Attached to this post are links to the current bus route as well as the proposed route.
There are two major changes to this route. Eliminated from this route is the leg Webster Avenue to Morrow. Also eliminated is the leg from Elizabeth Avenue to Coffrin to Eastman Avenue. The second major change involves the return trip after leaving the UWGB campus. The portion of the route travelling west on University between Curry Lane and Humboldt will be eliminated.
The outbound Route 7 will travel down University Avenue after leaving the transit station and continue east on Humboldt Road. The route will then service the NEW Curative and Brown County facilities on Curry Lane before continuing on to UWGB.
The inbound Route 7 will travel down Laverne Drive and travel west on Humboldt and return to the transit station via University Avenue. The return service through the Laverne Drive will allow Metro to provide better and more sensible service to the apartment housing located on Humboldt Drive.
The purpose for the changes has to do with responding to customer requests about better service to UWGB and downtown.
Bus_Stop_Route_7.pdf
Proposed_Route_7.pdf
29 comments:
It looks a LOT better. Considering that I could ride my bike from the station to UWGB in half the time that it took the bus. Thank you for the improvement!
Now if the same could be done going to NWTC! Zigzagging around parking lots and strip malls is pointless and wastes time.
Where are all the comments. The Schmitt Park Neighborhood Association was told there were other comments and input on the blog. I see one positive comment. Are the negative comments taken down?
I think the proposed change needs to be tweaked. Eliminate use of Laverne Dr. and use Lake Largo Road instead. This option would still service the Humboldt Road corridor, make the Schmitt Park neighbors happy and yet keep the buses on time.
Replacing the Laverne Drive portion with Lake Largo would be the same timing (keep bus schedule), a concrete road (last longer), a less curvy road (safer for children and backing out of driveways), a less hilly road (safer in inclement weather), a 10 MPH higher speed limit (less residential), and serve new areas not existing more than 20 years ago when Route 7 was started. What could be a reason for NOT using Lake Largo that would overcome the above?
Many residents complained about the “roaring” noise of the busses as they barrel down Laverne Drive. The Route 7 part of Laverne Drive is not a flat area, but is a canyon, which amplifies and echoes loud noises. It is an “awakening” experience to listen to what a bus sounds like roaring down Laverne Drive at around 5:30 AM (and every half hour after that). NOW the plan is to have the bus roaring UP the street 15 minutes later (and roaring every FIFTEEN minutes after that). The “awakening” will happen at approximately 5:30 AM, 5:45 AM, 6:00 AM, 6:15 AM, 6:30 AM, 6:45 AM…....so much for working hard all my life so I could enjoy sleeping in at retirement. Consider that it takes more power (the bus engine has to work harder) to come back up the steep hill, therefore the noise will be even LOUDER when the bus goes up the hill. Why do the residents on Laverne Drive have to endure even more disruption? We have had more than 20 years of roaring. My first reaction is to say, "It's someone else's turn." , but that equalization is not necessary. There are alternative flat routes that meet GB Metro's needs and the "canyon effect" will be non-existent.
No buses should run on Laverne Drive or Mount Mary. Both streets are heavy residential, with hills, curves, and a sharp corner on Laverne. No one on either of these streets uses the bus currently, and would have the options of going to Humboldt or St. Anthony if needed.
I agree with the 3 blogs dated July 10 on all issues. The bus has been running down Laverne for too long of a time. You state that the total system is in need of repairs and changes; then make a change that the residential neighbors of Schmitt Park can support.
Lake Largo makes the most sense as the throughput route. You may even see additional ridership by opening the route up to many more residents.
How will this affect the high school students required to take the bus once school is in session again? Will they be walking a couple of blocks to take the bus? This would be especially hard for them in the winter.
I agree with a lot of what is said here, except for one thing. I wish people would stop assuming that no one on Laverne Dr. uses the bus simply because they do not. I know people on Laverne who use the bus and I know more people who would if the route were changed to better service both directions.
That said, I do not think the route necessarily needs to go ON Laverne to service it. I do think the Lake Largo Rd. option seems like a better option. I am not sure if it would save time in the route or not, but given the future build of the Mental Health Center, think that will change anyway.
I think the bus should still go to the corner of Eastman and Danz. There are a lot of students that live in the apartments over there too and there are quite a few people who utilize those stops and I really do not want to walk 4 or 5 blocks (one of which is very large) to University Avenue to catch the bus. one of the reasons I moved here is because it was very convenient to catch the bus.
The current slew of buses heading down Laverne Drive are a constant source of pollution, of both the noise and air quality varieties. One set of buses tearing through the neighborhood at 10-15 mph OVER the speed limit is dangerous enough to pedestrians, children and pets. How is our neighborhood to survive the extra "proposed" traffic? Every meeting and conversation we have had with a representative has ended with a very smug "we will do whatever we feel we need to do". The last time I looked at my deed and my property tax bill, I was listed as the owner of my house, NOT the Green Bay Metro company. This is OUR neighborhood. These are OUR homes and OUR livelihoods. This isn't just a convenient through-way to us. I am VERY disappointed that the city of Green Bay seems willing to strip away the serenity of our neighborhood so they can appear to be "greener" by adding more 1/8-full buses to a neighborhood that doesn't want, need, or deserve the extra traffic.
I certainly hope the Green Bay Metro foots the bill when Laverne Drive needs to be re-paved years ahead of schedule or when the home-owners are forced to put in sidewalks to make the area safe again after the increased bus traffic tears apart our community.
It is a dark day when a home-owner is left to feel that they have no say about what happens in their community. We have all invested our time, talent, and treasure into making this a beautiful neighborhood. God help us all if we lose that right.
As a resident of Laverne Drive, I appreciate the comments posted here with concerns about bus noise and traffic danger. The bus IS the loudest vehicle that travels down the drive and is a pretty significant disruption each time it comes through, and doubling that noise would be unfortunate. I also have concerns about the speed at which the bus travels, which has always seemed to me to be a danger to children on such a residential road. Finally, damage to the street is a legitimate concern of residents of Laverne, many of whom are having to pay a hefty fee this year for repaving when it is quite obvious that the side of the street on which the bus travels is much, much more damaged than the side of the street on which it does not travel.
At the same time, I do believe that my family would use the bus route to travel to UWGB and back if the route were more sensibly designed; the present route is not at all useable for residents of this road. In fact, the proposed bus route would allow UWGB students and staff living in the area to either bicycle or ride the bus to campus and thereby to get by without a car -- a transportation option that we sorely need in this community. Thus, I appreciate Green Bay Metro's attempts to rationalize the route and improve bus access to apartment-dwellers on Humboldt and to the UWGB campus.
If the bus continues to go down Laverne on the 1/2 hour, I'd like to see it return via some other nearby street, such as Mount Mary or even Lake Largo, so as to avoid doubling the bus noise, traffic, and damage to the street.
The proposed route is a definite improvement, in terms of the usability of the bus system. I often bike to UWGB's campus, and I would love to be able to take the bus in a more timely fashion.
However, I live on Laverne Drive, and doubling the bus traffic would be a real liability, in terms of noise and traffic. (Like everyone else who has commented on the issue, I'd really like to see the bus SLOW DOWN as it goes through the neighborhood.)
I think that it makes sense to run one leg of the trip through Mount Mary, or, even better, Lake Largo--assuming that the bus can still stop in the vicinity of Baird Elementary on both legs of the trip. This approach would both distribute the traffic and the access to the bus.
I agree with many of the comments posted here. The new route is a great improvement as it allows for better access to both UWGB and, as importantly, to downtown. As gas prices continue to go up, I think that it is becoming more and more important to the city of Green Bay that we have a well functioning transit system. I have been disappointed with the current route as it really doesn’t allow to get around town very easily and I envision using the new route often. However, I have a few concerns about the proposed route that I would like to share.
There are three problems with the bus traveling on Laverne as many times as it would in the proposed plan (4 times and hour): the speed it travels is unsafe, it does substantial damage to the street, and it makes quite a bit of noise.
With regard to the speed, the current situation is a real problem and I would never support any route traveling down Laverne, or any other street, unless there was a plan to decrease the speed the busses travel. A bus should never go over the speed limit. My understanding is that the new route has been designed in such a way that it would decrease the busses speed, as the bus would be able to complete its route without speeding, which is not the case now. If this is true, I would feel comfortable with the bus using Laverne some of the time but only if there is some sort of recourse for residents who live along the route if speed continues to be a problem. We have talked with officials, including the mayor, about the speed of the busses on many occasions and nothing has changed so you can understand why so many residents are reluctant to support a route on Laverne.
Regarding the damage to the street and the noise the bus makes, these can only be addressed by alternating the route between Laverne and another street (either Mt. Mary or Lake Largo). I think it is very reasonable to share the burden and benefits of living on a bus route with as many people in the neighborhood as possible.
Thank you for your hard work and for offering residents a voice on this issue.
I think the majority of people favor changing the bus route to allow to and from trips to UWGB. What people don't support is using Laverne Drive as the thru-put route to accomodate this change.
Laverne Drive is a NO TRUCK route, yet it supposedly is ok to send buses thru every 15 min.?
Keep the change to allow better flow through to the college, but not thru the neighborhoods. Using a road like Lake Largo, or Huron/Bay Settlement for both trips, which are both new and concrete vs. black top on Laverne and Mt. Mary. Bus traffic on concrete will cause less wear and tear on the roads and on the taxpayers pocketbooks.
Also, safety should be the number one issue here, and Laverne's grade is the same as Mt. Mary's (which are both not conducive to heavy vehicle traffic). Lake Largo and BaySettlement/Huron have a much smaller grade and are fairly straight. Both of these streets are also 4 lanes, vs. what's on Laverne or Mt. Mary.
There is alot of people, kids, pets walking on these two residential streets, which already has had many near misses with the bus traffic.
If the bus traffic is kept and added to Laverne or kept one way on Laverne and one way on Mt. Mary, it will only be a matter of time until the City comes back to us to put in sidewalks at our expense again (because it is unsafe to walk due to the bus traffic).
Just because the Green Bay Metro made a deal with UWGB to bus their students, does not mean the homeowners of Laverne Drive and Schmitt Park have to accommodate their plan. Why are hard working homeowners required to bend over backwards for a transient student population?
This latest comment (7/14, 8:29 AM), which compares "hard working homeowners" to "transient students," seems unfair to me. Here's a few of the reasons why:
1) This route modification is not simply about serving UWGB. It's intended to make the route more useful to everyone in the area who takes the bus. It should improve bus access to the city as a whole. It might well increase ridership, which would seem a positive thing.
2) Many potential users of the improved route are homeowners in the neighborhood. I can think of 9 or 10 homeowners just in the immediate neighborhood with connections to UWGB.
3) Many UWGB students live and work in this community for many years. Many of them work quite hard. They don't deserve to be labeled as "transient," with the implication (given the contrast to the hard-working homeowners) being that they are freeloaders who contribute nothing to the community. These students are our future teachers and doctors and business owners, and so on. Supporting them is good for the community and the local economy.
4) Public transportation is a public good. It may not directly benefit every individual in the city (or this neighborhood), but there are many indirect benefits. If we are going to have a bus system, the bus is going to have to run somewhere. Our neighborhood should be willing to bear some of the costs (in terms of traffic, noise, etc.).
look at 3 mather route there is a lot residential areas on this route do you hear residents on that route complaining some might complain about it and others are used to the noise. yeah they might be low to medium class people but some care and others
don't care.
I think the comment about the residents on Mather being low class people is (1) not true and (2) not a fair comparison. Many people who live on Laverne Drive are renters. They are wonderful neighbors and they have a just as much right to safety as anyone else. Mather is a safer bus route than Laverne Drive. Mather is not curvy and not steep. Also, Laverne Drive is a canyon, which amplifies and echoes noise. Mather is not a canyon. So when the residents of Laverne Drive complain about safety and noise, it is not comparable to the Mather route.
yeah some people on laverne drive are renters and some are homeowners. but some of people that live on the mather route are homeowners who pays property taxes for road inproves and the bus service others on mather route are renters. i use to live about 1/2 block where the mather route turns on ashland for kellogg and it don't bugged me at all add plus i live there for 21 years of my life and renting the whole time from the same landlord
There has not been a comment on Route 7 for about two weeks. Perhaps that's because there is not way to find the Route 7 blog unless one clicks through the "Previous Posts Notice of Information Meetings and Public Hearings", then through the "Previous Posts" again to Route 7. I don't think most people can even find the Route 7 posts to read, much less to add to.
I live on Masters Lane and I feel that the route going down Lake Largo would be better in the long run as it would be able to service more people than it does currently. The road is concrete instead of asphalt so it would hold up better than Laverne drive has in the past. Lake Largo Drive would provide more residential opportunity and it would be more convenient, It would still provide UWGB access, and Access the jail and mental health center.
I know where all the negitive comments went!!!!! Mr Phelps can not allow them through if he wants to as he is the " owner" and I thought that this was a city blog site. Well some one please let us know if this is a city site or not if not why is it on a city site and no warning that you are leaving the city site posted before a person comes to this site????
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Is there any way to file a complaint about a driver?
The lady driver for the #7 (I think she's pretty new) that sometimes drives the #7 that leaves Metro at :45 during the day is CONSTANTLY late! I've missed my connection several times and have twice been late for work.
I've noticed when any other driver is behind the wheel that the bus is on time. Will skill and speed improve with time or has she been working for you for some time?
Thank you for your time.
Feel free to call our information line at 448-3450 and ask to speak with a supervisor.
Please have the date, time, and other details as this will help us with our investigation.
Thanks.
Why are the meeting minutes not posted? it is still on sept. 17th.
Why are most drivers still speeding down Laverne?? The driver this morning had to be going 50mph !! I was walking with my baby in the stroller and my dog...and there was an elderly couple walking ahead of me. Do these drivers not care how dangerous thier speeding is or does a 25mph speed limit not apply to them???
As for the "lady driver" comment...I hope that she is not required to speed like the others. It is not her fault if you are late for work. The driver is following the LAW. Maybe your complaint should be about the schedule.
all these compliants about the bus on lavernre dr....
I wonder if any of the people ever had to walk through the snow in the winter, and there arent any arterials near that area, i do agree that it doesnt need to go through that area twice, however. Instead, have this route go by the red smith region from there it could travel down university the entire way back, "zigzag" free.
I will miss the Schmitt Park/ UWGB bus going along side of East High School. I work at East High so it is convenient for me and some students who ride the bus also.
In the cold winter months the bus would be packed. Going to and being picked up from East High. I was already frostbitten twice and I don't look forward to walking three or more blocks when the weather is below zero.
Route 7, as approved by the Transit Commission earlier this year, will service East High School as it always has. Updated maps will follow soon.
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