Bus Service Changes Coming Aug. 27

MCTS bus on N. Van Buren St. Photo by Dave Reid.

There are a number of minor changes coming to bus service in Milwaukee County at the end of August.

The Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) announced Wednesday that riders will see changes along nine routes that are intended to improve reliability and frequency or to detour around construction.

“The goals of the fall schedule changes are to adjust schedules based on feedback from bus operators and riders, modify schedules due to road construction, and to improve the frequency of service,” the transit system said in a statement.

The service changes described below will go into effect Aug. 27, which is not the only important date for MCTS riders in the next few months. Sept. 30 is the final day for M-Cards. On Oct. 1 they will no longer be usable with the transit system’s new fare collection system launched this past spring.

Detours along three routes running through roadway construction will continue into the fall.

The Connect 1 detour at the eastern end of the line will remain through late fall, looping up to E. Kilbourn Avenue before returning to E. Wisconsin Avenue and heading west.

Route 57 buses heading west will continue to detour off of W. Michigan Street between N. Vel R. Phillips Avenue and N. 5th. Street, where it instead runs along W. Clybourne Street.

The Route 12 buses traveling south will still detour off of N. 12th Street between W. Brown Street and W. Winnebago streets and run along N. 6th Street.

MCTS said the following routes will have their schedules adjusted to improve reliability based on feedback from bus operators and riders: Routes 14, 24, 30, 33, 51, 80 and the RedLine. The transit system said schedule previews will be ready on Aug. 17.

The transit system did describe the tinkering with scheduling and bus frequency along a handful of routes. The changes are as follows:

• Route 33: The afternoon schedule will be adjusted to better accommodate workers leaving Downtown on weekdays.
• Route 51: Between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. bus frequency will improve with one arriving every 26 minutes.
• Route 57: On Saturday bus frequency will be upgraded to one bus every 28 minutes.
• Route 80: The MATC campus in Oak Creek will see buses every 21 minutes between 5:30 and 9 p.m. and Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport will see service every 21-25 minutes between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.
• Route RedLine: Bus frequency will be upgraded around midday to one every 12 minutes.