County Gets Serious About Buying New Buses

Old buses at MCTS maintenance facility, 1525 W. Vine St. Photo taken July 18, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.

Milwaukee County officials are trying to make it easier to budget for new bus purchases, but without any extra funding.

How? By creating a carve out in the annual budget that would insulate bus replacements from the general competition for county funds that gets more intense each year.

The county’s ad-hoc Capital Improvements Committee (CIC) voted Wednesday to create a carve-out for bus purchases, as well as the fleet of vehicles used by county government employees. The committee is comprised of county officials, supervisors, and local municipal leaders.

The proposal stems from a 2025 budget amendment by Supervisor Shawn Rolland, a CIC member. His amendment asked county staff to analyze the feasibility of creating a carve-out for bus and fleet replacements. The concern was that funding competition and tight budgets would cause the county to fall behind on these purchases.

Putting the buses into the budget at the beginning of the budget process “seems less disruptive” than trying to fit them in alongside all the other recommendations, Rolland said. “Versus having to insert them in later on, having to remove some beloved parks project that probably should not have climbed up all the way to the top of the list, or some other sacred cow item that is in there.”

Wauwatosa Mayor Dennis McBride, who serves on the committee, agreed. “I would add that one of the most important things government does is provide work opportunities for people by providing mobility,” he said.

The committee agreed and unanimously voted to prioritize bus and fleet purchases at the beginning of the budget process, moving forward.

The Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) has a structural operating deficit and, for years, has been using federal grants intended for infrastructure expenses, like bus purchases, to cover the cost of operating bus routes. The system has been working to keep up with its bus replacement schedule, and has made some progress in recent years. It has been slowly increasing the fleet size after hitting a low point in 2022 with 318 buses. Currently the system has 381 operational buses, according to MCTS. The system last had 400 or more buses in 2018.

In 2024, the system estimated it would need 150 new buses over the next five years. Like so many things, buses have gotten more expensive. The system previously budgeted approximately $500,000 per bus. Last year it was spent more than $600,000 per bus.

“The Capital Improvement Committee’s decision to prioritize bus and fleet purchases in the development of the annual capital budget ensures that these investments can be considered early in the budget process in future years,” a spokesperson for the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation told Urban Milwaukee in a statement. “Maintaining and optimizing Milwaukee County’s fleet of vehicles, buses, and other equipment is critical to delivering efficient services and transportation options for families and visitors.”