Bus System Fare Evasion Plan Gets Chilly Reception

6400 series Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) bus. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

For supervisors, and transit union leaders, the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) plan for fare evasion doesn’t quite add up.

There was skepticism of the budgetary estimates and data for the new fare evasion plans presented during a meeting of the Committee on Transportation and Transit Wednesday.

MCTS officials prepared a list of strategies for reducing fare evasion across the system, which is now estimated to be as high as 33% of all riders, according to the report. Supervisors requested a fare evasion plan in July after MCTS shocked them by announcing a $10.9 million operating deficit the month prior. Once the deficit was announced, supervisors started prying into the system finances and learned MCTS estimated that one in four riders don’t pay their fare. That estimate is now up to one in three.

The new bus rapid transit route called the Connect 1 was highlighted as a major source of fare evasion. Riders are still changing habits after the route launched with free fares in 2023. The service also employs off-bus fare validators, which makes it easier to board without paying.

The list of ideas included two cost-neutral plans — public messaging and open-loop payment — which it is already implementing. Other ideas include spending $1.1 million for targeted fare enforcement by the system’s security officers; $1.3 million for fare ambassadors, who will ride buses and remind people to pay their fares; and a reduced fare program for persons unable to pay.

Fare ambassadors represent a “softer approach” to the issue and one that other transit agencies around the country are implementing, said Brittany Bertsch, MCTS director of project management, safety, and security.

“They’re there to educate. They’re there to report broken equipment,” she said. “Some agencies use them to connect individuals with social resources in the community.”

MCTS believes it can collect approximately $900,000 with the cost neutral strategies in the report. But Sup. Justin Bielinski pointed out that MCTS did not estimate how much money could be saved if the board funded strategies like fare ambassadors or using security for targeted fare enforcement.

“It sort of makes it difficult for us to budget anything or to support anything, if we don’t know what the return on investment is,” he said. “So I guess it just feels a little incomplete.”

Sup. Juan Miguel Martinez asked why fare ambassadors were more expensive than security. Bertsch explained that the concept was put together assuming bus operators would be employed as ambassadors. When MCTS used bus ambassadors to introduce the new Connect 1 bus rapid transit route in 2023, the ambassadors were operators who also work as trainers for new hires.

MCTS made it company policy not to ask passengers for their fare when they board the bus. The goal was to reduce conflict and therefore assaults on bus operators. MCTS made no indication it will change this policy. Under the ambassador plan, the bus operator would still not be allowed to ask for a fare, but MCTS would spend $1.2 million to put a second operator on the bus to remind people to pay their fare.

Amalgamated Transit Union Local 998 Vice President Michael Brown didn’t like the idea.

“That’s what we got security for,” he said. “Let’s use those guys.”

MCTS created a new in-house security team in response to years-long advocacy by ATU to improve security on the buses. Union leaders have generally praised the new transit security officers. Fare evasion and bus security have been intertwined since discussions about security began several years ago.

ATU President Bruce Freeman and former president Donnell Shorter both said the policy of not asking for fares has contributed to rampant fare evasion. The problem is driven not only by persons who cannot afford the fare, but also by people who can pay but know they can ride for free.

“So I said over and over, once you let this genie out of the bottle, it’s hard to put it back in,” Shorter said.

2025 Budget Deficit Goes Down

Since announcing the budget deficit in June, MCTS has already started working to bring the budget gap down, notably with major service reductions that went into effect Aug. 24.

Now the latest projections show the system on track for a $9.2 million budget deficit by the end of the year. MCTS is also spending down its remaining COVID-19 funds ahead of schedule to close the budget gap. The system plans to raise fares and cut service in 2026 to prevent another budget deficit. Officials said they did not have any information on magnitude of cuts, yet.

Sup. Shawn Rolland urged transit system leaders to start thinking about, and acting on, any systematic changes that will be required to address the longterm, structural deficit. It seems unlikely the state or federal government will come to the system’s rescue, he said.

“It doesn’t seem like anybody is coming to save the bus,” Rolland said. “So in that reality, we have to save ourselves, so I want to underscore just the urgency for us to act significantly as soon as possible.”

New CEO Pledges New Direction for MCTS

Responding to a question from Sup. Priscilla E. Coggs-Jones, new MCTS CEO Steve Fuentes said “my goal is to help MCTS become the best version of itself that it can afford.”

Coggs-Jones urged MCTS leadership to work more closely with the transit union.

“I’m a firm believer that if you really want to get true results, bring those people who experience it firsthand to those tables of conversations to come up with solutions,” she said. “You have a group of guys, a group of operators and so forth who are willing to do that. It’s just a matter of listening.”

Fuentes was hired by MCTS in July this year. He replaces interim President and CEO Julie Esch who resigned in July following political blowback from the budget deficit announcement. Esch had replaced former managing director Denise Wandke, who resigned and then retired at the end of 2024.

Fuentes worked for three decades at the Chicago Transit Authority, and started his transit career as a bus operator.

“We need to learn from the past, improve the present and build toward the future,” Fuentes told the committee. “That’s what I’m looking to do, bring the company, the agency, into alignment. I feel like, just in looking at MCTS, maybe there’s been a little bit of misalignment, and maybe there hasn’t been enough collaboration with the union.”

Fuentes said he wants MCTS to operate as one cohesive agency, reducing the conflict and the gulf between the rank and-file workers and management.

“We’re the largest transit agency in Wisconsin, and we’re going to begin acting like it,” he said. “We’re going to set the example for other agencies to look at.”