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Commission accepts Department of Transportation annual operations report showing ridership gains and safety trends
Summary
Commissioners accepted the Department of Transportation’s annual operations report. Staff highlighted COVID-era travel changes, declining local fatalities on city-controlled streets, increased ridership on new BRT routes, and parking revenue trends.
The Transportation Commission accepted the Department of Transportation annual operations report, which summarized trends in traffic volumes, safety outcomes, transit ridership and parking revenue.
Staff noted that since the COVID‑19 pandemic local street travel volumes remain below pre‑pandemic levels while interstate and beltline traffic has rebounded. The city’s traffic fatalities on city‑controlled streets fell from 13 in 2023 to 5 in 2024 (staff emphasized year‑to‑year variability and sample‑size limits). Metro Transit reported overall ridership increases; staff highlighted the East‑West Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) launch and a 16% month‑over‑month increase in systemwide trips for a recent February sample. Metro’s annual operating budget and revenue sources were summarized: Madison contributes about 23.8% of the system budget; state and partner contributions and federal funds also support operations.
Parking revenues have generally recovered toward pre‑pandemic levels across most garages, though the State Street Campus garage showed a reduction largely because part of the garage was taken out for redevelopment. Staff also summarized multimodal accomplishments over the past year, including miles of new protected bikeways, Safe Streets Madison projects and the fast‑fare system rollout. The commission voted to accept the report by unanimous consent; commissioners thanked staff for the work.
