Could Milwaukee Create a Regional Transit Authority?

MCTS Connect 1 at Wisconsin Avenue Stop. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

For the first time in more than a decade, Milwaukee has a chance at establishing a regional system for public transit.

Gov. Tony Evers’ biennial budget proposal includes changes to state law allowing the creation of Regional Transit Authorities, something that has been off the table since 2011. It would also create a new taxing authority for local governments to pay for transit routes that cross municipal, or county, boundaries.

Regional Transit Authorities (RTA) are typically independent governmental entities with their own taxing authority. They are created to manage and plan transit at a regional level. Local economies and transportation needs don’t stop at municipal or county boundaries, so why should public transit? At least, that’s the argument for an RTA.

“A Regional Transit Authority is essentially, in its most basic terms, creating a regional governmental body to replace multiple local bodies,” said Rob Henken, immediate past president of the Wisconsin Policy Forum.

The governor’s budget boosts — incentivizes, even — RTA creation by giving local governments the authority to establish a dedicated transit tax, something the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) has never had. The provision allows local governments to exceed state-imposed property tax limits in order to pay for any transit routes crossing municipal or county boundaries, provided they have signed agreements and passed a referendum to do so.

Milwaukee has history with RTA’s though it’s unclear if it has a future. Neither county transportation officials nor County Executive David Crowley‘s office have plans for establishing or even lobbying for an RTA, according to a spokesperson for the county. The Wisconsin Public Transportation Association (WIPTA) offered some praise for the proposal in a press release, saying it “appreciates” the governor’s inclusion of the RTA provision. Julie Esch, the interim managing director of MCTS, is also the chair of WIPTA’s board of directors.

Muting the response to the governor’s proposal, perhaps, is the reality that some of the biggest political opponents to RTAs remain in power. Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, for example, has sponsored legislation in the past seeking to repeal RTA authority across the state.

More than a decade ago, Milwaukee almost found itself with an RTA. One was created for the Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee (KRM) commuter rail line in 2009. A few years later, in 2011, Republicans led by Vos in the Assembly and former governor Scott Walker killed the KRM project and repealed the RTA. Democrats have also dashed hopes for an RTA. In 2010, disunity among Democratic state legislators sunk a bill that would have created an RTA for MCTS.

At the time, MCTS was finding it difficult to continue to pay for all the bus service it was running. Fast forward 15 years and that’s still the case. The transit system has a structural deficit that will reappear to the tune of approximately $17.8 million, once federal stimulus funds are exhausted in 2028.

“Often people think of the RTA as a funding mechanism,” Henken said. “But really it’s more than that.”

For transit systems that are struggling financially, it can be tempting to create an RTA simply as a mechanism for establishing a dedicated stream of revenue to run the system. But the real opportunities are found in being able to plan transit at the regional level, Henken said.

There are already thousands of commuters to and from Milwaukee County every day, so the benefit of regional transportation has already been established, Henken noted. From the perspective of a transit rider, bus routes that stop at the county line make little sense.

RTAs, however, pose political challenges beyond those that exist at the state level: it requires a new governmental entity and taxes. “I think citizens would, justifiably, be concerned about a new governmental body with its own taxation authority,” Henken said.

Currently county leaders have finite resources and have to make difficult decisions about where to put them.

“So from the taxpayers perspective, arguably, that’s a good thing,” Henken said. “From the perspective of the transit system that’s not a good thing, because it’s not only limited by what’s a reasonable amount of taxation, but it has to compete with other vital services, which, in the case of Milwaukee County, includes public safety and health and human services.”

An RTA would have more independence, and greater control over its own finances, allowing it to plan long-term in ways that have proven difficult for MCTS. The transit system recently scrubbed a long-term planning project for a second bus rapid transit project as it became clear the county would not be able to afford the operational costs without making cuts elsewhere in the system.

Dave Steele, executive director of MobiliSE, said a successful RTA might resemble the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District (MMSD).

“Our region decided a long time ago that wastewater and clean waterways was a regional priority, so they created a regional mechanism to do that, the MMSD, and it’s been very successful,” Steele said. “If it’s a regional priority, then we need to have a regional way of planning it, making it happen and ultimately funding it.”

The sewerage district has not faced the same revenue restrictions local governments have, and as a result it has better maintained infrastructure, planning long-term and successfully implementing complex projects, Henken said.

Local leaders should not pursue an RTA as a goal in and of itself. The goal should be a regional system for “rapid, fast and frequent” transit, Steele said. Even an RTA will have trouble accomplishing that without guaranteed, sustainable funding.

“The regional collaboration is a big part of it, but let’s keep it focused on what our end goal is, which is fast, frequent and reliable service that takes people where they want to go,” Steele said.

MCTS has collaborated on regional transit projects in the past, creating bus routes bringing Milwaukee residents to job centers in other counties and partnering with Waukesha Metro to join the Connect 1 bus rapid transit route to Waukesha Metro 1 for riders traveling between the two counties.

In 2024, MCTS unsuccessfully bid to operate the City of Waukesha‘s transit system. The revenue MCTS would have picked up from the contract would not have closed the system’s structural deficit. The real opportunity leaders saw was in greater regional collaboration.

“Ultimately, the hope is to illustrate how a regional approach to public transportation is a key component in growing the region economically,” Esch wrote in a report to the county board.

What comes next is unclear. There are no plans ready to go. An RTA, or some other regional transit system, remains theoretical. On top of that, the governor’s proposals needs to survive the budget process in the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature.

But, for the first time in at least 15 years, a narrow opportunity for regional public transit has been created. Will local leaders act on it?