New Bus Rapid Transit Line Launches Sunday, GoldLine Ends

MCTS Battery Electric Bus. Photo Courtesy of MCTS.

The first bus on the long-awaited and labored-over East-West Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line will begin rolling shortly after 6 a.m. on Sunday, June 4.

Planning for the BRT system in 2016 and cost approximately $55 million to develop. The new bus service, called Connect 1, will provide high-frequency bus service with a bus arriving every 10 to 15 minutes, and buses will travel faster than typical service thanks to dedicated lanes along approximately 50% of the route, off-bus ticketing and traffic signal priority. The nine-mile route running east and west between Downtown Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center in Wauwatosa has elevated bus platforms that allow for level boarding, off-bus fare machines and digital signs updating passengers on bus arrival in real-time.

The service will eventually operate with a fleet of 11 battery electric buses (BEB), but it will begin service with a mix of BEBs and regular clean-diesel buses until the rest of the county’s electric buses are delivered. These will be the first BEBs to provide bus service in Milwaukee County. Another four have been ordered and will be operated on regular fixed routes as a pilot program, testing for future electrification of the fleet.

When service launches Sunday, fares on the BRT will be free through the end of September thanks to a sponsorship deal with Umo Mobility, the transit technology platform MCTS contracted with for its new WisGo fare system.

The BRT will be the first of its kind in Wisconsin, and the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) is already planning a second, larger BRT project to run north and south along the 27th Street corridor.

Changes to several bus routes will occur simultaneously with the launch of the BRT line. In some cases, bus stops that riders have been using for years will disappear and they will need to walk to or catch a transfer to another bus route. In at least one case, the proposed changes have not been greeted warmly.

The End of the GoldLine and Downer Avenue Service To Downtown

Until Sunday, the GoldLine runs between UW-Milwaukee and Downtown along N. Downer Avenue before connecting with the medical center and Brookfield to the west. The leg from Downtown to the west is being replaced by Connect 1 and an extension of Waukesha Metro’s Route 1. The East Side to Downtown segment is not getting fully replaced.

Current riders of the GoldLine to Downtown will have two options. They can walk four blocks west of N. Downer Avenue to take Route 30 from N. Maryland Avenue. or they can take Route 21 from N. Downer Ave. and transfer to Route 30 (or other routes) less than a mile south at E. North Ave.

Area business groups and residents are asking MCTS to provide a better option.

The Downer Business Improvement District and Milwaukee Downtown, Business Improvement District #21 have sent letters to county and transit officials seeking the restoration of direct bus service between Downer Avenue and Downtown without the need for transfers.

“The BRT should be an enhancement, not a tradeoff,” said Moira Fitzgerald, an avid transit rider that lives on the GoldLine route near N. Downer Ave. and regularly rides it Downtown, in an interview with Urban Milwaukee.

Before the GoldLine was created nearly a decade ago, Route 30 used to have two branches to cover the area north of E. North Ave. One would use N. Maryland Ave. and the other used N. Downer Ave. before they merged at the UWM campus.

The service frequency on Route 30 is being increased as part of the Connect 1 launch.

Route Changes Beginning June 4

• GoldLine (Wisconsin – UWM): Most of the current bus service known as the GoldLine will be replaced by the CONNECT 1 BRT and the name will be retired.
• Route 30 (Sherman – Wisconsin): Bus frequency will be increased along Route 30 as it will replace the GoldLine service that ran between Downtown and UW-Milwaukee.
• Waukesha Metro Route 1 (Brookfield): MCTS worked with the City of Waukesha‘s transit system, Waukesha Metro, to extend Waukesha’s Route 1 from Brookfield Square to the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center. This route will replace GoldLine Service, and riders will soon be able to pay fares for both transit systems using the same mobile app and fare system.
• Route 21 (North Avenue): Service along this route will be expanded to maintain daily service along N. Downer Ave. Route 21 currently does not run north of E. North Ave. to UWM on weekends or during the summer.
• Route 14 (Humboldt – Forest Home): Route 14 will be split up into two separate bus routes. The northern leg of the route will be called Route 14 and the southern leg will in the future be called Route 24. The new Route 14 will primarily run along N. Humboldt Blvd. between Bayshore Mall and Downtown, and it will offer a connection to Connect 1 at the station near the corner of N. Jackson St. and E. Wisconsin Ave.
• New Route 24 (Forest Home): The majority of Route 24 will run along W. Forest Home Ave. It will run between Southridge Mall and the MCTS Administration building, 1942 N. 17th St. It will also offer a connection to the BRT with a station at N. 16th St. and W. Wisconsin Ave.
• BlueLine (Fond du Lac – Mill): The BlueLine is being shortened so that it ends at Marquette University near the 16th and Wisconsin BRT station instead of further east Downtown.