinity — within 100 feet — of a BRT station. One 2016 study of Eugene, Oregon found that for every 100 meters (roughly 325 feet) closer a home was to a BRT station, its value increased by $1,128. In Boston, Massachusetts, a similar correlation was found for condominiums located within walking distance of that city’s BRT line, as they better retained their values during the Great Recession of 2008–09.
Office rents increased within one-half mile of BRT lines in Cleveland, Ohio, Kansas City, Missouri, Las Vegas, Nevada, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Eugene — demonstrating that benefits aren’t limited to the owners of residential buildings.
The analysis also found growth in the number of information, real estate, management, administration, education, health care, lodging, and food service jobs within one-quarter mile of BRT stations. The same is true for job growth in arts, entertainment, and recreation between one-quarter and one-half mile of a BRT station. Retail jobs generally increased within one-half mile of a station.
According to Gritzmacher, the only type of business to see jobs decline near BRT stations was manufacturing, although “geographic sorting” may have occurred due to the implementation of BRT systems because there were gains in manufacturing jobs outside of BRT service areas.
One of the reasons Rhodes-Conway believes BRT will be a game-changer for the entire region, not just Madison proper, is that it will provide increased access to transportation for underserved populations — 120% increased access for the Latinx community, 92% increased access for the Black community, and 90% overall for low-income residents. “Someone who relies on transit to get to work shouldn’t have to make an hour and 15-minute trip, Rhodes-Conway states. “We all deserve mobility choices that get us to where we need to go in a reasonable amount of time, and east-west BRT does that.”
Improved access is one of the reasons that many cite bus rapid transit as an economic driver. Stuehrenberg touts the economic development and workforce benefits, asserting that Indianapolis has seen a tremendous amount of development along its BRT corridor. “The other piece is workforce access, or basically the ability for people to access jobs,” he states. “As people can move more quickly and freely about the city, their network and their web of job opportunities grows dramatically.”
Sweet 16: Surviving the BRT buildout
Knowing that there is a ring of truth to the old lament about Wisconsin having two seasons — winter and road construction — the city of Madison and the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce have partnered on a Road Construction Survival Guide that covers many of the issues that could pop up during bus rapid transit construction.
The fourth edition was released in 2022 under the title “Road Construction Survival Guide: Helping Your Business Prosper Before, During, and After Construction.” It offers pre-planning advice on how merchants can prepare, and the best thing about these suggestions is they come from business owners who’ve been through the construction process. They offer 16 tips, including:
- Take note of all communications from the city and attend all meetings. Business owners can contribute ideas and register their concerns by attending public meetings, filling out comment forms, and communicating with alders.
- Join local business organizations because there’s strength in numbers. You can pool your resources, develop a neighborhood plan, and speak with one voice. Consider assigning association staff as liaisons to the city and the construction group. That person can attend meetings to voice business concerns.
- Partner with other neighborhood businesses. Develop a group plan for staying in contact with the city, construction project leaders, and customers.
- Work with neighborhood associations or consider forming one. These organizations are often involved in pre-construction meetings.
- Work with your employees to develop a game plan to stay prosperous during construction. Discuss marketing efforts and allow employees to share their concerns. The dialogue may spark new ideas.
- Identify marketing, advertising, and design firms that can assist you.
- Inform customers in advance. Keeping your customers informed gives them the ability to navigate construction and access your business. Examples include putting up signs or passing out copies of alternative routes.
- Gather customer contact information before construction begins to keep them apprised of road conditions, best routes, and promotional specials during construction. Consider sending weekly e-mails. If you keep customers in the loop, they may not be as likely to change their buying habits during construction.
- Get to know the construction supervisors. Having a good relationship with the construction leaders can help as issues arise. (Note: In the BRT buildout, Madison native Bill Plumley has been designated as the liaison.)
- Use Facebook, Twitter, and other social media to provide updates and remind customers you’re open for business.
- Inform current lenders of the project and see if you can restructure debt and lines of credit in light of potentially diminished revenues.
- Secure a line of credit while times are good. It’s important to get a line of credit when sales are up. That way, you’ll have it if there’s an emergency.
- Keep your staff lean. It’s an unfortunate reality, but if you expect a significant decrease in customers once construction begins, you may need to consider keeping a lean staff. Other options include job sharing or reducing hours.
- Reduce inventory. When possible, reducing inventory can be a useful strategy to respond to slower periods due to construction.
- Rework your budget if necessary. For instance, more money might be required for cleaning. While there’s little you can do to reduce the dust and noise of a construction site, you can focus on keeping your own business as dust-free as possible. If you only clean your windows once a week, you might consider increasing that during the construction period. You may also decide to allocate more time or money for general upkeep to minimize construction dust.
- Don’t relocate. Occasionally businesses facing lease renewals consider moving to avoid construction, but be careful because the city may end up reconstructing your new street just a few years later.
View from a skeptic: One man’s BRT critique
As a 2023 mayoral candidate, Scott Kerr’s skepticism about the Madison bus rapid transit program helped earn him 12% of the primary vote — not enough to advance but enough to make the $90 he spent on his contrarian campaign worthwhile.
Kerr, who works as a civil technician in the city of Madison’s traffic engineering division, made it clear that he does not speak for the city or traffic engineering, but as a former candidate for office. The reason Kerr got into the mayor’s race is the frustration of watching pedestrian-friendly infrastructure that was put in place on East Washington Avenue be torn out to accommodate BRT. Suffice to say, he considers the program a potential disappointment, citing the Indianapolis system — IndyGo — as a cautionary tale.
While city of Madison officials indicate that Madison can and will avoid unexpected developments that Indianapolis adjusted to, expect Kerr to remain a BRT skeptic. Among his concerns are that, initially, the stopping action of the 60-foot long electric buses tore up pavement at Indianapolis bus stops, so the city had to resurface them. In addition, he says the buses were not going the distance they were supposed to before recharging, and their range severely deteriorated when the temperature dropped below 50 degrees, so they had to install additional charging areas. City of Madison officials say the local buses will be charged at the end of each line with high-powered chargers, which should address concerns about their range.
Somewhat more controversial was his charge, refuted by both Madison Metro Transit and Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, that the new fare system would be an honor system that will make free rides available to everyone who ignores the payment kiosk. He cites the Indianapolis experience, as described in an investigative report by the Indianapolis Star, about how easy it was to skip paying the fare on the IndyGo red line, the first leg of that city’s BRT system.
Madison plans to avoid this by having riders pay by tapping their cards upon boarding.
In addition, Kerr charges the city did not research the availability of fiber optics to connect all of the bus platforms, and it has encountered an inordinate number of utility conflicts it failed to research with city infrastructure and private utilities. During the early construction phase, Madison Metro General Manager Justin Stuehrenberg acknowledged encountering utility conflicts, but also noted that such conflicts are expected with major infrastructure projects.
Construction contact is close to home
Construction projects to accommodate the east-west route of Madison’s bus rapid transit system will be executed throughout 2023 and well into 2024, with the system scheduled to open in late 2024. The city has identified a liaison and established several points of contact for businesspeople and residents who want information about the construction schedule and the work involved.
First, the liaison between Zenith Tech, the construction contractor, and the community is Madison resident Bill Plumley of the infrastructure consulting firm AECOM. As community liaison for the project, he will be the point man responsible for informing the public about construction updates, progress, and any issues that may arise. Residents who have attended the city’s virtual public meetings on BRT have already heard from him.
Plumley was born and raised in the Madison area, graduated from MATC and UW–Madison, and he currently lives on the west side, so he knows the city well, especially the BRT route. “I’ve been working in public engagement for about a year and a half now with AECOM, finding ways to get some useful information out to the public and promote meaningful conversations,” he said during a virtual meeting held earlier this year. “But that also means that I don’t have an engineer’s training. I don’t think like an engineer, or talk like one, and most folks I have worked with tend to find that to be a bit of a relief.”
His role as construction liaison is generally focused on much more acute and immediate matters, such as questions about ongoing work. “We’ve established a project email and telephone hotline that I monitor as a first point of contact to save people the trouble of chasing down the right person for an urgent matter,” he states. “What I am less suited for is broader, longer-term inquiries and project-to-stakeholder engagement, such as discussion about construction considerations and impacts in future phases or about planning for the second BRT route. I can certainly try my best to direct that sort of discussion to someone who could facilitate it, but it’s not quite the role I’m serving.”
Plumley noted that for information on the construction project, people can call (608) 622-9659 during regular business hours, or send an e-mail to BRTconstruction@cityofmadison.com. Project information will also be available at madisonbrt.com.
