The Dane Transit Coalition is sponsored and coordinated by the Dane Alliance for Rational Transportation (DART). Read on to learn more about DART and its efforts to reframe greater Madison’s transit debate while rethinking our region’s relationship with the automobile.

NEW: Click here for further details on DART’s priorities for 2023-25.

 
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About DART

 

Who we are

We're residents of Madison, Wisconsin, and its neighboring Dane County communities who want a better, smarter, and more balanced approach to transportation locally and throughout our region. 

We're automobile drivers who want other travel choices, transit users who want more and better service, and diverse citizens who want more say in how major transit investments affect our communities, our families, and our individual lives. 

Above all, we're people determined to challenge transportation planning and spending priorities that leave us stuck in traffic and dependent on our cars, and that all too often damage and disfigure our cities, towns, neighborhoods, and rural areas.

 

 why we’re here

 

Transportation issues top local and regional agendas throughout Dane County. Major road and transit proposals stir controversy. New development creates anxiety about traffic, parking, and access. Concerns about equity, the environment, and local quality of life intensify interest in better transportation choices.

While these issues are often interconnected, public policy and citizen participation frequently aren't. Individual projects compete for attention, support, and funding. Public engagement with transportation occurs around the hot debate of the moment, or incidentally to broader economic or environmental agendas. State-level organizing sometimes eclipses local priorities.

DART is just about transportation, but about all aspects of transportation, and especially about transportation closest to where we live. DART's mission is to focus on transportation in a comprehensive and coordinated way and from a specifically Madison and Dane County standpoint.

 

what we believe

 

Transportation is about more than just driving. It's also about walking, biking, and riding transit. While making driving safe and efficient, we also need to make getting around without a car as simple, easy and convenient as possible.

People, not cars, should be the main focus of transportation planning. Roads and streets should serve all users, whether motorized or not. Better mobility and easier access for all, not just improved vehicular traffic flow, should be our main investment priority.

Transportation systems serve communities, not the other way around. Those systems should address the diverse travel needs and preferences of everyone, and support and sustain, not disrupt or degrade, the neighborhoods they connect.

Read more about specific project areas in which DART is working to advance its mission and values

 
 
 

want to help?

Start by joining the DART Facebook Group and/or following DART on Facebook and Twitter/”X”. If you would like to get on our mailing list to receive periodic updates on transportation-related developments and DART’s work, please complete our DART Membership form. Any of these are great ways to follow and participate in DART’s efforts, and DART hopes to add other ways to do so in the coming months.

Those not interested in membership but seeking more information about DART can use our DART Contact form. We’ll do our best to respond promptly.

Follow DART on Twitter

Follow DART on Facebook