Press Release  February 8, 2018
Citizens Taking Action for transit dependent riders
www.CTAriders.org
www.facebook.com/CTAriders

For Information:
Charles Paidock, Secretary(312) 842-5036 cpaidock@hotmail.com
Kevin Peterson(773) 896-8126 transitcatt@hotmail.com

$1 million marketing campaign by Milwaukee, Wisconsin

City Recommends Millennials Moving There Because It Has Poor Public Transit (?)

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation is conducting a $1 million market campaign that portrays a Chicago Transit Authority ‘L’ commute as a waste of time. Wisconsin's Governor Scott Walker is trying to convince Chicago millennials to move across the state line. The ad blitz promises young people a better quality of life.

Some have charged that the CTA is being complicit in this Chicago-bashing media campaign by posting the ads in rapid transit cars, starting this week. 

Citizens Taking Action has a recommendation for dealing with this. The way to counter negative speech is through positive speech. The Milwaukee ads appear to comply with the CTA guidelines for advertising, so no censorship is justified of these advertisements.  

Charles Paidock, Secretary of the group, says: "I do not fully comprehend, however, why a city would advertise not having a viable transit system as something that would induce one to move there? Public transit connects residents with jobs, schools, shopping, healthcare and recreation.

Here are my suggestions for an alternative, CTA ad campaign, which Milwaukee passengers could read as they ride."

“Just about everybody who can afford to commute by car does so”
 – Milwaukee Ad Campaign for Moving There

The real question is, why would anyone want to relocate to, or for that matter stay in city where there are limited transit options. The Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS), for example, operates 58 bus routes, and has no rapid transit lines. That's it. The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) has almost three times that many bus routes, with 140 routes, and the buses make over 25,000 trips daily, and serve nearly 12,000 bus stops throughout the region. And there are express buses, and ones which operate a full 24 hours a day.

CTA offers rapid transit rail service on eight routes, with 145 stations spread out over approximately 224.1 miles of track.  

Milwaukee has no such operations.

In addition to the city of Chicago itself, CTA extends into 40 neighboring communities. Also, along with CTA, regional transit services are provided by two other agencies, Metra and Pace - both of which connect with CTA bus and rail in numerous locations.

Metra, it should be noted, is the only commuter rail provider operating in Wisconsin, with a stop in Kenosha. 

The transit fares per ride are about the same, so there are no savings by moving to Milwaukee.

According to a website for Downtown Milwaukee, it is stated that "Cream City Rickshaw’s pedicabs are a popular transportation option."

Move to Chicago, where public transit is a priority, and taken seriously.