Madison’s Common Council authorized city government to work with a consulting firm Tuesday on a project to implement a new bus station downtown and heard a proposal to improve Metro Transit.
The Council approved an agreement between consultant team Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc, and city government, allowing plans for a new bus depot to move forward.
While the depot’s location has yet to be determined, developers and city officials are considering an area behind the Kohl Center, which could serve as a multi-purpose bus and rail service to move traffic from Memorial Union, where they currently pickup and drop-off passengers, according to Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4.
“The Memorial Union is not sustainable,” Verveer said. “It would be preferable to have a multimodal transportation facility.”
The Council also heard a proposal from Bill Schaefer, the planning manager at the Madison Area Transportation Planning Board, about improving perceived problems with Metro Transit over the next five years.
The five-year plan outlines key components the TPB seeks to correct within the Metro Transit system, including over-crowdedness on city busses and the high number of bus stops per mile.
Schaefer said the proposal was “just informational” and would need to be approved by Common Council before the city can adopt recommendations proposed in the plan.
“The purpose of the plan is to provide a guide––kind of a planning and budgeting guide––for Metro Transit in particular,” Schaefer said.
Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said he would support the proposal if it goes to a city Council vote and pointed out some key elements he thinks would benefit students.
“Getting from campus to other areas around town, whether that’s a grocery store, whether that’s further out by going to see a movie at Hilldale or to Sundance, those are elements where something like bus rapid transit would be a huge advantage,” Resnick said.
He praised the plan for being comprehensive and said it will be discussed more in the future, and added it will not have much effect this year.
“[The TPB] will outline what are our first priorities, and that’s what we’ll try to get done in the next year,” Resnick said. “Then there will be things we’ll be trying to shoot for in the next five years.”
