Increased fares and large service reductions during the winter is unfortunately the perfect recipe for decreased ridership. MCTS reached pre pandemic ridership last fall and ridership has since fallen again this year so expect an ever bigger decrease next year.

I will really hope things can go as planned this time around and the state and federal government will actually help fund this line. If everything goes right, we can get Amtrak service to Madison and commuter rail service to Kenosha in the 2030s (maybe even Amtrak service to Green Bay).

sometimes a bus has issues with its real time tracking but I think this is the weirdest case yet with #5447 apparently being located in Elkhorn 😭

they’re still alive

Looks like no routes are going to be eliminated next year (which is great) but 16 routes will still have frequency reduced and 5 will still have their routes shortened. Routes 20, 28, 33, 34, 55 and 58 will run only during peak times 7 days a week, likely meaning reduced service hours.

With more battery electric buses going back in service on the Connect 1, a lot of riders are still confused on how the off board fare payment works. A lot of people are trying to scan their fare on the bus even though there is no fare validators on the electric buses.

i saw a wild 5100 series bus (#5183) roaming around west allis as a training bus a couple times today which was cool to see. I think MCTS is getting ready to retire the d40lfrs or at least retire almost all of them since only a few have been in service everyday now

Construction proposed to start by the end of the decade? I have dreamed for this day to come

i guess Waukesha metro is trying to copy most transit agencies by running shorter Sunday schedules on major holidays. This is why i always applaud MCTS for providing regular Sunday service on every major holiday, and not having service end very early on holidays like most bus systems do nowadays.

i was scouring google street view (like any regular person) and found this old little mcts d30lf from 2007

So basically WISDOT is probably going to copy what they did for the zoo interchange project and fund a new route or two or increased service, just for the funding to run out after a few years (even while the project is still under construction). Great job WISDOT, you did it once again

idk why but lately, Waukesha metro route 1 has been struggling with constant delays. For example this was yesterday, 4 buses were going east with of the 2 buses being 20+ minutes late. This created a large gap in service going westbound.

remember when route 68 was proposed to be extended into Ozaukee County providing service 7 days a week

I rode the new route 82 a few days ago and honestly it wasn’t that good. The route runs every 40 minutes from 6am-10pm and basically covers the old route 19 branch in oak creek. With route 82’s low frequency and reduced hours it definitely feels like a step down from route 19.

Idk why so many county supervisors are so car brained. Bus riders have to deal with fares that are nearly doubled and also have with reduced service, along with several route eliminations. Drivers really need to stop acting like they are the only ones suffering.

I keep forgetting how busy the RedLine gets. The westbound bus I was on after 6pm was standing room only by the time it left Shorewood! The route is always consistently busy on Sundays and definitely deserves improved frequency but current funding unfortunately does not allow.

the d40lfrs have awoken this morning, with 5352 returning to service after being dormant for a month

I’m glad to see people opposing the proposed route turn backs. Route 11 won’t serve Butler, route 24 won’t serve Greendale, route 80 won’t serve Glendale. These villages will lose all bus service, along with Hales Corner with the route 28 elimination.

omg these all are extremely dangerous, idk which one i would pick but the vintage one looks cool

all the electric buses are sleeping so instead we get XD40s and a old d40lfr 😭

This genuinely one of the most stupidest bills I’ve ever seen someone propose and it’s obviously only being proposed to please republicans and conservatives.

I was on the GreenLine earlier this afternoon near downtown and omg it was literally packed due to the NoKings protest (even more packed than Summerfest!) I heard several people on the bus say it was their first time riding a bus and they enjoyed it, which was great to hear!

MCTS bus system circa 2030 (if funding isn’t increased)

MCTS is quite literally going to go through a death spiral next year. I don’t think MCTS has ever proposed cutting this much service at once in its history. I can’t really say anything else now, besides the fact that we are literally losing our bus system.

Yeah let’s just eliminate the streetcar along with 6 MCTS bus routes instead of increasing the wheel tax by $10. How about we cut public transit service instead of putting the blame on state republicans for our funding problems! That’ll show them, right?

with the brewers going to the NLCS this year, a brewers themed livery like this would be great

after being out of service since July, #5314 lives to see another day (once again)

#6313 has returned to service this morning after being out of service since October of last year due to a reckless driver crashing into the bus

Rode the 28 earlier this morning along 108th street while it was running on hourly frequency and the bus was nearly packed by the time we got to greenfield Avenue. I can’t imagine what everybody is supposed to do if they eliminate this route, it’s a lifeline for most riders.

I went to family free day at the zoo today and it was so busy! The Connect 1 stop at 95th and bluemound was packed and many were riding Waukesha metro along with route 92 as well. Goes to show how important buses are! Though I do wish Saturday service levels were more frequent.

absolutely hilarious. Bob Donovan doesn’t support more funding for MCTS because of current fare evasion. MCTS had very low fare evasion before the pandemic, but here’s the funny thing, republicans still didn’t fund MCTS then because buses are apparently “useless” to them and everybody else.

when Waukesha metro cancels 3 bus trips on the only cross county bus route 🧍‍♀️

It’s getting really hard to understate how bad these service cuts, even though these routes are “low ridership” with an average of 300-900 daily rides, it doesn’t mean they are useless. With deficits reaching the 10s of millions in the coming years, route eliminations will be a common sight soon.

Cutting bus hours by 15%? That would correlate to over 200,000 bus service hours cut. What the hell

A new deal has finally been reached with MCTS and the union! This is great news, since negotiations have been going on all year. Now MCTS must deal with how to run a system that’s running out of federal funding on a 10-20 million dollar yearly deficit throughout the coming years.

route 19 casually providing 10 min frequency because everybody is 10-15 minutes late

Heads up to any Waukesha metro bus riders. Proposed winter changes would cut Route 1 service once again, cutting frequency on weekdays and Saturdays and cutting service hours. They also propose cutting all westbound stops in the MRMC. Routes 5, 6, 9 and 15 will also see cuts.

I finally saw the new protected bike lane on 60th street from Mill road to Bradley road and the road definitely feels much safer with the road diet now. Though it’s unfortunate that they didn’t include bus bulbs since now buses have to pull into the bike lane to reach the stop.

3 d40lfrs on the Connect 1 😭

an ancient bus running on the Connect 1 is so iconic

welcome back old friend

Proposed MCTS express bus system (circa 2010)

I would say over 95% of riders paid inside the bus instead of the outside fare validators on the Connect 1 today. One guy got on without scanning his bus card on the bus (assuming he used the fare validator at the brt station) the operator pressed the button on the bus to list him as an unpaid rider

i really hope the KRM actually gets built this time, since it failed the last 2 times. If we could get this rail line in the construction phase by the end of the decade, that would be so great.

The new route 74 that went into service last month is the perfect route to have a stop in the American family field parking lot. Having a local route have a stop in front of the stadium is honestly way better than the limited service brewers line we used to have.

I really hope MCTS doesn’t become one of those transit agencies that doesn’t run on holidays. Ridership is low on Christmas Day but, buses run on a Sunday schedule for a reason! MCTS is reliable and consistent in my mind, because they run service 365 days a year!

uh i don’t think this will end well for MCTS (funding wise) if the secretary of transportation gets involved. MCTS literally followed a FTA recommendation to make drivers not involved in fare enforcement, so it’s not exactly MCTS’s fault. Post 1/??

It’s exciting MCTS is finally getting ready to use signal priority technology along a few corridors in the coming years. The description of the new buses sound like the current 6400 series buses so the design of those will continue.

Does the Connect 1 not have off board fare payment anymore? Because why is FOX 6 considering people who don’t scan their fare on the bus as fare evaders? I was on the Connect 1 a few days ago and still used the fare validators at the BRT stop and had no issue.

i saw a “tax the rich, fund the bus” sticker on a traffic pole at 27th and Morgan which was pretty cool lol. First time I’ve seen one in a while