South Milwaukee Blog

Significant reductions in Route 15 and the end of the South Shore Flyer are just two of the changes contained in the proposed 2012 Milwaukee County Transit System budget – a document that includes what some are calling the biggest single-year cut in transit service in the 150-year history of the system.

Looking at the proposed changes, I can’t disagree.

Here is what’s being proposed …

For starters, the proposed budget calls for the elimination of all Freeway Flyer routes, including the No. 48 South Shore Flyer, which passes through South Milwaukee and Cudahy.

Additionally, South Milwaukee would no longer be served by Route 15 as part of a significant, and complicated, “restructuring.” Among the details:

• The South Milwaukee “loop” would disappear, with all bus service on Madison, 5^th and Columbia Avenues being discontinued.
• Service on Chicago, Packard and Kinnickinnic Avenues would now be run on an “extended” Route 51, instead of the 15 – with this service then connecting to the 15 in Bay View. This means those taking a bus from South Milwaukee to downtown South Milwaukee, for example, would have to transfer.
• Service on 15^th and 17^th Avenues, as well as Pennsylvania, College and Clement Avenues, would also be reduced, as the No. 15 bus is replaced by a so-called “low frequency” Route 52 on that stretch.

Find out more details about the proposed Route 15/51 changes here. And learn more about all of the proposed cuts from this press release from Transit Now, which also includes links to an informative one-pager on the proposed cuts.

A detailed summary of the proposed MCTS budget can be found on its website.

Also, you can learn about the proposed cuts (and other budget issues) at two Milwaukee County budget listening sessions coming up this week. Both are from 5 to 7 p.m.

• Wednesday: Kelly Senior Center, 6100 S. Lake Drive, Cudahy
• Thursday: Washington Park Senior Center, 4420 W. Vliet St., Milwaukee

I hope you can attend and share a strong voice in favor of saving our city’s bus service. 

Our transit system, once recognized as the best in the country, is now careening toward irrelevance. And we’re watching it happen, as the death spiral of increased fares and service cuts continues.

Of course, it’s more personal this time. These changes threaten to completely cut off residents of large parts of our city from jobs, retail centers, schools and other destinations. And it threatens local employers who rely on their workers having adequate bus service to get to their jobs. In that way, this is an economic development issue.

I firmly believe that this proposed level of transit service would instantly make South Milwaukee less competitive. That’s something we should all be concerned about — whether you ride the bus or not.

A variety of local and state lawmakers are hosting a “neighborhood meeting” about the upcoming Hoan Bridge reconstruction project on Tuesday, Aug. 23, on Milwaukee’s South Side.

The meeting will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Beulah Brinton center cafeteria, 2555 South Bay St. in Bay View.

The focus of the meeting, according to a notice from State Sen. Chris Larson, one of the organizers, is “talking about a possible Hoan Bridge bicycle and pedestrian lane.” From Larson’s email notice:

The Wisconsin Department of Transportation (DOT) is currently studying the feasibility of creating a bicycle and pedestrian lane on the Hoan Bridge. DOT expects to complete its study sometime this fall, so now is the time to learn more about DOT’s study and make your voice heard about adding a bike and pedestrian lane to the Hoan Bridge.

Learn more about the project on the Wisconsin Department of Transportation project web page here. And this copy of the meeting notice provides a nice and easy-to-read summary of the project’s need and scope.