In order to support a rail service that won’t have even close to enough ridership to pay for itself, officials are proposing more sales taxes.

The proposed KRM Commuter Link, a train connecting Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee, has been discussed for quite some time now. There would be 14 round trips per weekday, with 7 round trips on weekends and holidays. Shuttle buses would run between train stations and local sites.

They say the rail line would be aimed at people looking for short trips between downtown Milwaukee and suburbs, not the riders who now ride the train between Milwaukee and downtown Chicago.

One of the reasons why some are pushing for this commuter rail is the scaling back of service by the Milwaukee County Transit System. Hello? Service would be greater if there were more riders. If there isn’t sufficient ridership, why should we continue to dump tax dollars into these transportation options?

I promise these people that the commuter rail will fail. The numbers currently forecast for ridership are bad in terms of how far the rail line falls short of paying for itself. Actual ridership will be well below those forecasts. Taxpayers will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on this, and in the end we will be left with some vacant train terminals and a whole bunch of useless train cars.

Who are these people who think that people want this rail line? The media cites “business leaders” who say we need commuter rail. I would put money on it that almost none of those leaders will actually be passengers.