Simply, rail-based transportation is better for the individual, the community, small businesses and the environment. It’s proven to be the mode of transportation all around the globe.

Efficient

Energy--use less than autos.

Space-use less than autos.

Time-quicker than autos.

Trains look to the future not past

Promote the development of walkable neighborhoods.

Can easily hook to a future regional or national system.

Can convert to ever cleaner and more efficient energy sources.

Promotes community

Commuter rail promotes community, identity, harmony and cooperation.

Walkable neighborhoods filled with locally-owned businesses develop around stops

People ride together; feel bonded

People walk more, feels like a community

Riders make weak or strong connections.

No competition--speeders, budgers, lane narrowing

Cars promote isolation, alienation, aggression, competition; all deadly to our collective mental health.

More economical for individual and community

Individuals

No need to buy a car or air filters or control rods or . . 

No need to buy expensive insurance

Equitable--people with no car or no driver’s license can get around

Communities

Track maintenance lower than road maintenance

No plowing

No need for huge, space wasting parking lots

Easier

No traffic hassle.

No parking hassle.

Safer

Safer than driving.

No ice-covered roads or dead batteries to contend with.

No fender benders.

Why in Dane County?

Lots of track is already exists

Isthmus provides a natural funnel that 

Small, easy to implement

In Madison, most attractions are within a few blocks of existing tracks.

Here are examples of places within a few blocks of the track that runs--

From Sun Prairie to Middleton

Downtown Sun Prairie

Angell Park

Sheehan Park

East Town

Target

Walmart

Boulders Climbing Gym

Goodman Community Center

Atwood Avenue

Winnebago Street

Willy Street

McPike Park

East Washington

Breese Stevens

The Sylvee

Monona Terrace

The Capital

Brittingham Park

The Kohl Center

State Street

UW Madison

Camp Randall

UW hospital

VA hospital

University Avenue

Hilldale

Shorewood Hills

Spring Harbor

Old Middleton Road

Downtown Middleton

Greenway Station

From Waunakee to Oregon

Downtown Waunakee

Castle Creek

Yahara Heights Dog Park

Cherokee Marsh

Warner Park

Sherman Avenue

Hartmeyer Ice Arena

Oscar Meyer (or whatever replaces it)

Demetral Park

Burrows Park

Fordem Avenue

Future Madison Market

Tenney Park

Yahara River

Willy St

McPike Park

Monona Terrace

Lakeside Street

Goodman Park/Pool

Park Street

Quann Park

Alliant Energy Center

Vista, Prima, Raven Apartments

Downtown Oregon

Some objections--

Nobody rides trains

We don’t know what will happen. 30 years ago people didn’t need cell phones. The reason nobody uses public transportation in Dane County is because it’s not very good.

People all over the world rely on public transportation. Will Madisonians give up cars to ride trains? I’m not certain, but I’m hopeful. Daniel Quinn says if you want people to give up their toys, give them better toys. I think if people living in Sun Prairie rode a train to Camp Randall and discovered no traffic hassle, no parking hassle, no designated driver negotiation. . I think they would realize trains are a better toy than cars.

What if they break down?

Hundreds of cities across the globe rely on public transportation. Planes could easily crash, but it seems they never do. The small risk of it occurring once seems to be offset by the daily hassle of traffic, parking, fumes, idiot drivers . . .

What if we spend all this money and nobody rides them?

You’re right. It would be a disaster. But it’s ever so easy to try it and see.  The tracks already exist. We could make a small investment. We could ask the engineering club at the UW to design and make one or two self-propelled rail cars that seat 50, run on batteries, and give it a try. We retrofit an old school bus at a cost of maybe $10,000. We try two rail lines, from Sun Prairie to Middleton, and from Deforest to Oregon, ride for free all day. If it works, if people ride it, we expand to another bus, start charging, then trains, then stops. . .  Madison becomes a model for other places to follow, and we save the world. If nobody rides it, we dismantle the cars, recycle the batteries, and are out .2% (yes, two tenths of a percent) of Luke Fickell’s annual salary.