Mass transit between Madison and Sun Prairie makes sense, but it's not a done deal.
Madison Metro is expanding service to Verona next year and is considering doing the same for Sun Prairie by fall 2006.
"We're still thinking about what kind of service, if any at all, makes sense," said Catherine Debo, general manager at Madison Metro.
A lot will depend on the results of a survey. The survey, which will get mailed out in January, will ask Sun Prairie residents if they want bus service and, if so, what kind of service they would use. Depending on the results from the survey, a bus may even run from Sun Prairie to East Towne Mall.
In Verona, Madison Metro created a new route because more Epic employees will need to commute to and from work when the company relocates. Epic is a Madison-based software company.
"We'll probably start with a commuter route like the one we're doing in Verona. Over time, we might grow to midday service," Debo said.
She expects, based on preliminary conversations with city officials, a Sun Prairie commuter route to mostly serve people who work in the Sun Prairie Business Park. A bus would make three round trips from Madison Metro's north transfer point to Sun Prairie in the morning and three more trips again in the late afternoon. Debo imagines a fast ride between the two cities, with few stops. She estimates service of this type would cost the city of Sun Prairie between $38,000 and $46,000.
Right now, thousands of Sun Prairie residents rely on taxi service to get around.
"The sole form of mass transit is the Shared Ride Taxi Service," Assistant City Administrator Margaret Powers said. "And every year they see their ridership grow."
Sun Prairie's shared ride service, which allows multiple riders to use one taxi, served 19,254 passengers when it started in 1998. The next year it served 40,545 passengers. Last year it served 73,365 passengers.
"The city is growing, and so is our need for good public transportation," Powers said.
At the beginning of this year, the city created the Transit Commission to address growing demands for public transportation.
"There was no oversight on the taxi service, and the council thought there should be," Ald. Richard Wanless said. "We also wanted to expand the number of disabled vehicles. As a result, the city purchased two vehicles."
Wanless is head of the new five-person commission. One of his main goals is to help at-need groups find reliable and cheap transportation. He would also like to see less traffic between Sun Prairie and Madison on Highway 151.
"When you have a diverse community, public transportation is very important," Powers said. "And Sun Prairie is becoming a more and more diverse place. Students need to get to jobs and extracurricular activities. The elderly and the disabled need to get around. And people may not want to drive in the winter."
Transportation is of particular importance for seniors, according to Barbara Bailey, executive director of the Colonial Club Senior Activity Center in Sun Prairie.
"Transportation to and from Madison can be difficult and expensive," she said.
More bus routes to communities just outside Madison mean more opportunities for travel and commuting for everyone who needs to, or just likes to, ride the bus, Debo said. Madison Metro already has bus routes to Middleton, Fitchburg and the town of Madison.
"We're just expanding the places that people can go. We think it's a great trend," she said.
Wanless agreed. "We're excited by the idea, but the big unknown right now is finding out what people in Sun Prairie really want and will use."