East-West Bus Rapid Transit line launches

With a transit funding crisis looming in the background, local, state and federal officials turned out Monday to celebrate the launch of Milwaukee County Transit System’s East-West Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line.

Called Connect 1, the new route replaces the traditional Gold Line, that previously connected the Milwaukee Regional Medical Center (MRMC) and Wauwatosa to downtown Milwaukee, with a streamlined route that has fewer stops and a dedicated bus lane aimed at moving passengers along the busy corridor faster.

Planning for the route, which involved capital improvements topping $55 million, began back in 2016, explained Dan Basile, chief operations officer for the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) during a ribbon cutting ceremony near the corner of North 27^th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue on Monday morning.

During those early planning stations – as officials envisioned creating a faster, and more efficient bus route – it was important to develop a BRT route that would allow for improved connections to major employment, education, and recreation destinations along one of the city’s most vital transportation corridors, Basile said.

What they came up with is a nine-mile bus line that can take a rider from East Wisconsin Avenue and North Cass Street in downtown Milwaukee to North 92nd St and North Connell Avenue, just steps away from the MRMC in Wauwatosa in about 30 minutes. Along the way they’ll have an opportunity to connect to neighborhoods like the Near West Side and Story Hill, nine colleges and universities, including Marquette and Wisconsin Lutheran College, eight high schools, 25 hotels and a bevy of attractions, including the Milwaukee County Zoo and American Family Field.

“This corridor is the population, cultural, and economic spine of the region, if not the state … and it must be accessible to all,” Basile said. “Milwaukee is a transit town, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

Speaking at the event, Craig Thompson, secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, applauded the efforts that local, state, and federal officials made to “overcome headwinds” and make the new route a reality.

“Not everyone at the state level has shared the vision for transit,” Thompson said. “But the Connect will not only be the fastest way to travel between downtown and the near west suburbs, but will also improve the region’s entire transportation system, and should encourage people to give transit a try and leave the car behind.”

Riders board a new, all-electric Connect 1 bus, heading westbound from North 27th Street and West Wisconsin Avenue.

How it works

The BRT achieves faster travel times, explained David Locher, manager of enhanced transportation systems for MCTS, by removing the sorts of things that can slow buses down.

“A traditional bus stops every other block, sometimes more, operates in mixed traffic and involves many riders having to pay at a farebox upon entry,” Locher said. “All of those things together slow down the travel time of a bus, so what BRT does is works to engineer them out.”

Instead of stopping every quarter mile, like a lot of buses, the BRT stops every half mile. Rather than stopping at the farebox to pay a fare or show a bus driver a pass, riders pay for their tickets at a ticketing machine at one of the BRT’s 33 new stations or use the MCTS app, WisGo.

While Connect 1 will be free to all riders through Sept. 30, thanks to a donation from WisGo app creator Umo Mobility, the new system is expected to streamline the fare-paying process, Locher said.

“Anytime you have an interaction at the farebox, the bus can’t be in motion,” he noted.

Having a marked, and dedicated bus lane across half of the nine-mile route, will also help speed things up by taking the bus out of mixed traffic for a good chunk of the ride.

Although MCTS buses have always traveled in the far-right lane. Those lanes will now be marked as “bus only” throughout the route’s Milwaukee portion.

“Marking it out and posting appropriate signage makes it a ticket-able offense to drive in the bus lane,” Locher said. “Right now, we only have dedicated lane for 50% of the route and those dedicated lanes are all in the city of Milwaukee, after that it is all mixed traffic.”

Like fire trucks and ambulances, the new buses will also be equipped with Transit Signal Priority systems or TSP, that will allow them to extend green lights to keep from being stuck at intersections.

“It’s not as extreme of a preemption as with fire trucks or ambulances, but it keeps the lights greener for longer, so it speeds up the bus in traffic,” Locher said.

Electric buses

Made possible by a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Small Starts Grant Award of $40.9 million, as well as $11.85 million in Milwaukee County dollars and $2.3 million in other federal funding, Connect 1 is predicted to carry an average of 9,500 weekday riders by 2035 and increase overall transit ridership in the corridor by 17%.

Riders will be able to catch the bus at 10-minute intervals during peak times, and between 15 and 20 minutes on the weekends and non-peak hours. On weekdays it will run from 4:41 a.m. in the morning until 1:01 a.m. the next day.

In addition to faster service, riders will be treated to newer, cleaner buses, most of which are brand-new, all-electric buses. The MCTS currently has seven of the all-electric buses in operation, with another four expected to arrive in July. In addition to a quieter, cleaner ride, the seats on the electric buses each come with a charging port for electronic devices, like cell phones.

The all-electric buses are charged at the end of each route with a charging arm at the Watertown Plank Road station.

Standing 15 feet tall and weighing 3,000 pounds, the charging arm or pantograph was made by ABB, a world leader in electric vehicle infrastructure. The arm lowers and connects to the rooftop of the bus and charges the electric bus in as little as three to six minutes.

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