Streetcar Hops To Festival Line Configuration
Change makes it easier to get to lakefront festivals, but comes with hidden cost.
Two The Hop streetcars pass each other on E. St. Paul Ave. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.
There won’t be any shovels in the ground, but Milwaukee’s streetcar system is changing routes.
The Hop will merge its main (M) and lakefront (L) lines to operate as the Festival (F) Line.
The change is designed to make it easier for riders unfamiliar with the system to get to the lakefront. From June 15 through Aug. 31, the F Line configuration means all streetcars stop at the lakefront station in the base of The Couture. The station is across the street from the north entrance of Henry Maier Festival Park.
“With Summerfest kicking off next week, we’re entering Milwaukee’s busiest and most exciting time of year, and that extends to the streetcar as well,” said Jerrel Kruschke, Department of Public Works commissioner, in a statement on June 10. “We continue to see more residents and visitors taking advantage of The Hop to reach the festival grounds while avoiding the hassle of parking. With the F Line, riding the streetcar to summer festivals and events is easier than ever, as every car stops at our Lakefront station.”
The system will also operate with extended hours — service until 1 a.m. — during Summerfest, German Fest, Irish Fest and Mexican Fiesta to accommodate those staying until the festival grounds close.
But the change is not without a cost. Sending all streetcars onto the 0.4-mile lakefront loop imposes a 10-minute delay on all trips heading north from the Historic Third Ward.
Under normal operation, the M Line runs from the Milwaukee Intermodal Station to Burns Commons on a 2.1-mile route, skipping the lakefront loop. Two vehicles run the route during regular service. The L Line, which opened in 2024, adds an additional vehicle that traverses the lakefront extension as well as existing M Line tracks on N. Milwaukee Street and N. Broadway. The L Line does not extend to Burns Commons or Milwaukee Intermodal Station, creating potential confusion for riders.
The F Line configuration makes it possible to board a streetcar anywhere along the route and arrive at the festival grounds. The configuration opens up substantial free or lower-cost parking options for festivalgoers and makes a free ride to the Summerfest grounds only a short walk from Brady Street.
Riders can track the real-time position of streetcars using the TransLoc app. Vehicles arrive approximately every 15 minutes.
Regular riders of the L Line are already familiar with the festival configuration, as the line has spent much of the year operating as the F Line. The Hop Alerts X account and TransLoc app have regularly displayed notices that the L Line was being substituted by the F Line. The issue, according to a Department of Public Works spokesperson, was “digging near a portion of the track.” The L Line relies on a switch to shift tracks and go west at N. Milwaukee Street and E. Kilbourn Avenue instead of continuing east to Cathedral Square. Switches, which were not regularly used until the L Line started, have proven problematic for the system.
The Hop remains free to ride.
The Hop Festivals Line route map. Image from The Hop.
The Hop’s M Line (blue) and L Line (yellow). Image from The Hop.
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Jeramey: Love your prolific and intrepid reporting here on the only local source covering many of the issues important to MKE residents and other stakeholders. However, I must take issue with your deck: “Change makes it easier to get to lakefront festivals, but comes with hidden cost.”
I think it’s misleading at best and can easily be misconstrued as a reason for a potential reader to say, “Great! More money being thrown at the useless Hop,” and then not reading the story to find the true meaning behind “hidden cost.”
As a condo owner in the Third Ward area who has been experiencing greater volumes of traffic on city streets that were never designed to handle that increase, I and my neighbors welcome any opportunity for public transportation to replace the cars and make it safer for pedestrians and anyone looking for [overpriced] parking. One example is the long-awaited return of SummerFest grounds Park & Ride MCTS buses (which have potential to help fill in budget deficits, although they could charge even higher fares to that end). The F Hop is another great example, given its easy FREE access to the festivals from numerous diverse stops.
Please consider rewording your headline. If you want proof of just how much transportation options like these are definitively needed, you are welcome to hang out on our Water Street balcony during festival season to experience the mayhem in person. Beverage & food will be on us:)
@lobk – I appreciate your offer of free food and beverages to watch the madness, but I’ll pass for now. I’ve encountered it many times on the ground, and am likely to see it again on Thursday.
The cost is in time to regular streetcar riders – “But the change is not without a cost. Sending all streetcars onto the 0.4-mile lakefront loop imposes a 10-minute delay on all trips heading north from the Historic Third Ward.”
I didn’t get into it in the piece, because it’s getting far afield of letting people know the big change, but the city previously struggled with finding a compromise measure to only run the festivals line on the weekends and run normal service on the other days. https://urbanmilwaukee.com/2024/07/31/council-kills-streetcars-festivals-line/
Savvy readers who made it to the comments section should know the easiest way to park for free at Summerfest would be to park around Lyon Street and ride The Hop in.
The Hop needs the city to approve signal priority so it never has to wait at red lights, and it needs to travel faster. Perhaps the M-Line could be split so each one does alternating stops. Either way, the city does *not* need to get state approval to do the next smallest thing to make the Hop more useful.
As for the F-Line, I’m not a big fan of it but I understand it. Personally I’d just do more L-Lines but that’s just me.