TDA - Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin

The Governor Proclaims Transit Week

Excerpt from Governor’s proclamation. See complete proclamation on the right.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Jim Doyle, Governor of the State of Wisconsin, do hereby proclaim May 18 - 24, 2009 as

Wisconsin Transit Week

and I encourage all Wisconsin residents this week to consider utilizing one of our many wonderful transit systems as a clean and convenient way to get where they are going.

Wisconsin Transit Week Facts

Wisconsin's System

In Wisconsin, public transportation consists of a variety of services including: specialized, fixed route and shared ride-taxi.
Wisconsin has 71 public transit systems including 28 urban and rural bus systems and 43 shared-ride taxi systems
Wisconsin's transit system provides approximately 73 million rides each year.

The Benefits of Public Transportation
Saves Money

According to AAA, the total cost to drive a car is about 54.1 cents per mile. Public transportation provides an affordable, and for many, necessary alternative to driving.
Transit availability can reduce the need for an additional car, a yearly expense of more than $6,000.
Even after gas prices came down, Americans continued to utilize public transportation in great numbers, 10.7 billion trips in 2008 - the highest level in 52 years.

Helps the Environment

Each year, public transportation use saves the equivalent of 34 supertankers of oil, or a super tanker leaving the Middle East every 11 days.
Public transportation reduces the nation's carbon emissions by 37 million metric tons annually - equivalent to the electricity used by 4.9 million households.
Public transportation reduces pollution and helps promote cleaner air.

Provides Opportunities

Public transportation provides access to job opportunities for millions of Americans as well as a transportation option to get to work, go to school, visit friends, or go to the doctor's office.
By 2025, and estimated 20% of the population - one in five people - will be over 65. Providing mobility options is critical for older Americans.
Public transportation systems provide a vital link to the more than 51 million American's with disabilities.

Transit Week Resources

This year we've added a package of resources and ideas that can be used to promote your community's bus system and transit options, all as part of Wisconsin Transit Week, May 18-24, 2009. Select the ones that will work for you:

Click here to download a full-color, 11"X17" sign that you can print and display in all your buses. We suggest displaying it not only during Wisconsin Transit Week but in the days and weeks before; having these signs in your buses from May 1-May 24 would be ideal.
Click here to download a full-color banner that you can embed on your Web site. Again, we suggest displaying the banner from the beginning of May until the end of Wisconsin Transit Week. (To get the image you will need to right click on the image and select "Save Picture As" and save it to your desktop.)
Click here for a copy of Governor Jim Doyle's proclamation in honor Wisconsin Transit Week. Please feel free to share this decree far and wide, but especially with your system's employees - print and post it on a bulletin board, for example, or copy it into your system's newsletter.
Click here for the template of a letter you may wish to customize so that you can include facts or stories unique to your transit system and your community. You can send this letter to your city or community newspaper as either a letter to the editor or an op-ed article. As a reminder, it takes newspapers several days or more to publish letters they receive, so plan on sending your letter ahead of time.
Click here for a list of more ways to participate in Wisconsin Transit Week and promote the great work your transit system does and the important services it provides.