Madison residents will have to wait at least one more year to see if they can legally eat a granola bar or an after-work bag of chips on Madison Metro buses.
The Parking and Transit Commission voted to wait approximately one year before amending a city ordinance to delete all Metro behavioral regulations as violations except smoking and possession and consumption of alcoholic beverages.
The PTC recently passed a policy allowing behavior such as eating, drinking out of open containers and listening to music with headphones.
If a person litters or is troublesome, bus drivers and their supervisors would be allowed to enforce punitive measures. The policy will be effective within the next year.
\I think we should wait to see how [the policy] plays out before removing the ordinance,"" said Commission member Sharon McCabe.
The suggestion to remove the ordinance was a ""housekeeping"" action, according to member Catherine Debo, so police would not have to respond to a person drinking from an open beverage can or eating.
""[The police] are not interested in being the litter police. It doesn't happen, people,"" she said. Debo added that citing persons for these behaviors does nothing to increase the revenue of the Metro.
The commission opted to delay removing the ordinance because some members feared the new policy was too vague and that there would be confusion on the buses without the existing regulations.
Madison resident and long-time Metro customer Rosemary Lee argued that buses will be chaotic without the ordinance. ""The buses will smell worse than they already do,"" she said, adding she would go ""stark raving mad"" if the city allowed people to listen to music on the buses.
""The policy isn't adequate now,"" she said. ""Believe me, I ride the buses enough. I know.""
The PTC also addressed the dramatic rise in gasoline prices and its effect on Madison taxicab companies, passing a recommendation to the City Council to impose up to a $1 surcharge on all rides for the next six months.
""This way we will get some breathing room and not go out of business,"" said Union Cab General Manager Karl Schulte.
PTC member Diane Paoni argued the surcharge was too high, especially because most city cab rides cost between $5 and $11.
""The surcharge is not going to be a long-term deal,"" assured Ald. Ken Golden, District 10. ""It's a temporary measure designed to deal with a very unusual situation.\
