Need For A New Milwaukee County
Transit System Development Plan

The conduct of a short-range transit planning study and the preparation of a new short-range plan for the Milwaukee County Transit System is needed to provide:

• An assessment of existing unmet transit travel needs for Milwaukee County residents using new population data from the 2000 U.S. Census and land use and economic development data collected by the Commission;
• A rigorous evaluation of existing transit routes and route segments to review their performance and to identify areas of good and poor performance;
• Consideration of transit system, individual route, and other alternatives to improve transit system performance and address unmet transit service needs;
• A short-range plan identifying recommended transit system service modifications and improvements and capital projects, thereby guiding annual transit system budget preparation and capital and operating project programming; and
• An estimate of short-term future transit system capital and operating needs, and comparison of those needs to existing and projected available funding, identifying any funding shortfalls, and considering alternatives to address those shortfalls.

Several factors lead up to Milwaukee County’s request to the Commission for assistance in conducting the planning effort to prepare a new Milwaukee County Transit System Development Plan. These included the following:

• The last transit system development plans prepared for the Milwaukee County Transit System were completed in 1996 and 1997 by the Milwaukee County Transit System staff and the Milwaukee County Department of Public Works staff, respectively. The design years of these plans have been reached and passed.
• A management performance audit of the Milwaukee County Transit System was completed by the Wisconsin Department of Transportation (WisDOT) in 2003. The audit recognized the superior efficiency and effectiveness of the Milwaukee County Transit System particularly when compared to similar transit systems serving urban areas of comparable size. The audit also noted that the transit system has undergone fare increases and service reductions in the years since 2000, principally due to overall Milwaukee County budgetary constraints and raised a concern that additional service reductions and fare increases due to such budget constraints could erode the service quality, ridership, and performance of the system. The audit recommended the preparation of a short-range transit system development plan which would identify the transit service and capital and operating needs of the transit system and set forth an action plan for addressing those needs.
• The service cuts and higher fares that have been implemented by the Milwaukee County Transit System in 2001 and later years stand are indicators of the local funding problems faced by the Milwaukee County Transit System. Milwaukee County is unique when compared to its peer transit systems serving urban areas of similar size in its reliance on property taxes to fund transit expenditures. Past service reductions and fare increases emphasize the need to carry out long-standing recommendations for a dedicated source of funding to replace Milwaukee County property taxes as the local funds financing the costs of transit system operations, equipment, and facilities. For the past few years, transit system officials have been able to use Federal transit aids that have been carried forward from previous years to minimize the need for increases in County tax levy funding and to limit the extent of service reductions and fare increases. Those Federal carryover funds are limited and may be fully exhausted in the next few years, after which more extensive service cuts and additional fare increases may be needed if property taxes cannot be increased to finance the transit system.