Heckuva Job, Scottie! Walker Throws Milwaukee Under the Bus

Another day, another story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel of  the Milwaukee County Transit System decline under Scott Walker's watch: 

Together, those developments mean that every effort to improve public transit in southeastern Wisconsin - or even to stabilize funding for existing transit systems - has ground to a halt, probably until after local and legislative elections.

Milwaukee County bus ridership last year fell 9%, to 42.5 million, the lowest level since the county took over the system in 1975. By contrast, national bus and train ridership hit a 50-year high of 10.3 billion, driven by rising gas prices and traffic congestion.

County officials have raised fares, cut service or both every year since 2000, moves that transit officials and regional planners have cited as major factors in the ridership decline. Fare-box revenue increased 4%, however, to $42.6 million, reflecting last year's 14% boost in weekly pass prices, from $14 to $16, transit spokeswoman Jacqueline Janz said.

The Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Planning Commission has warned that a 35% service cut could be needed if new local or state funding isn't found by 2010.

Truly this is frightening stuff that demonstrates Milwaukee cannot take much more of Scott Walker. But to truly appreciate the miserable failure that is Scott Walker's tenure as county executive, let's flash back to Walker's vision of the role of buses six years ago, before he was elected the first time.

From the March 29, 2002 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

WALKER: Opposed to light rail transportation systems. Supports a regional transportation authority that could include freeways, airports and mass transit. Says authority could include Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee and Washington counties. Says lower bus fares should be considered as a way to boost ridership.

From the April 28, 2002 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Q. The rubber tire system is vanishing. Service is constantly being cut back. Will that continue under you as county exec?

Walker: I think part of it would be looking at the market. That one (the current trolleys), you're looking at a system that's much more of a summer or warmer-weather type system, where they've tried to run it a little bit beyond that territory. When you look whether it's conventions or it's just attractions in general, with the summertime elapsing and (then) we hibernate for nine months and come out in full for three months and take advantage of every festival possible.

I think the other thing -- and one of the frustrations, in part, ties in with light rail -- is that (the trolleys were) viewed as a temporary fix until another rail-based system was put into place. There's never been the kind of promotion that you have with these type of systems in other parts of the country, where they have distinctive stops, where they . . . literally have a red line painted down the street and other things so that visitors, whether it's conventioneers or tourists, actually know (where the trolley runs), having in many ways some of the consistency of a fixed system without having the cost of a fixed infrastructure system. So that someone who's not familiar with the downtown area knows where it is, where the stops are, where they can get on and off, and where it goes to.

No question about it: Walker has serious skillz at not answering questions!

Q. I wasn't necessarily referring just to the downtown trolley. I was talking about the whole bus system. Service is being cut back constantly in the overall county bus system. I was wondering if that would continue.

Jim Ryan, gentleman that he was, stepped in to answer the question. Walker responded: what he said! And followed up:

Walker: ...  guess the other thing I'd expand on is I think (that) beyond just a transportation link, there's a very real economic issue involved, as well, not just within the county. Clearly you want to make sure that . . . the work force that's available in the county can get connected to jobs within the county, and the transit system plays a key role in that. But again, I go back to regional transportation issues, that increasingly, more and more jobs are appearing outside of the county borders. And while there are some limited links into Waukesha County, for example, there are not, in many cases, a reliable link . . . . There's got to be a reliable system so that people can depend on getting to and from work if a job happens to appear in a surrounding county, and they have to go live in Milwaukee County. I think there's a key connection to the whole jobs issue, not just in terms of transportation.

Yes, there is a connection to "the whole jobs issue" -- that essence of a Marquette University education clearly coming through -- and far from improving the system, you've made it worse. An honorable man would step aside and let new blood into a position he doesn't plan to hold for very long anyway. You, Scott Walker, clearly are not that man.

Comments

[Andrew]

I thought Walker was a Marquette dropout? That was what I was using to justify his poor mental acumen.

[capper]

He is a drop out. He quit school when he got his butt whooped by a write in canditate named Jack Quigley, when they were running for president of the student body at M.U.

Then the hypocrite dares to say he is for education. What a whacker.