Bus Cuts Leave Some Riders Stranded

MCTS Gillig bus. Photo by taken March 19, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.

Tony Crepeau takes two or three buses to get to work in the morning. His commute, on average, is about an hour and a half. Next year, all that could change.

Three out of the four bus routes he takes to work are on a list of cuts for 2026. Crepeau, who is blind, works at Beyond Vision, 1540 S. 108th St., in West Allis. Driving is not an option for him. But if the route cuts are adopted, taking the bus won’t be an option either.

What’s left isn’t great, either. The county’s paratransit system, which provides transportation for persons with disabilities, has a reputation for unreliable service, which has gotten worse in recent years after the contract was taken over by the French multi-national corporation TransDev. Services like Uber and Lyft are prohibitively expensive for most: Crepeau estimates it would cost him roughly $300 a week just to commute back and forth to work.

“It’s a lot of money,” he said. “So, yeah, I’m not sure exactly what I’m gonna do.”

One of Crepeau’s buses, Route 28, provides the nearest bus service to Beyond Vision. Route 28 runs north and south along the western boundary of the county, providing connections to bus service spanning the county east and west. Because of its proximity to Beyond Vision, when it disappears, it will create a hole in the transit system that makes life more difficult for people who have no other options. As routes disappear across the system, more people will be cut off from work, shopping and recreation.

The 2026 recommended budget includes a 15% service cut for Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS). That includes six routes eliminated and 22 routes seeing varying levels of service reduction. The system is trying to overcome a $14 million budget deficit after exhausting all of the federal stimulus aid — approximately $192 million — received during the COVID-19 pandemic. Along with cuts, MCTS plans to raise fares from $2 to $2.75 and the daily fare cap from $5 to $8.25.

The budget gap for 2026 was made worse by a $10.9 million mid-year budget deficit announced in June 2025. MCTS officials are spending down more stimulus funds in 2025 than previously budgeted, widening the already yawning gap in 2026.

MCTS has been underfunded for more than a decade, creating a structural gap between the cost to run the system and the revenue available. During that time, state mass transit operating aids, MCTS’ primary source of funding, have been frozen, or in decline. Ridership has also declined, bringing fare revenue down with it.

“Transit is an essential service that connects our riders to work, school, medical appointments, and daily life,” Anna Schryver, communications manager for MCTS, told Urban Milwaukee. “Proposing these service changes was a very difficult decision, as we understand the impact they may have on those who rely on transit the most.”

Crepeau’s first bus in the morning is always Route 20, which is being cut. He takes the 20 to Route 55, which is being cut. Then he takes the 55 to his final bus, Route 28, which is being cut. Sometimes he takes the 20 bus to Route 18, which isn’t being cut, but that’s moot if the 20 disappears.

He’s not left with many options. He’s thinking about leaving Milwaukee, but moving isn’t easy.

“It would be fantastic if I could find another job that’s closer to the house, that would be financially feasible,” he said. “Then again, I’m running into problems where, because I’m blind, people don’t want to hire. They won’t say that, but, you know, it’s obvious.”

Employment discrimination and lack of public transportation are twin forces that make it difficult for persons that are blind or visually impaired to find employment. In Wisconsin, it’s estimated that approximately 52% of working age adults with blindness or visual impairment are not working.

In 2019, Jed Moss, who is legally blind, packed up and moved nearly 200 miles from Menominee, Michigan to Milwaukee Wisconsin because he found work at Beyond Vision and because there was a public transit system. Despite plenty of factory jobs, he struggled to find work in Menominee, because employers were concerned about his ability to get to work, he said.

“The bus system is one of the things that drew me down here because I knew that I would have a reliable way to get to work every day,” Moss said.

Beyond Vision employs people who are blind and visually impaired in its manufacturing operations and corporate workforce. Moss started on the factory floor and is now a customer service representative. Like a number of his colleagues, Moss hops on a connection to Route 28 to get to work.

The company moved to its location in West Allis in large part because of its good connection to public transportation, said Rob Buettner, CEO of Beyond Vision, who is also legally blind. The firm spent 10 years trying to find a new property where it could relocate and expand.

“So we strategically moved to this area, recognizing that half of our workforce doesn’t drive and we wanted access to good public transportation,” Buettner said.

For employees like Moss, the cuts feels like “a slap in the face.” He and his girlfriend, who is completely blind and also works at Beyond Vision, expect the route cuts will force them to leave for work earlier — the couple already leave at 5 a.m. each morning — and get to work later, all while paying more per ride after the fare increase.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Justin Bielinski wants to save Route 28. He has heard the reasoning for the cuts: MCTS is targeting low-ridership routes to preserve bus frequency on high-ridership routes. Route 28, which averages 890 rides per day, is a low-ridership route, according to Jesus Ochoa, MCTS director of service development. But ridership isn’t necessarily the most important metric in all scenarios, Bielinski told Urban Milwaukee.

“I think that who is riding is almost as important as the number of people riding,” Bielinski said, noting that MCTS’ own job density maps shows Route 28 is one of the densest job routes in the system. He’s working with other supervisors on a budget amendment to preserve Route 28. But, many other districts are losing bus routes, or have park projects being delayed, and with a $46.7 million budget deficit for county government in 2026, there isn’t much funding to go around.

“MCTS takes a data-informed approach to every service adjustment, evaluating demographics, ridership levels, and Title VI impacts. Our goal is always to minimize disruption to riders,” Schryver said. “The proposed service reductions would allow us to maintain higher frequencies on our highest ridership routes, which move the majority of our riders, including those with disabilities.”

Route cuts don’t just disrupt access to jobs. Buettner uses Route 28 to get to work, but also uses it for shopping. He uses other bus routes to get to medical appointments, and as the system is diminished, so too is the quality of life for the people that rely on it.

The county has a public transportation service for persons with disabilities. It’s called TransitPlus and it’s widely considered unreliable by the people that rely on it. Neither Moss or Crepeau view it as a viable alternative for getting to work on time.

“The bus system is how we interact, and that’s how we get to places and put money into the community, and fully enjoy life in the city,” Moss said. “And the more they chip away at it, the more difficult it is for us to do that, and that’s very unfortunate.”