× Expand Southern Maryland Rapid Transit Madison could have Bus Rapid Transit vehicles like this one in Southern Maryland as early as 2022. But city planners concede that deciding where to route them through downtown is a “very hot issue.”

City transportation planners have spent the past year planning the fine details for Madison’s Bus Rapid Transit system.

BRT utilizes longer specialized buses, dedicated lanes and fewer stops to move more people faster. City planner David Trowbridge says BRT would complement existing Metro Transit routes and be the city’s next big step toward a more sustainable local transit system.

The first phase of the system — which would connect East Towne and West Towne malls — is estimated to cost between $120 million and $130 million and could be running as early as 2022. A possible phase two would add another BRT route serving the city’s north and south corridors. Trowbridge says there is also potential to extend service through partnerships with Middleton and Sun Prairie.

For now, the city is focusing on where the BRT line would run downtown. “In order for the BRT system as a whole to work we really need the downtown to work,” Trowbridge explains.

But designing BRT involves tackling a thorny issue that bugs some people about Madison’s current bus system: Why are buses running up and down and State Street, the city’s iconic street that is mostly reserved for bikes and pedestrians, and around the Capitol Square?

The city is now contemplating four possible BRT routes through downtown, including one that utilizes both the Square and State Street between the Capitol and Gorham. Another route uses the outer loop and State Street between Dayton and Gorham. Two other proposals route the buses between West Washington and University and Johnson avenues, by going south of the loop and utilizing Wilson, Doty, Broom, Henry and Butler streets.

Jason Ilstrup, president of Downtown Madison Inc., says that his organization is a big fan of BRT. But he says DMI’s members have for months been debating about the best place to route it. He readily admits that all the options have positives and negatives. “There’s no perfect route,” he says.

Madison Metro already runs many of its bus routes around Capitol Square and up and down State Street, so routing BRT here would be familiar to Metro’s current riders.

But Ilstrup says some DMI members worry about what that might mean, especially for the Square. “Some of the biggest concerns are the infrastructure that could be placed on the Square,” Ilstrup says. “The stations are very large, they’re raised platforms, very wide, because they have to fit the articulated buses.

“It’s also, what are the future uses for the interior Capitol Square?” he adds. “Could this be a really amazing public plaza space?”

Another drawback of routing the BRT through the Square and State Street is that buses will frequently need to be detoured for the many concerts, races, and the Saturday Dane County Farmers’ Market, as well as other annual events, like Maxwell Street Days, Art Fair on the Square and Taste of Madison. Currently, Metro already detours buses from the Square about 10 percent of the time, mostly on summer weekends.

“Because there are 70-odd events that require a rerouting of the buses, a lot of our members think that if you have a more set route on the outer loop or on Wilson/Doty street, that consistency will be good for ridership,” says Ilstrup, who says he’s a regular Metro rider. “You want consistency.”

Trowbridge agrees that detouring can cause confusion for people who are unfamiliar with the bus system. “For BRT to be successful it needs to be fast, it needs to go where people are needing to get to, from their homes to their jobs, to recreational activities, everything,” Trowbridge says. “It needs also to be intuitive and easy to use or people will not use it.”

Despite this concern, city planning staff argued in an October presentation that putting BRT on the Square and State Street, and detouring when needed, “appears to provide the greatest number of advantages.” City planner Mike Cechvala explains that this option would keep the buses nearest to key destinations, and there’s generous space for stations. This option would also involve shifting local bus routes from State Street to West Washington, reducing the overall number of buses on State. And, when detours are needed, they would move only a block away to the outer loop.

Madison gets about $500,000 a year — roughly the cost of one bus — in federal funding for maintaining State Street as a dedicated bus street. But even if BRT bypasses State, the city wouldn’t lose the federal funding, because there would still be regular buses running on it, says Metro spokesperson Mick Rusch.

Other decisions could affect city revenue. Putting BRT on the Square and State Street would have little impact on parking, removing only four metered spots. But routing the buses to the outer ring would require removing 85 parking spots, which generate $170,000 for the city annually.

The two alternatives that bypass the Square and State Street by routing BRT south of the loop along Doty, Wilson, Main and Broom streets, would require few detours for downtown events. However, it would require smaller stations, would slow travel times, and mean eliminating between 97 and 110 parking spaces, or about $200,000 in annual parking revenue.

At an Oct. 29 public meeting to get input on the potential downtown BRT routes, Madison resident Brent Teske said losing the parking revenue might be offset if the system encourages more people to ride the bus.

“What are the economic impacts of having a functioning bus system that is moving a lot more people more effectively, what is increased ridership going to mean for revenue there?” Teske asked. “What are we going to see long term if we continue to rely on cars to move people around? We’ve already said we are overly congested and cars are a really inefficient use of space.”

Robert Lewin said at the meeting he lives downtown and owns a car, but isn’t concerned about losing a parking space.

“The whole point of BRT is to make it easier and convenient for people from outside of walking distance to get downtown,” Lewin said. “If the price is fair, the service is reliable and people feel safe on it, then people who drive downtown to visit will no longer have to drive downtown.”

At the meeting, Trowbridge acknowledged that car and parking infrastructure is costly and can limit economic growth and development. More parking and auto infrastructure degrade the special nature of downtown, he said.

Routing the BRT system through downtown would involve combining bus, bike and right-hand-turn lanes. Teske said he is also concerned about how BRT would affect bike safety.

Trowbridge concedes that the BRT route downtown is a “very hot issue” that will eventually be decided on by the Common Council, with input from numerous committees. He says a decision won’t be made until January, at the earliest.

Ilstrup says that DMI hasn’t yet taken a stance on which option it prefers, although he expects the group to take a position in about a month.

“There’s lots of opinions,” Ilstrup says. “There are some people who like the Capitol route. But I’d say more people are coalescing around the outer loop route.”