For the second time in less than a year, members of the public gathered to express their support for the cross-county SMRT bus program. But this go-round, it was an altogether quieter affair.

Unlike the rowdy, two-hour November meeting, Tuesday’s hearing took a fraction of the time and saw just a handful of public speakers.

After four La Crosse residents stressed the importance of public transportation and the future harm to the SMRT’s riders, county officials remained resolute: as the budget tightens and neighboring counties refuse to chip in, La Crosse can’t afford to single-handedly bankroll a program that mostly benefits residents in other counties.

Public hearing for La Crosse’s SMRT bus quieter this time

After Sara Koopman, the La Crosse County staffer heading the SMRT bus program, gave a brief presentation Tuesday on the bus’s financial woes, a handful of county residents expressed their disappointment at the program’s end.

‘We just can’t’

“While it feels terrible to look at people who utilize … and rely on the service and say ‘no,’ at some point, that has to happen,” said La Crosse County chair Tina Tryggestad after the hearing. “Because we just can't.”

The program’s financial position has been dire for over a year. As COVID-era federal funding dollars dry up, and neighboring counties withdraw support for the program, La Crosse County has repeatedly picked up a greater share of the bill.

If La Crosse County decided to keep the SMRT bus alive through 2027, it would cost around $280,000 — or $37 per rider. That figure looks pretty steep to most county officials, especially as a tightening budget forced the county to cut positions from its Aging and Disability Resource Center, which the state requires it to maintain.

‘Not fiscally responsible’

In November 2025, dozens of Wisconsinites, mostly living outside La Crosse County, spoke for two hours about their dependence on the SMRT. They succeeded in persuading most of the board to stay the program’s execution, funding it for another year and briefly considering a handful of measures that might make it more financially sustainable.

County officials chose not to pursue any of those alternatives, which included increasing its service and investing in advertising, saying the numbers just didn’t add up.

“We worked really hard,” Tryggestad said. “The idea of expanding it or adding more service to a program that had already illustrated very clearly … that it was unsustainable — it's not fiscally responsible behavior.”

For residents who spoke at Tuesday’s hearing, that explanation wasn’t good enough.

Public hearing for La Crosse’s SMRT bus quieter this time

“My real disappointment is with the neighboring counties,” La Crosse resident Obbie King said of the termination of the SMRT bus program. King hasn’t owned a car since 2004.

After voting to continue SMRT Bus system, La Crosse County officials seek sustainable path

‘My real disappointment’

The four residents who spoke were all from La Crosse County, which Tryggestad credited to renewed focus on other counties that had already decided to revoke their funding, and all expressed disappointment in the county’s decision to end the SMRT bus program.

Some faulted county staff for not investing enough time or money into resurrecting the SMRT, while others thought La Crosse had been forced into a difficult situation.

“I’m just disappointed that we have to keep trotting down here to express the dire need that … the SMRT bus has for many people in the area,” said La Crosse resident Obbie King, who hasn’t owned a car since 2004.

SMRT Bus service gets green light in La Crosse County budget

King said that the SMRT’s end would make it harder to visit his friends, who live in Viroqua, as often as he had before. And although he wasn’t convinced La Crosse County has “put as much effort behind it as we would like,” King said the problem wasn’t just for La Crosse to solve.

“My real disappointment,” he said, “is with the neighboring counties.”

The service is slated to end Jan. 1.

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