Don't blame Greyhound!

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 3:59 PM

To: Various city officials and alders

Subject: You can't be serous in blaming Greyhound for the "recent chaos"

On behalf of the Madison Peak Oil Group, Inc., we were incredulous to read the following statement, blaming Greyhound for the "recent chaos:"

Throughout the discussions Greyhound was repeatedly told that the recent chaos was not acceptable. They were specifically told that the recent chaos could not happen again. Greyhound stated that they are committed to serving Madison and to finding a location that works for the city and their customers.

The Madison Peak Oil Group was the first and one of the only voices in Madison to raise concerns in February of 2009 about the demolition of the Badger Bus Depot on West Washington Avenue. Our members testified to numerous city committees and the council about the need for the city to plan for a bus stop.


The city's response: Absolute disinterest! Completely blank faces when we asked whether staff and committee members had any questions or comments!

If a city staff person again says, "this chaos is unacceptable," we hope that the person is looking in a mirror.

Sincerely,

Ed Blume
Facilitator, Madison Peak Oil Group, Inc.
222 S. Hamilton St.
Madison, WI 53703
608.819.0748


________________________________________
From: Schmidt, Chris
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2010 11:55 AM
To: ALL ALDERS
Cc: Piraino, Janet; Mikolajewski, Matthew; Harmon, Ray; Dryer, David; Cieslewicz, Dave; Kamp, Charles; Cooley, Timothy
Subject: City meeting with Greyhound recap

Dear Alders,

At 4pm Wednesday, April 7 there was a meeting called by Ray Harmon that brought together several city staff members (from Traffic Engineering, Metro, and Planning and Economic Development), three representatives from Greyhound, Alders Bidar-Sielaff, Maniaci, and Schmidt, and former Alder Robbie Webber (acting in her position as chair of the LRTPC). The purpose of the meeting was to discuss short, mid, and long range plans for a Greyhound location. The Greyhound representatives included their Regional Vice President out of Dallas, their District Manager from Chicago, and their Area Manager from Minneapolis.

Greyhound updated everyone on their plan to have the station, with ticketing, at the TA truckstop at I-90 and US 51. During the discussion they were advised that Kelley Williamson Mobil on West Washington was available as a site for an intercity bus stop. It was decided that Greyhound would contact KW to explore the feasibility of using that location. Our ordinance does allow that, however there could be space issues with putting two buses at the curb at the same time, so Greyhound will contact Badger Bus to determine if there will be a problem with conflicting schedules. KW could work as just a loading site, especially if they retain a ticketing site at the TA trusckstop. In light of that Greyhound will also look for a site that can act as a mid-term solution, something they can use for a few years without moving. City staff offered to help Greyhound locate a site if they desire. Greyhound currently has a local broker working to find them a site. The long-term solution that was discussed was a multi-modal station. Greyhound is very interested in being involved in those discussions at an early stage. They've worked with other cities on such stations.

Throughout the discussions Greyhound was repeatedly told that the recent chaos was not acceptable. They were specifically told that the recent chaos could not happen again. Greyhound stated that they are committed to serving Madison and to finding a location that works for the city and their customers.

To summarize:
1) In the short term, Greyhound will continue to open their station at the TA truckstop. They will contact Kelley Williamson to see if they can do pickup and possibly sell tickets there. We also stressed the importance of contacting Alder Veveer since KW is in his district.
2) They will look for a mid-term solution to serve in the interim until we have a multi-modal station in place. City staff is ready to help as needed.
3) They support the concept of a multimodal station and want to be engaged in related discussions.

Alder Bidar-Sielaff contacted Alder Verveer on Wednesday night to update him on the discussion that had occured.

Best,

Alders Schmidt, Manaci and Bidar-Sielaff