Save the SMRT

From La Crosse Area Transit Advocates:

At the September 8 La Crosse County Board planning meeting, the County Administrator recommended ending the four-county Scenic Mississippi Regional Transit service (SMRT) at the end of 2025 citing low ridership and a budget deficit.

Since December 2012, this rural public transit system has been available to serve not only tens of thousands of non-drivers, including seniors, youth, people with disabilities, those who can't afford to own a car, and members of the Amish communitiy, but also many others who prefer the SMRT because it is safer, more social, and less expensive than driving - students, workers, patients, people going to visit friends and family, shoppers, and those connecting with Amtrak.

We believe the proposal to end the SMRT has been made without enough concern for these riders and the far-reaching benefits of the service and without enough research into how the system could be improved to address the issues outlined. We strongly urge the County Board to fund the SMRT in 2026. 

We encourage everyone who understands that public transportation is an essential right to sign our petition, contact our County Board, and, if possible, attend a public hearing to speak for the SMRT.

Information about SMRT

• 2013 SMRT begins - Wisconsin Public Radio story, interview with Peter Fletcher
• 2021 Article: Success Story - RideSMRT: Increasing Transportation Options in Rural Areas
• Connecting Rural Communities - SMRT Bus celebrates 10 years (2022)
• Peter Fletcher describes SMRT at Sustainability Chat (2023)
• La Crosse County's SMRT page

You can listen to the audio of the September 8 County Board planning meeting where the plan to stop the SMRT at the end of 2025 was presented (starts at 31:09). The minutes of the meeting are here; they include a summary of some of the numbers mentioned in the audio. The presentation slides are here. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vEkG_8xSI7dHoNZ_bD66BhyGuDjqRX26/view?usp=sharing

If you haven't yet, please sign the petition at https://tinyurl.com/savethesmrt

Please contact - meeting, phone call, or email - your county board representative. Your personal SMRT story will have an impact. If you can't meet with your rep. in person or by phone, please email CountyBoardSupervisors@LaCrosseCounty.org

Ask your organization, club, faith group to send a letter supporting the SMRT, too!

IF YOU CAN, PLEASE COME TO AND SPEAK AT the THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 6 SMRT PUBLIC HEARING

AT 4:30 p.m. at the County Administration Building, 7th & State Street, La Crosse

AND/OR the

MONDAY NOVEMBER 10 Budget Hearing at 5 p.m.(full board will be there) 

 

 If you plan to speak, please arrive BEFORE the meeting start time to sign in!

Learn more about the issue at https://tinyurl.com/savethesmrtpage