The previously announced new express bus service from the Milwaukee County Transit System, MetroEXpress, has likely made its impending arrival to regular riders with signs posted on affected bus stops all over Milwaukee County. MCTS has just recently released the full list of stops for the MetroEXpress routes and other affected routes.

As the US economy continued it slow recovery from the Great Recession, Milwaukee was left with a couple of failed development projects to complete or redefine, a changing real estate market, the opportunity to make small infrastructure changes, and questions about the future of transit.

The Milwaukee County Transit System has unveiled a name for the new express service, and for the three new express routes. The express service will be known as MetroEXpress, and will begin service January 29th, 2012.

In 1992, Marquette proposed closing Wisconsin Avenue to vehicular traffic between North 11th and North 16th streets, as well as North 12th and North 13th streets between Wisconsin Avenue and Wells Street. Closing a section of Wisconsin Avenue was intended to make the campus safer and more attractive, and it certainly would have had a big impact on the university and city, but would it have been positive?

Due in large part to a reduction in state aid starting in 2012, the Milwaukee County Transit System had planned for a massive reduction in service. Thanks to some last minute creative planning by those at MCTS, the vast majority of those cuts are on track to be avoided thanks to the use of CMAQ funds. The CMAQ funds, allocated out of a competitive bidding process, will provide funding to institute “express service” for two years along a number of key corridors which will replace segments of a number of routes. A public meeting, hosted by Supervisors Marina Dimitrijevic, Jason Haas, and Patricia Jursik, on the proposed Bayshore – Airport Express service was recently held to present the service to the community and answer any questions on the upcoming questions.

There is no question that the connection between Milwaukee’s lakefront and downtown is underwhelming. Despite the fact that they meet at Lincoln Memorial Drive, there is no grand connection between the two, which is unfortunate as the intersection of Lincoln Memorial Drive and Michigan Street is a gateway to the city.

Chris Abele was recently elected to fill the remainder of Governor Scott Walker’s term as Milwaukee County Executive. That gives Abele less than one year to accomplish anything as Milwaukee County Executive before he must seek re-election. Given the relatively short time for which Abele is assured to be in office, what can the newly-elected County Executive hope to achieve when it comes to transit?

The Milwaukee County Transit System lost ridership at more than six times the national average in 2010. The lingering effects of the recession drove down ridership nearly everywhere, but MCTS was hit especially hard and saw record low ridership for the second year in a row. A large part of the reason for the 4.75% decline in ridership was fare increases coupled with the elimination of 3 routes and the elimination of the information call center. In short, the continued funding reductions to the bus system did exactly what one would expect them to do, caused fares to go up, routes to be cut, and ridership to plummet.

Numerous signs point to a national economy that is recovering. Hiring has started to pick up, banks are starting to lend again, and locally ‘failed’ projects are slowly filling up. But everything isn’t great just yet, as here in Wisconsin there is a 14 month supply of homes available on the market, and nationally unemployment sits at 9.4%.

Starting this past summer, new buses hit the streets in Milwaukee County. Now that they have been out on the road for a few months, it’s likely that the “new car” (bus) smell has worn off. How do you feel about them now?