BRT Line Records Big Ridership Numbers

MCTS Connect 1 at Wisconsin Avenue Stop. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

The new Bus Rapid Transit service that was launched earlier this month by the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) is already seeing significant ridership.

The service, called Connect 1, is seeing an average of 2,800 riders a day Monday through Friday, according to data released by MCTS Wednesday.

“We are thrilled with the early results on CONNECT and appreciate all of the positive comments we’ve received about our new BRT line,” MCTS President and Managing Director Denise Wandke said in a statement. “Thanks go out to all our supporters who have championed this project: elected officials, business leaders, transit advocates and our dedicated riders.”

In 2019, The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) recorded an average of approximately 10,000 trips a day in the nine-mile Connect 1 corridor, which runs east and west between downtown Milwaukee and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center in Wauwatosa. This figure, though, includes ridership from more than one bus route, including Route 30 which still runs along the corridor. Since MCTS began designing the new service it has estimated that by 2035 Connect 1 will average approximately 9,500 riders a day.

“Several route changes were made at the same time that the BRT launched, so this is a new route,” a spokesperson for MCTS told Urban Milwaukee. “It takes about a year for a new service to really take off, so we’re quite pleased with 16,800 rides in total the first week of service, June 4-June 10.”

Ridership plummeted at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been slowly returning. Systemwide, MCTS has yet to record ridership numbers ahead of or on pace with 2019.

Since launching, the top destinations along the Connect 1 have been Downtown Milwaukee (700 rides per day), Marquette University (500 rides per day) and the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center (200 rides per day). The most popular station is the intersection of N. Water St. and W. Wisconsin Ave. which is averaging 300 rides a day, according to MCTS.

“By modernizing transit, the BRT provides Milwaukee County with the transportation options people need to get to work, school and appointments more quickly and efficiently,” County Executive David Crowley said in a statement. “With sustainable funding, the County could continue to see the positive economic impact transit has on the businesses and destinations that transit brings people to.”

In March, the City of Waukesha announced that it would join MCTS’ new fare system and mobile app,WisGo, allowing riders to use one system of payment for both transit systems. Waukesha’s Metro 1 offers riders a connection that was previously served by the now-retired GoldLine, and MCTS reported that Metro 1 has seen ridership more than double from 300 rides per day to more than 700.

Connect 1 is being operated with the transit system’s first Battery Electric Buses (BEB). Currently, there are seven BEBs and five clean-diesels providing BRT service, with extra clean-diesels brought on at peak times. Soon there will be 11 BEBs, but the Connect 1 fleet will remain mixed — relying on a handful of clean-diesels to maintain service levels.

Umo, the company that created the platform for MCTS’s new fare system and mobile app, is sponsoring free rides along Connect 1 through the end of September.

Update: This story has been updated to reflect that the Federal Transit Administration recorded an average of approximately 10,000 riders a day in 2019, not 2,000.