Supervisors Nix Uber Rides for Bus Drivers

MCTS bus. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

County Board Supervisors, the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) and the transit union found themselves all in agreement Thursday morning.

The agreement was over a decision not to use transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft to pick up bus drivers at relief points. MCTS received $35,000 in the 2025 budget for a pilot program that would use ride-sharing services to pick up drivers who have gotten off the bus because their shift has ended. The board is moving to shift the funding to a similar program using vans driven by MCTS employees.

The on-road driver changes are called “relief points,” and they allow the buses to run a route all day long without a detour to bring a driver back to the station. Operators have been assaulted at these relief points as they waited for another bus back to the station. Their union, Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 (ATU 998), has frequently pushed relief-point-rides as a safety issue for its members.

Sup. Shawn Rolland sponsored the Uber amendment. At the time, MCTS officials expressed interest in the idea. They had recently begun running another ride share relief pilot program using two vans: one at the Kinnickinnic Station and another at the Fond du Lac Station. Another amendment included in the budget was sponsored by Sup. Justin Bielinski and provided funding to purchase additional vans.

MCTS is now asking the board to pull authorization for the ride-share program. Having crunched the numbers, transit officials say it will too expensive and funds would be exhausted in less than two months.

The union said it never supported the program, but supports an expansion of the van program. Union officials have also said the van program is exceeding expectations, and serving more relief points with only two vans than was initially anticipated.

Nycola Phifer, an ATU 998 steward and operator along Route 22, said she has witnessed reckless driving, crashes and fights near her relief point at the corner of N. 35th and W. Center streets during a meeting of the board’s Committee on Transportation and Transit on April 9. If she misses her relief bus back to the station, she typically will start walking back rather than wait another 10 minutes at her relief point.

Relief points are also, at times, missed altogether. Operators use the buses to get to relief points where they will trade places with a colleague currently driving. If their bus to get there is late, as they sometimes are, they will miss the relief point.

Sup. Juan Miguel Martinez introduced an amendment to a county board resolution Thursday during a meeting of the board’s Committee on Finance to move funding from the ride-share program to the van program. The amendment was passed four to 1, with Sup. Steve Taylor voting in opposition.

Taylor said he did not support either the ride-share program or purchasing additional vans for the van program. MCTS has expressed concern about being able to afford a van program with four vans, specifically the wages for the drivers.

The changes made to the relief programs will go to the full county board for a final vote later this month.