Paratransit Taxis Launching Next Week

Transdev Bus Driving Through Downtown. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Milwaukee County is soft-launching a new taxi program for persons with disabilities next week.

It is the end of a long road for paratransit advocates and transportation officials that have been working on the Paratransit Taxi Task Force to develop a replacement for the former taxi program that disappeared. However, a new challenge begins, and that is how the county will sustain funding for this program.

The taxi program is a separate service from the county’s regular paratransit van program, called TransitPlus, which offers shared rides and requires riders to schedule their trips at least 24 hours in advance. The taxi program will allow people with disabilities to take unplanned trips on demand in wheelchair accessible vehicles.

Transportation officials have finalized a contract with VIA, a New York-based transit firm, to provide an on-demand transportation service — similar to a taxi — for people with disabilities. The program will be soft-launched on Aug. 27 to a limited number of riders, and then on Sept. 1 a pilot program will begin, Fran Musci, director of paratransit services for the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) told members of the task force Tuesday.

Fares for on-demand paratransit taxi rides will begin at $10 for a one-way trip. The county will cover the difference between the fare and the total cost for the service, which is approximately $90 an hour.

Approximately 5,000 TransitPlus riders are eligible for the taxi program. They are being notified by MCTS and asked to enroll in the new taxi program. The transit system will add them to the pilot program in waves, so as not to overburden VIA. The service will be available seven days a week, between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Because of funding limitations, the program has been scaled so that it can accomodate emergency trips for work and healthcare. Transit officials do not want the program used as a backup for TransitPlus van rides, and are asking riders not to call a taxi simply because their van ride is running late.

VIA has developed a mobile application riders can use to purchase fares with a debit, credit card or pre-paid credit card. Otherwise, riders can purchase a voucher in person at MCTS, which will automatically load onto their VIA same-day service account.

The county previously had a paratransit taxi program for years, but it never offered wheelchair accessible vehicles. The program disapeared in 2023 after officials found it was in conflict with federal regulations, in part because it lacked the accessible vehicles. Riders advocated tirelessly to save the program or bring it back, and county supervisors added $1.2 million to the 2024 budget to fund an alternative developed by the task force.

County policymakers are heading into one of the most difficult budget cycles in recent history, with a projected year-end budget deficit in 2024 and a structural budget gap for 2025 that will need to be closed before the year begins. Officials are already straining to balance the sizeable list of infrastructure projects the government needs against the very limited funding heading into 2025.

The program launches soon, but riders and advocates continue to press county officials for sustained, long-term funding for the program. A number have attended County Executive David Crowley‘s recent budget town halls to raise the issue.