The Dane County Board voted 20 to 16 to establish a regional transit authority Thursday that would oversee mass transportation planning within the county.
The vote falls in line with the 22-13 vote the board sent as a signal of support to the state government for the creation of an RTA in 2007.
The resolution would give the new RTA the powers of taxation and eminent domain. It would bring Madison one step closer to building commuter rail through the isthmus and out into its surrounding communities.
Members of the public on both sides of the debate were invited to voice their opinions and weigh in before the vote, and the audience was standing-room only.
UW-Madison student members of Wisconsin Students Public Interest Research Group stood outside with posters reading ""RTA is the WAY"" and urged attendees to support the creation of the new transit authority.
Adam Johnson, Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs Committee chair, said he and the rest of ASM support the creation of the RTA.
""We have a vested interest in this community while we are here as students,"" he said. ""We want to make Madison a great place to stay and work and live.""
UW-Madison as an institution has great demand for transportation within the region. In any given year, UW-Madison accounts for 60,000 students, faculty and staff, as well as nearly 1.4 million visitors.
UW-Madison Transportation Services Director Patrick Klass also endorsed the creation of the RTA for this reason. He said UW-Madison has capped its number of parking spots on campus and that UW-Madison students, faculty and staff will rely on the creation of a multimodal system to meet their ongoing transportation needs.
Still, many members of the audience took issue with the RTA's new powers of taxation and argued for a public referendum before moving forward.
Speakers in opposition to the formation of the RTA rallied around the slogan that the creation of the RTA represented ""taxation without representation.""
The creation of the regional transit authority clears the way for a referendum specific to RTA communities to be placed on the November 2010 ballot.
