WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) – The Marathon County Metropolitan Planning Commission could be looking at making some transit changes this year.
According to Metropolitan Planning Commission Chair John Robinson, the committee is looking to develop new recommendations for communities in the area. “We’ve been working on these recommendations for quite some time. We had an update to the transportation plan last year and during the discussions, we brought in a consultant to see how we could better service the needs of the area and we’ve heard from the business community how important transit is to them and the growth of their businesses.”
Expanding bus service from Wausau to shopping and employment centers in Rib Mountain, Weston, Rothschild, and other communities has been kicked around for the better part of five years. The last round of discussions occurred in early 2020 but were halted when the COVID-19 pandemic began.
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Since then Wausau’s MetroRide bus service also saw its long-time director retire. Arran Hersey recently took over that position, coming to Wausau from Portland, Oregon where he worked with the TriMet transportation system.
The committee is expected to look at what communities such as Wausau, Weston, Rothschild, Schofield, and Rib Mountain need and what opportunities could there be to help achieve long-term growth such as expanding access to bus services and other transit resources to elderly residents in the area. Schofield and Weston will each have two people on the workgroup, and Wausau will have four including Mayor Katie Rosenberg and Alder Becky McElhaney. The remaining communities will have one each.
They’ll hold their first meeting in April to go over the current offerings from Wausau MetroRide, then set goals for expanding service. The group’s goal is to take data back to their communities for feedback next winter before making final recommendations next spring.
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