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?

Government 2.0 is the idea of exposing government controlled data to the public, in an open standardized format. This allows the public to build applications utilizing the data, and allows the government to become more efficient and transparent.

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.