MCTS Will Redesign Bus Network

MCTS Administration building, 1942 N. 17th St. Photo taken July 18, 2025 by Graham Kilmer.

With budget cuts on the horizon, the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) is planning to redesign the bus network.

MCTS recently began soliciting planning consultants to help the system redesign bus service over the next 12 to 18 months. The transit system expects to implement a new network design by mid- to late 2027.

“To help ensure long-term sustainability, MCTS is seeking a qualified partner to lead a comprehensive fixed-route bus network redesign study that will evaluate Milwaukee County’s current service and deliver a detailed, actionable report recommending changes,” a spokesperson for the MCTS said. “The study will help align transit service with available financial resources as MCTS addresses an ongoing budget deficit and prepares for 2027 and beyond. “

With the public procurement process ongoing, transit system officials declined to provide any further details on the planned redesign.

It will be the second major overhaul of the MCTS network in less than a decade. In 2021, the transit system implemented MCTS NEXT, which rebalanced system resources to favor high-frequency bus routes over geographic coverage. In 2025, MCTS rolled out a smaller planning project called MCTS NEXT 2.0, which used public feedback to guide the development of new routes and changes to the existing network.

The system has been cutting back on service since the rollout of MCTS NEXT five years ago. But after a surprising and major midyear budget deficit surfaced in June 2025, MCTS began cutting back bus frequency across dozens of routes — the very thing the new system was supposed to prioritize. Facing a $10.5 million midyear budget deficit, MCTS reduced frequency along 17 bus routes in October last year.

The surprise deficit caught elected officials and the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 (ATU 998) off guard. The union was in the middle of contract negotiations at the time. But the system has had a structural deficit for the past two decades, with growing operating costs outpacing public funding sources. Since 2020, MCTS filled the growing gap with federal stimulus funds released during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, those funds are gone.

The transit system went into the annual budget process for 2026 attempting to close a $14 million budget deficit. The Milwaukee County Board voted to add funds to the transit budget and the system was able to avoid eliminating any routes. Instead, cuts are reducing service hours and bus frequency along 20 routes, and five routes were shortened.

In December, new MCTS President and CEO Steve Fuentes warned county supervisors that early projections for 2027 suggest MCTS will face a budget deficit between $18 million and $20 million.

Fuentes assumed leadership of the foundering transit system in August last year. The 2025 budget crisis turned into a government scandal when top transportation officials failed to warn the county Board of Supervisors the system was running a multimillion-dollar budget deficit, in violation of county ordinance governing financial reporting. Then interim MCTS President and CEO Julie Esch resigned, followed shortly after by Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT) Director Donna Brown-Martin.

As Urban Milwaukee later reported, Esch and other top transportation officials planned to conceal the existence of a budget deficit until it grew too large and labor negotiations forced them to reveal it publicly.

Along with Fuentes, MCTS has a new deputy director, and Joe Lamers, who has led the county’s budget office since 2018, has taken over the helm at MCDOT. MCTS also has a new chief planner since the development of MCTS NEXT. Jesus Ochoa, an MCTS transit planner since 2017, was elevated to director of service development last year.