The Hop Has a Schedule
Streetcar begins operating with a public schedule. When will real-time data arrive?

The Hop schedule posted at the Milwaukee Public Market northbound station. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
If you want to take a ride on The Hop, you can now look up when and where to do so.
Stations along the streetcar route now have posted schedules indicating when to expect the next vehicle to arrive. Additionally, a master schedule is available on The Hop website.
When the streetcar launched for service last Friday, the public was left in the dark on when to expect the next vehicle to arrive. The system currently operates with 15 to 20 minute headways, meaning a vehicle should arrive at least every 20 minutes even at the slowest service times.
That didn’t seem to discourage people from riding on the opening weekend. Large crowds were spotted on vehicles throughout the weekend, even with the rain on Sunday.
The lack of a schedule generated ridicule from two council members in advance of the project’s opening. Project officials originally said it could take two weeks to make a public schedule available.
“So for the first two weeks [the public] is supposed to just guess when they’re coming?” asked Alderwoman Milele A. Coggs at a meeting of the streetcar implementation committee.
According to City Engineer Jeff Polenske, the city has been adjusting signal timings along the route in recent weeks to facilitate faster service and better on-time performance with an internal schedule. Polenske said the city’s goal is still to achieve 10-minute peak headways and 15-minute off-peak headways.
The schedules posted at the stops reflect the likelihood of future changes to the schedule. They’re not weatherproof, laminated or secured. Instead, they’re simply sheets of paper taped to the glass shelter.
In response to questions from Alderman Robert Bauman in late October, project officials said real-time data on vehicle location and arrival times would be available in December. Real-time data, in use on Milwaukee County Transit System buses since 2014, allows riders to have certainty on when to go wait at a stop by providing continuously updated arrival times based on GPS data from the vehicles.
Streetcar service is provided Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. until midnight, Saturday from 7 a.m. to midnight and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The system’s first phase connects the Milwaukee Intermodal Station with the Historic Third Ward, East Town and Lower East Side. The first phase has a budgeted cost of $99.24 million. According to a recent report, the project is both on time and on budget.
An extension along E. Michigan St. and E. Clybourn St. to the lakefront is scheduled to open in 2020. The two phases, approved in late 2014, together have a total budgeted cost of $128.1 million.
For more on the system’s history, read our extensive past coverage linked below, or our recent article “11 Things to Know Before You Ride The Hop.”
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits, all detailed here.
More about the Milwaukee Streetcar
For more project details, including the project timeline, financing, route and possible extensions, see our extensive past coverage.
- Transportation: Streetcar Service Goes From Bad To Worse - Jeramey Jannene - May 3rd, 2022
- Transportation: Should National Avenue Rebuild Include Plans for Streetcar? - Jeramey Jannene - Apr 8th, 2022
- Transportation: Maintenance Issues Reduce The Hop’s Schedule - Jeramey Jannene - Apr 4th, 2022
- Transportation: Congress Extends Streetcar Grant - Jeramey Jannene - Mar 16th, 2022
- City Needs Act of Congress Because of Couture-Streetcar Delay - Jeramey Jannene - Feb 1st, 2022
- Transportation: Streetcar Study Draws Controversy - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 27th, 2021
- Transportation: Streetcar Returning To Full Schedule - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 26th, 2021
- Transportation: Southside Streetcar Study, Street Improvements Approved - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 20th, 2021
- Transportation: City Proposes Study of Streetcar to Walker’s Point - Jeramey Jannene - Jul 8th, 2021
- Transportation: First Streetcar Smart Kiosks Installed - Jeramey Jannene - Apr 3rd, 2021
Read more about Milwaukee Streetcar here
Eyes on Milwaukee
-
Redevelopment Plans Dropped For Downtown Post Office
Oct 20th, 2021 by Jeramey Jannene
-
Dairy-Centric Apartment Building Wins Plan Commission Approval
Oct 18th, 2021 by Jeramey Jannene
-
Triciclo Peru Owners Could Buy Vliet Street Building
Oct 18th, 2021 by Jeramey Jannene