MCTS Avoids Full Route Cuts Under New Plan

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

After receiving extra funding in the 2026 budget, the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) has softened service reductions next year.

MCTS was initially planning to eliminate six bus routes in 2026, and reduce service along 21 others, to close a $14 million budget gap. The transit system no longer plans to eliminate any routes next year after receiving an additional $4.7 million in the 2026 budget, according to a Nov. 26 report from MCTS CEO Steve Fuentes.

Instead, MCTS will reduce service to only “peak” travel times on the six routes previously identified for cuts: routes 20, 28, 33, 34, 55 and 58.

“This service will be monitored, and adjustments will be made incrementally throughout the year to meet the appropriate service needs of the community and stakeholders,” the report states. “Peak service hours may vary from route to route, depending on ridership patterns, and will vary from weekdays to weekends.”

MCTS is also planning to eliminate sections of five routes next year, as Urban Milwaukee previously reported. These cuts will be delayed until March 8, allowing riders to prepare for the changes and maintain their current trips through the winter. The impacted routes include routes 11, 22, 24, 80 and 88.

MCTS is still planning to reduce bus frequency on 16 routes across the system next year to reduce expenses and close the budget gap, now projected at approximately $9.3 million.

For years MCTS has had a structural budget gap. The system does not have enough revenue to maintain service at existing levels. Costs rise every year, but the system’s primary source of funding, mass transit aid from the state, has largely remained flat. Since 2020, the system has filled the growing gap with federal stimulus funding released during the COVID-19 pandemic. It has now run out.

The stimulus funds were initially supposed to last until 2027. But in June, MCTS officials announced an unexpected mid-year budget deficit that led officials to spend down stimulus funding faster. The deficit came as a shock to the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, who had to learn that the county’s transit system was over budget from media reports.

Emails obtained by Urban Milwaukee showed top MCTS officials were planning to conceal the deficit from supervisors until the budget process began later in the fall. But the magnitude of the budget gap and contract negotiations with the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 forced the system to go public.

The additional funding in 2026 softens the blow of service reductions, but it potentially makes the budget deficit bigger in 2027. The amendment, authored by Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson Bovell, used a mix of increased sales tax revenue and debt, spreading it across various county expenditures and freeing up $4.7 million in property tax revenue. The additional funding does not come from a sustainable source, and if sales tax collections underperform next year it could create a budget deficit for the county.

Nicholson did not consider the move a solution to the transit system’s budget crisis and compared the amendment to applying pressure to a bleeding wound.

Same-Day Paratransit Saved

MCTS will also use funding in the 2026 budget amendment to preserve the same-day paratransit service it launched in 2024. Faced with a large budget deficit, MCTS initially planned to eliminate the service in 2026.

MCTS operates a paratransit service for persons with disabilities called TransitPlus. But riders have to schedule their trip at least a day in advance, and the system has reputation for being unreliable.

The same-day pilot program was created to replace a paratransit taxi service that was shuttered after falling out of compliance with federal regulations. The service allows riders to schedule a ride the same day through a mobile application. It is provided through a contract held by Via, a New York-based transportation company, and uses wheelchair accessible vehicles.

To keep the program going next year, MCTS will use approximately $750,000 to operate the service with limitations on what kind of trips are eligible for rides. The report from Fuentes suggests MCTS is considering limiting rides to medical and work-related trips, and also reducing the number of trips a rider can take per month using the service.

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