Bus routes targeted for elimination, including freeway flyers, are restored in new budget proposal

Milwaukee County Transit System routes on the chopping block next year could be saved after all. 

Just over $4 million in local funds in the recommended Milwaukee County transit budget would be redirected to restoring the routes, the county executive's office announced Thursday.

Facing a $9 million budget gap, Milwaukee County Transit System leaders had proposed cutting 16 routes and ending parts of other routes. The company also said special service lines could be affected. The proposal would have totaled $5.9 million in reductions in bus service. 

The routes being restored are:

• Six Freeway Flyer routes — 40, 43, 44, 46, 48, 49.
• UBUS routes 40U and 44U.
• Shuttle Route 137.
• Route 52: Clement – 15th Avenue.

Service would also be continued on Route 55 Layton Avenue west of South 76th Street and east of South Packard Avenue. It would also continue on Route 80 6th Street south of Milwaukee Area Technical College's south campus.

But not all routes were reinstated in the proposal.

Four shuttle routes — 17, 219, 223 and 276 — in addition to UBUS Routes 42U and 49U would be discontinued. Special service lines like the Brewers Line and routes to the State Fair and ethnic festivals would end as well.    

"MCTS is the engine of job growth and opportunity for many of our residents, and while there were many difficult decisions to make in the upcoming 2020 budget, the bus routes that help thousands of people get to work, school and home every day will remain intact," Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele said in a statement announcing the recommended budget.

Milwaukee County Transit System President and Managing Director Dan Boehm said the focus was on maintaining a strong core of everyday bus routes, but given the magnitude of the budget gap it was necessary to consider even changing some of those.

That prompted residents and municipalities connected by those bus lines to reach out, he said.

Public input was among the factors that led county leaders to change the budget proposal. Members of the public spoke to the value of transit service, and transit users shared their concerns, he said.

Business leaders voiced concerns on behalf of their employees, Boehm said, and universities advocated on behalf of their students.

"We had some staff out riding buses, talking to passengers that would be affected by changes just to understand better what the impacts would be on them as individuals," he said.

MCTS has been sharing that information with the county executive's office, he said.

County Supervisor Steven Shea, who had launched a campaign to preserve services that serve South Shore communities, called Thursday's announcement a "great victory."

He said the proposed cuts would have essentially left the South Shore communities with only one route as an artery. That would have forced riders to travel a half-mile or more to reach the bus, a challenge for older adults and people with disabilities, he said. 

"I launched a petition drive to save Milwaukee County Transit System South Shore routes 48, 52, 55, and 80," he said in a statement. "Over a thousand Milwaukee County citizens signed the petition. The County Executive and his administration have heard the voice of the people and have restored these routes as well as others."

Shea told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that people he spoke to in his district were overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the routes, even if they didn't use them.

The $4.1 million in local funding that the county was able to restore to transit resulted primarily from projected health care costs for 2020 that were lower than expected, according to a statement from the county executive's office.

County Budget Director Joe Lamers said transit stands alone among departments in receiving the influx of tax levy dollars.

"While most departments are being cut, transit is being prioritized to save routes," he said.

But the funding is just a stop-gap for 2020, county leaders said.

"There's uncertainty in all of this, and it's not likely that projected savings translate into the exact same amount of projected savings in 2021 or 2022," Boehm said. "Hence, this is a short-term solution, this is year-to-year budgeting, unfortunately."

County leaders point to an imbalance between the ever-growing amount of tax revenue sent to the state by Milwaukee residents and businesses each year and the stagnant share of that money that is returned. They have been pushing their "Fair Deal for Milwaukee County" to avert a fiscal crisis and change how state tax revenue is handled.

The union representing Milwaukee County bus drivers and mechanics has questioned the transit system's budget figures and has argued transit cuts aren't necessary.

Former Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 president Bruce Colburn said the union supports the return of the routes but called for reinstating all the lines that had been slated for cuts.

"Transit workers along with some county supervisors had a big effort to make sure that routes were put back in place, but there are still routes that need to be brought back," he said. "And this also shows why when we talked about the fact of the transit system not spending money that could be used for transit, we think that has been shown to be true."

He said this shows there is money to pay for transit routes, and he pushed for efforts to improve and expand transit instead of cutting it.

The recommended budget also includes $100,000 for a new bus route to and from the Amazon distribution center under construction in Oak Creek. The route — expected to run from North 35th Street and West Fond du Lac Avenue through downtown and the near south side — would start operating in late 2020.

The proposal could change further throughout the budget process. Abele presents his budget to the County Board on Oct. 1.

Contact Alison Dirr at 414-224-2383 or adirr@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter @AlisonDirr.