“I think increasing public transit usage is often a missing piece of the conversation around climate change,” says Nick DeMarsh, member of the Milwaukee County Transit Riders Union (MTRU).
With transportation on par with electricity as the United States’ greatest culprit of greenhouse gas emissions—both at 28%—DeMarsh emphasizes the necessity to optimize opportunities for public transit improvement.
While drastic changes to transit infrastructure might be a longer-term vision, the consequences of greenhouse gas emissions and impact on climate change are anything but far-off. Milwaukee sees the implications of global warming in myriad ways, from extreme weather like the recent polar vortex, to endangered species like the rusty patched bumble bees that pollinate our plants and whose prosperity we rely on for food. “We're seeing the recent flooding as one example,” DeMarsh says, “This is an opportunity for us as an entire region to say that we take climate change seriously and we see that transportation is one of the easiest things you can do to dramatically reduce emissions.”
Though Milwaukee once laid claim to the nation’s best public transit system, earning the American Public Transportation Association’s Outstanding Achievement Award in 1987 and 1999, demise set in around 2001, coinciding with Scott Walker entering office as county executive. Frustrations with subpar transit experiences as a result of funding cuts, whether fare increases or reduced service, inspired a group of riders to form the Milwaukee Transit Riders Union in 2007.
Often working in concert with fellow transit-concerned organizations, successful collaborations have included working with Citizen Action to increase voter turnout by helping transit riders understand how policymakers’ decisions translate to daily experiences such as wait times at the bus stop, and by working with MICAH (Milwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope) to mobilize Milwaukeeans to call on our elected representatives to prioritize public transit in the proposed state budget.
Currently, the MTRU’s major focuses include securing dedicated traffic lanes for public transit use only (DeMarsh offers Dr. Martin Luther King Drive and Wisconsin Avenue as viable options), as well as a Regional Transit Authority, which would be an entity overseeing—and in theory, streamlining—inter-county public transit. They also propose a Regional Transit Authority.
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An all-volunteer-run organization, the MTRU welcomes community members to not only engage through already-defined campaigns, but to offer fresh ideas. Monthly meetings are open to the public, taking place the first Saturday of the month at 10 a.m. at the Milwaukee Environmental Consortium, located at 1845 N. Farwell Ave., Suite 100.
Learn more about the MTRU at transitridersunion.org.
