Eight months after the SMRT bus narrowly escaped shutdown, the La Crosse County Board is poised to permanently discontinue the embattled service.

The county’s executive committee Wednesday unanimously voted to end the service starting Jan. 1, 2027, citing rising costs, diminishing ridership and neighboring counties’ unwillingness to contribute toward operations.

“This is not a model that is economical or financially responsible for this region,” said committee member David Pierce.

The decision isn’t yet final. The full board still must vote on the resolution, and county officials said they would schedule a public hearing to discuss the program. But in both Wednesday’s committee and a Monday presentation to the county board, one thing seems clear: in the last year, the system's challenges have only grown.

‘We did not get one response’

Since it launched in 2012, it’s been funded by a combination of federal grants, local governments and other community stakeholders like universities and health systems.

In 2026, county staff reported the SMRT system will cost about $748,000. Over half of that sum is covered by state and federal funding, but the rest is paid by local counties and municipalities. La Crosse County administers the program and, as such, must pay for any shortfalls in local funding, which has left the county in a difficult position.

Historically, La Crosse County and has chipped in the most among local governments. But Crawford, Vernon and Monroe counties already have or plan to end their contributions.

In 2025, La Crosse County and its municipalities paid 32% of the total local funding — in 2026, that jumped to 81%, or about $227,000.

If the county chooses to keep funding the service even as its neighbors pull out, it’d have to pay 100%, or about $280,000. Those sums also don’t include the amount of staff time devoted to securing the service’s future.

The lukewarm response from neighboring counties isn’t all that surprising. In August 2025, La Crosse County staff sent a letter to Crawford, Vernon and Monroe counties explaining that without additional help funding the service, La Crosse would discontinue it.

“We did not get one response back,” said Sara Koopman, the county staffer heading the SMRT bus program. “A couple people just asked, ‘Well, can I take this out of my budget, then?’”

Most SMRT bus riders live outside La Crosse County, and ridership has declined by 27% since 2019. In 2025, the county estimates there were about 29 daily riders, making the daily county-wide cost $22 per rider.

Although county staff provided more recent data, the fundamental problems for the SMRT system haven’t changed — and for committee members, that was enough to recommend ending it.

‘Then what?’

This isn’t the first time the SMRT bus program has been threatened. La Crosse County planned to discontinue the service in 2025, but reversed course after a packed November public hearing. At the time, residents of La Crosse and surrounding counties emphasized that the SMRT bus was the only lifeline for people living in rural and underserved parts of the region.

“This room was packed,” said county board member Dan Ferries of that November hearing. “They kept saying, ‘This is our only resource,’ and I kept thinking … ‘How'd you get here tonight?’ … They're talking to the wrong county. Go talk to your own county.’”

After the hearing, the board voted to return the SMRT to their 2026 budget for a “transitional year,” saying they’d explore ways of making the service financially stable long-term but would scrap it if necessary. Eight months later, it seems like the latter is most likely.

“It's not an easy decision,” Koopman said. “But when you look at that $287,000 and you think of all the other things that we could do that would impact residents of La Crosse County, we could have quite … an impact,” Koopman said.

That’s cold comfort for many residents who rely on the SMRT service for everyday transportation. If the board votes to discontinue the program, riders will have until January to find alternative transportation options.

Although all committee members conceded the program wasn’t financially sustainable, some emphasized they haven’t stopped the search for a better model. County board member Dillon Mader said he wished the board had created a backup option for riders should they fail to resuscitate the SMRT, and that his vote was based on the assumption that they’ll address riders’ concerns.

“I hope and expect that that work moves forward, and that we find a model that does address a lot of the transportation and transit barriers and opportunities that were raised,” Mader said.

The county has given riders reason to hope. In August, board members will add new goals to their strategic plan, and one of them is to investigate a possible “multi-county transit commission” that’d address the transportation barriers riders have brought up.

But at least for a time, SMRT bus riders will likely be on their own.

“This resolution says we will end the SMRT, but then what?” said La Crosse resident Cathy Van Maren. “We need accessible public transportation … The SMRT is not a drain or a waste, it's a great investment in our people, in our economy and in our future.”

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