MCTS Wants More Feedback On New Route Designs

MCTS bus. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

The Milwaukee County Transit System is moving into the second phase of a novel planning project and holding a handful of public meetings in April.

In January, MCTS launched MOVE 2025 with the announcement of 32 potential changes to bus routes across the system. They were designed using data and general feedback collected through surveys and public meetings. The plan is to further develop and narrow down the route changes through successive rounds of feedback.

The planning process is playing out over nine months. During the first phase, in January and February, CTS collected feedback through a public survey and five public meetings. During the second phase, MCTS will hold three more public meetings in April and release another survey. The system has also created a set of interactive maps for the proposed route changes.

MCTS has collected more than 4,000 comments through 1,254 surveys during the first phase. That feedback, as well as the information collected at public meetings, led planners to narrow the ideas from 32 down to 17 and develop four more potential route concepts, as Jesus Ochoa, MCTS planning manager, told Urban Milwaukee.

“It’s their system they’re riding,” Ochoa said. “We have a lot of data to back up some of our decisions, but there’s great ideas out there that sometimes our riders give to us.

During Phase 1 it became clear that riders were excited about the prospect of greater route connections and greater geographic coverage, Ochoa said. There was significant support for changes like the idea to extend service along Beloit Road where it isn’t today, in tandem with a new route connecting Miller Park Way and the Connect 1.

There was also enthusiasm for a new route east and west along Drexel Avenue, running between the Ikea store in Oak Creek and the intersection of S. Chicago Ave. and E. Drexel Boulevard in South Milwaukee.

“A lot of workers that worked in IKEA or lived in South Milwaukee, they mentioned how they’ve been asking for something like this for years,” Ochoa said.

In 2021, MCTS implemented a major redesign of bus routes across the system, favoring high-frequency routes of geographic coverage. The redesign was budget neutral, and required the system to pull back service from some areas to increase bus frequency along the major corridors.

The results of MOVE 2025 are also being designed to be budget neutral. So new routes will require the system to pull buses from other areas of the system.

The nine-month process will result in the submission of a recommended plan to the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors. Once approved or amended, it will be implemented in the fall.

Public Meetings

April 4: MCTS Administration Building, 1942 N. 17th St., 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

April 8: Atkinson Public Library, 1960 W. Atkinson Ave., 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m

April 10: South Milwaukee Public Library, 1907 10th Ave., 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.