Route 30 Will Return To Downer Avenue in March

MCTS bus on N. Van Buren St. Photo by Dave Reid.

Bus service between UW-Milwaukee and Downtown will return to Downer Avenue in March, restoring service to a group of East Side residents who lost easy access to Downtown last June amidst the launch of Connect 1.

Beginning March 3, the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) will run a split Route 30 between UW-Milwaukee and E. North Avenue, with buses alternating between N. Maryland Avenue and N. Downer Avenue.

Route 30 was the most popular route in the system in 2023, based on ridership data. The route follows a horseshoe-shaped route between UW-Milwaukee and Havenwoods State Forest and cuts through Downtown via Wisconsin Avenue.

There is no change to the route for buses running along N. Maryland Ave. When the service alternates to run along N. Downer Avenue, though, buses traveling toward UW-Milwaukee will cut west along E. Kenwood Avenue and run north along N. Maryland Avenue, making a loop through the college campus. Once the loop is complete, the buses will briefly travel south on N. Maryland Avenue before turning east on E. Locust Avenue to begin service south along Downer.

This split service above E. North Avenue replicates a prior iteration of Route 30 that MCTS ran before the 2015 creation of the now-retired GoldLine.

GoldLine buses traveled between the Upper East Side and Wauwatosa, running between Downtown and along Wisconsin Avenue. MCTS eliminated the route in June when it launched the Connect 1 bus rapid transit line.

While the Connect 1 runs along W. Wisconsin Avenue between Downtown and Wauwatosa, the leg between Downtown and UW-Milwaukee was eliminated. MCTS suggested Downer Avenue riders walk four blocks west to N. Maryland Avenue to board Route 30 or hop on Route 21 on Downer Avenue and transfer to Route 30 at E. North Avenue.

Local residents who frequently used the GoldLine derided the decision to end the Downer service and pushed MCTS to bring the service back. The new Connect 1 did not make up for the loss of the GoldLine for some of its frequent riders, especially given that they had to take two buses now where they previously took one.

“The BRT should be an enhancement, not a tradeoff,” Moira Fitzgerald, a former GoldLine rider who lives on N. Downer Ave., told Urban Milwaukee shortly before the launch of Connect 1.

Other route changes coming in March

Several other routes will be adjusted as part of the transit system’s quarterly schedule change.

Route 14: Buses will arrive less frequently, with one coming every 20 minutes during the weekdays. This change was made based on ridership demand.

Route 21: Buses will only run to the intersection of E. North Avenue and Lake Drive on the weekends. This change was made in response to Route 30 running along N. Downer Ave again. Weekday buses will continue to operate to UW-Milwaukee.

Route 24: MCTS is adding two late-night trips for third-shift workers.

Route 28: Buses will arrive more frequently, with a bus every 30 minutes on weekdays and every 40 minutes on Saturday. Buses will run until 11 p.m. on Sundays.

Route 33: Bus frequency will be improved during peak service hours in the morning and afternoon, with a bus arriving every 30 minutes.

Route 54: Buses will now arrive every 30 minutes on Saturdays during peak service hours.

Route 92: Buses heading north along Route 92 will make “limited service trips” along W. Brown Deer Road out to N. Lauer Street to bring employees of the nearby Coca-Cola plant closer to work. Buses will arrive every 30-35 minutes on weekdays and every 40 minutes on Saturdays.

BlueLine: The bus route was not altered, but it is expected that the buses will be on time more often. This is the expected result of some modifications to operators schedules made at the suggestion of the operators themselves.