According to Google Maps, it takes 17 minutes to walk entirely across the isthmus our downtown sits on, from the Edgewater Hotel to the Monona Terrace convention center, and you have to detour around the state capitol to do so. That’s about 10 blocks, and between city, county, and private parking structures, significantly longer than the distance between any destination and nearby parking.
But then, back to the topic of the meme, drivers will willingly add another 20 minutes to their commute by perversely choosing to sit in a traffic congestion, when they could park at a free park-and-ride lot and take the BRT downtown. Last time I went with my mother to a show at the performing arts center, we spent over 20 minutes breathing exhaust fumes just waiting to get out of the parking ramp. (Like many Baby Boomers, she’s weird about public transit. She lives two blocks from a BRT station; we could’ve been home already in the time it took to exit the ramp.)
I’ve tried using the bus system a few times but it wasn’t ever a good experience, or at least not better than driving and dealing with parking. It’s just now well built out. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the city I can’t get to faster by just driving and walking from the closest parking over parking at one of the ride lots, and waiting on the bus, riding, and then walking from the closest stop to wherever the destination is. Either option sucks really. I hate going into the city.
According to Google Maps, it takes 17 minutes to walk entirely across the isthmus our downtown sits on, from the Edgewater Hotel to the Monona Terrace convention center, and you have to detour around the state capitol to do so. That’s about 10 blocks, and between city, county, and private parking structures, significantly longer than the distance between any destination and nearby parking.
But then, back to the topic of the meme, drivers will willingly add another 20 minutes to their commute by perversely choosing to sit in a traffic congestion, when they could park at a free park-and-ride lot and take the BRT downtown. Last time I went with my mother to a show at the performing arts center, we spent over 20 minutes breathing exhaust fumes just waiting to get out of the parking ramp. (Like many Baby Boomers, she’s weird about public transit. She lives two blocks from a BRT station; we could’ve been home already in the time it took to exit the ramp.)
I’ve tried using the bus system a few times but it wasn’t ever a good experience, or at least not better than driving and dealing with parking. It’s just now well built out. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the city I can’t get to faster by just driving and walking from the closest parking over parking at one of the ride lots, and waiting on the bus, riding, and then walking from the closest stop to wherever the destination is. Either option sucks really. I hate going into the city.