MCTS Reports 45,000 Summerfest Shuttle Rides

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

The Milwaukee County Transit System announced that its park-and-ride shuttles provided approximately 45,000 rides to Summerfest attendees this year.

“Even with a smaller fleet and operations team we were able to pull off an incredible public transit operation,” said MCTS Managing Director Denise Wandke. “It was exciting to see how many standing-room-only trips we had on CONNECT.”

CONNECT 1 is the new bus rapid transit service that MCTS launched in early June. The route runs east and west between downtown Milwaukee and Wauwatosa. MCTS reported that it provided 17,000 rides on the CONNECT during the festival, with 3,000 rides in one day on Friday, July 7. The system did not break out how it calculated the CONNECT ridership to the festival, with the stop located several blocks from the grounds.

This was the first year since 2019 that MCTS provided shuttle service to the festival. The festival was canceled in 2020 and when it returned in 2021, the transit system didn’t have enough operators or buses to commit to the service. The transit system has struggled with employee retention for years and it has been using federal funds intended for bus purchases to backfill its operational costs, contributing to a dwindling supply of buses. In 2018, the company had 400 buses. As of March this year, it had 321 and 17 were set aside for training purposes.

Wandke and MCTS committed 15 buses to operate two park-and-ride lots this year. It was all the system said it could muster. Still, with two shuttles and the rides on CONNECT, MCTS estimates it provided approximately 67,000 rides to and from Summerfest this year. In 2014, when MCTS was operating far more shuttles it provided approximately 283,000 rides.

“Working with Summerfest leadership, we knew how important bringing back MCTS to the transportation mix was,” County executive David Crowley said in a statement. “I’m proud of how we collaborated to give attendees affordable public transit options to attend the biggest fest of the year.”

In 2021 and 2022, Milwaukee World Festival Inc. contracted with a private firm to provide shuttle service. The fares were more expensive the number of shuttles paled in comparison to the prior MCTS service.

MCTS is not able to compete with private charter companies for contracts and still be eligible for federal funding under Federal Transit Administration rules.

“We were thrilled to have MCTS bus service back for Summerfest,” said Sarah Pancheri, president of Milwaukee World Festival, Inc.  “We want to thank Milwaukee County and everyone at MCTS for their efforts, which served thousands of festivalgoers and our seasonal employees with a convenient transportation option.”

The CONNECT 1 proved a useful bus service for the festival, with its most easterly just a few blocks from N. Lincoln Memorial Drive at stop at N. Van Buren St. and E. Wisconsin Ave. It will eventually stop next to Lincoln Memorial Drive in the base of The Couture.

“MCTS CONNECT proved as attractive for tourists and weekenders as it is for employees during the week,” Crowley said. “Milwaukee County’s first Bus Rapid Transit line has quickly become a part of our everyday culture.”

The system did not provide ridership statistics for the north-south routes that operate through the Historic Third Ward and are heavily used by attendees.