OnMilwaukee.com has a first-person account of a ride on the Route 15 bus from Bayshore to South Milwaukee and back again.
Check it out here. From it:
Jackie Janz, the marketing director for the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS), verified that the 15 was the longest route, looping 59.8 miles. It runs from the North Shore to South Milwaukee and back again. A portion of the 15 route is one of two of the original bus routes that originated 150 years ago.
“The 15 was an important industrial route back then and it remains that way today,” says Janz. “So many people rely on this route to get to work as well as to school and other important places.”
MCTS does not have demographic information for the passengers of specific bus routes, but from what I could assess, the 15 is a diverse mix of ages and races, with — not surprisingly — more college students riding on the East Side and more workers riding on the South Side. …
I also met Wayne Schuman, who has rode the 15 for 15 years to and from his job at Bucyrus International.”It takes me 15 minutes to get to and from work,” he says. “It has worked out great for me.”
I also took the 15 bus to work at MillerCoors one day recently, with my car in the shop. I was happy with the experience … and would not hesitate to do it again.
The question is, however, what type of transit system will we have in coming years given the “death by a thousand cuts” reality of recent years with this one-time mass transit jewel?
South Milwaukee Blog 
when gas hit $4+ per gallon a few years ago, I refused to pay – I took the bus to my Downtown Milwaukee job. With gas predicting to go as high as $5 will you be considering taking the bus?
At $5 a gallon, I would consider it, on occasion. Although I would be more apt to ride some sort of rail line, if we had one. And I wish we did — a position I have not hidden from on this blog.
I wish we could get the Route 15 off of Madison Ave. They usually fly down at about 45-50 mph since they rarely have to stop.
which is probably faster than a rail system would be able to go through the downtown!!!