Stephen Rees's blog

I would never have thought of Green Bay, Wisconsin, as being the kind of place to venture into untried fields of transit. But this story from the Fox River valley (the exurbia of Green Bay if you will) shows how transit can adapt to different needs of a sprawling area with jobs all over the place and no regular transit service possible

Valley Transit’s Connector service

What it is: A low-cost public transportation service to areas in and surrounding the Fox Cities, including sites beyond those on or near established Valley Transit routes. Operates from 4 a.m. to midnight, Monday through Saturday. Not available Sundays and holidays.

Annual budget: $136,050 annually, including $35,000 in United Way funding, $10,722 in projected fare revenue and state and federal public transportation funds

User fee per one-way trip: $3, or $1.50 plus standard Valley Transit fare for trips extending from transfer points on scheduled service routes

To schedule service: Call United Way at 2-1-1 or Valley Transit at 920-832-5800. Service can be scheduled within as little as two hours or as much as 14 days in advance

On the Web: www.vtconnector.com

Or to put it really simply, HandyDART for the rest of us (para-transit) . I have often wondered if there would be better dial a ride service if it were opened up to everyone. No one would tolerate the current level of service from HandyDART unless they were forced to by circumstances.

On the other hand it’s tough luck in Appleton if your job is in the retail or service sector where working Sundays and Holidays – especially for new hires – is mandatory.

In this region we are seeing jobs get smeared all over the landscape instead of being concentrated in regional centres, which was one of those policies that was central to the LRSP but which few municipalities dared try to implement. The developers persuded them that if they pursued it too diligently, the jobs would just go to the municipality next door. One of the reasons we needed a stronger regional body to overview land use in my opinion. It is already problematic for minimum wage workers to get to the new warehouses and distribution centres – like the HBC on No 8 Road.

Also notable – this is America after all – is that the initiative relies on charity – or is that an NGO? – to get going. You can’t expect much innovation from municipal agencies – look at the talent pool local politicians are drawn from.