Frustration With Paratransit System Persists

Transdev Bus Driving through Downtown. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Frustration with the county’s transportation service for persons with disabilities boiled over during a public meeting Wednesday.

Some members of a paratransit-focused task force vented their issues with the ongoing problems with the county’s paratransit service, Transit Plus.

Since 2023, Milwaukee County’s Transit Plus program has been provided through TransDev, a French multinational transportation company. The firm has had a poor track record so far, according to riders, and based upon comments at the task force meeting the same issues persist: multi-hour rides to travel short distances, late pickups and missed appointments.

Fran Musci, MCTS director of paratransit services, told the task force that TransDev has shown some improvement, on average, for on-time pick-ups and fewer missed appointments. All of the data suggests TransDev is “moving in the right direction,” Musci said.

Kevin Fortune, a member of the paratransit task force, wasn’t satisfied with Musci’s assessment. Based on his own personal experience and conversations with other riders, TransDev continues to provide substandard service and he thinks MCTS needs to do a better job holding the company accountable.

“The statistics and stuff sound good,” Fortune said. “But I ride it every day. It is not improving overall.”

Fortune said he didn’t think transit officials were being good stewards of taxpayer dollars, and asked what the plan is to improve service, noting that riders have had challenges with it for years now.

It is a “continuous process” to improve the paratransit service so that it meets riders expectations, said Donna Brown-Martin, director of the Milwaukee County Department of Transportation (MCDOT).

It’s possible that MCTS’ complaint process isn’t capturing all of the issues with the service, said Kevin Meyers, another task force member. He noted that he’s spoken with paratransit riders that have become so dispirited with the complaint process that they no longer report issues.

Same-Day Paratransit Ready for Expansion

MCTS launched a new on-demand paratransit service in August called the Transit-Plus Same Day Pilot, which is being tested as a possible replacement for the former paratransit taxi program.

Unlike regular Transit Plus, rides don’t have to be scheduled 24 hours in advance. Instead they can be digital hailed like an Uber or Lyft ride.

The program has limited funding (approximately $1 million) and, initially, there was concern the program would be swamped with demand. But so far, ridership is coming in way below what was expected.

The program has capacity for 50 to 100 rides a week, but is currently providing an average of 10 to 15, Musci said. The task forced discussed options for boosting ridership.

“We’re paying for a service,” Musci said. “I’d like people to be able to use the service that we’re paying for.”

The task force considered expanding what destinations are available through the service. To conserve resources, MCTS has emphasized that they don’t want riders using it for trips that can be scheduled in advance through Transit Plus, like some retail locations.

Another idea is to auto-enroll all Transit Plus riders in the same-day pilot, and ask them to fill out the enrollment form after they take their first ride.