The Milwaukee County Transit System unveiled one of the 90 buses set to join their fleet in 2010. The new buses will replace buses operating daily that are over 16 years old. Riders will welcome a more comfortable ride, with a relocated air conditioner, new stop buttons to signal the driver of your intended departure at the front of the bus, modern interior (no more quasi-wood paneling look), and LED lighting. The new fare boxes are not yet installed.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Mark Borkowski proposed lowering Milwaukee County Transit System fares to $1.00 from $2.25. Borowski, who has introduced the idea before, suggested it again in light of a budget shortfall of $10.2 million for MCTS next year. The idea is worth exploring given that MCTS has some of the highest fares in the nation, 90 new buses coming this summer, new fareboxes on the way, and failed to capture the ridership gains that other systems saw in 2008 when gasoline prices crossed $4 a gallon.

Any hope for a regional transit authority in southeastern Wisconsin is on hold, as the Wisconsin State Legislature adjourned without passing a transit bill of any form for southeast Wisconsin. The bill, AB282, was close to passage in the Assembly, but lacked a few key votes from Milwaukee-area Democrats, notably Representatives David Cullen, Peggy Krusick, and Anthony Staskunas.

The vote on the future of regional transit that was scheduled for a vote by the Wisconsin State Assembly on Tuesday didn’t actually happen, but a lot of small actions leading up to it did. Starting at 3:43 A.M. on Wednesday, April 21st, the Wisconsin State Assembly finally reached AB282 (which was intentionally moved to the end of their agenda around midnight when they started the session).

The wait is over, the Wisconsin State Assembly is set to vote on Assembly Bill 282 on Tuesday. AB282 is the latest proposal for a regional transit solution for southeastern Wisconsin, containing a funding solution for the bus systems of Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee County, as well as provisions to allow planning to go forward for the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) Commuter Rail system.

An interesting debate was covered by the Journal-Sentinel the other day about why bus ridership in Milwaukee County was dropping.

Politics are at work, given the election season. Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker blames the economy and is downplaying his decision to raise fares over the past several years, and transit advocates are saying that the drop is due to large fare increases and service cuts (fewer routes).

Starting at 6 P.M. on St. Patrick’s Day everyone who rides MCTS rides for free. The annual free rides are again sponsored by MillerCoors, who has been sponsoring the event locally since 1994.

If you drink, please think and don’t drive.

Below is a message from Kerry Thomas of Transit Now, a leading champion of mass transit for the Milwaukee region. There is a rally on Saturday in West Allis for transit funding for MCTS. We’ll be there, and we hope to see you there. Milwaukee can’t afford to have MCTS in shambles. Milwaukee needs dedicated transit funding.

McDonalds is launching a program to give away 75,000 free transit rides and an equivalent number of Angus Third Pounders. The program will be run in Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, and Washington D.C.

When the budget finally made it to his desk, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle used his extensive veto powers in a lot of ways. The most significant of which was arguably the line-item veto of the Milwaukee Transit Authority and the proposed 0.65% sales tax increase for Milwaukee County. Doyle did not veto SERTA, the authority which is to run the KRM commuter rail line, and the $18 rental car tax. This veto puts back on the drawing board Doyle’s proposal for a three-county sales tax to fund the KRM and bus service in Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee Counties, while at the same time not delaying the KRM development process.