MCTS Bus Service to Ozaukee Ends

By next week the Ozaukee County Express service from the Milwaukee County Transit System will be discontinued and replaced by a new service operated by the Ozaukee County Transit System.

Beginning Jan. 1, 2023, the new service will be provided through GoRiteway, a private transit company, and the route will be similar to the one operated by MCTS. But the service will also be more expensive and run for a shorter time.

The Ozaukee County Express is one of more than a dozen MCTS routes and services that will be cut or slowed down in 2023 as part of a $4 million cut to the transit system budget. The transit system faces a looming budget deficit estimated at approximately $20 million in 2025 when federal stimulus funds released during the COVID-19 pandemic run out.

The new Ozaukee County Express run by that county will still run southbound from Ozaukee County to Downtown Milwaukee in the morning and northbound at night — with the Walmart Park and Ride in Saukville remaining the first pick-up in the morning and the final stop in the evening. But in the morning, the service will only run from 6 a.m. to 7:45 a.m., according to the new schedule. In the evening it will run from 3:45 p.m. to just after 6 p.m.

While making its loop through downtown Milwaukee, the Ozaukee County Express will no longer go north of Schlitz Park along N. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive or W. Walnut St.

The daily and monthly rates for fares along this route will change. The daily rate for adults will be $5; for seniors and disabled $3. The monthly pass for adults is $140; for seniors and disabled $90. Previously, MCTS riders could access the Ozaukee County Express and UBUS routes with a premium monthly pass for $96 or $45 for seniors and disabled, which also gave them access to all MCTs routes.

Weekly and monthly passes and daily fares can be purchased online from the Ozaukee transit system or from the bus drivers with cash, check or credit card.

More service changes in 2023

As Urban Milwaukee previously reported, there will be a number of changes to MCTS service in 2023.

The Freeway Flyers routes (40, 43, 44, 46, 48, and 49) that were suspended throughout 2022 are officially being eliminated from the MCTS schedule. Similarly, the service to Summerfest, summertime ethnic festivals and Brewers Games are all being eliminated after temporary suspensions.

Route 137, which provided service to the Community Reintegration Center (formerly known as the House of Correction)is also being cut. It was also temporarily suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic, never to return.

Route 79 which ran between Wauwatosa and Menomonee Falls in Waukesha County is being eliminated.

Four bus routes are being slowed down, with buses arriving more infrequently. Route 34 (from Downtown to 35th and Capitol Dr.)  is slowing down from a bus every 20 minutes to every 30 minutes. Routes 88 (Brown Deer Rd.) and 92 (92nd St.) will go from a bus every 30 minutes to one every 40 minutes. MCTS is also planning changes to Route 52 (Bay View to South Milwaukee), but said it would not release the details until 2023.