Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker wants to have a little talk about regional transit - you know, one of those "regional" talks which seem to surface when Milwaukee services are in jeopardy and Milwaukee officials are looking for someone to pay.

In this case, Walker is inviting local officials including Racine Mayor Gary Becker and Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian to a Sept. 4 meeting to discuss whether the Southeastern Wisconsin Regional Transit Authority might help out his county's financially strained bus system.

Walker's own transit plan, called SMART (Suburban & Milwaukee Advanced Rapid Transit), says that without major changes in tax revenues and government aid, service could be cut by 35 percent by 2010, according to news reports. His vision for the future of Milwaukee mass transit calls for consolidating it into the RTA, and there are lots of pretty pictures of how to build an advanced system with sleek modern buses and automated terminals to dispense tickets at bus shelters.

RTA was formed to deal with commuter rail service, a very worthy project, and that's where its focus should remain for the moment. There are reasons for building a truly regional transit system, and we should keep them in mind, but the time isn't now.

As county economies become more intertwined - look at the number of people who live in Racine County and work in Illinois, for example - the need may come to link public bus systems. Indeed, this was one of the alternatives considered during the commuter rail debates. At first, however, for the good of the region, it may make more sense to link Racine and Kenosha to the suburban Chicago system because more people may have an interest in moving south than north.

Public transit has always been a good tool for easing congestion and making sure that people who can't afford private autos can still connect with employers. But the price of fuel may speed the time when more people turn to public transit. Excitement about ethanol, biodiesel, and the hydrogen economy is good, but in reality these technologies are still under development. While the market is adjusting to new fuels, motorists may face ever higher gasoline prices and turn to public transit for economic relief.

All of this is speculation, however. There is potential for a regional transit system, but there is no immediate rationale. There is also no good evidence, no passenger studies, no congestion analyses, no carbon emission limits to combat global warming, no letters to the editor demanding that we link Racine, Kenosha, and Milwaukee counties with bus service. It's worth noting that the sole connection between the Racine and Kenosha transit systems (at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside) is no longer listed on the Belle Urban System brochure.

When the facts warrant thinking about interconnections, then we should seriously talk about it. In the meantime Walker's requests sound like the Brewers stadium arrangement, in which the whole region pays for some nebulous benefit, but in the case of transit there would be a much fuzzier boundary limiting the flow of money.

This is not to say that local officials shouldn't talk. Discussion - meaning two sides listening to each other - is always good. But when it comes to paying, let's make sure that what we really have in mind is the regional good.