City uses grant to improve trolley service

Milwaukee has improved its trolley services by purchasing 10 trolleys and modifying service routes. The $4.5 million project is a three-year pilot program established by the Milwaukee County Transit System (MCTS) to reduce traffic congestion and pollution.

In 1999, MCTS owned three diesel-powered trolleys, which ran on a limited, circular route. The trolleys were used primarily as sight-seeing buses for tourists. Residents, local businesses and the Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) expressed interest in running the trolleys more frequently.

The MCTS applied for a congestion mitigation air quality grant from the state of Wisconsin to fund the trolley expansion. The agency also applied for a CMAQ capital equipment grant to purchase 10 additional trolleys. The MCTS worked with key groups, such as the CVB, the Business Improvement District and downtown neighborhood associations to plan trolley services and marketing strategies.

In February 2000, the MCTS received the $2 million state grant to fund operations expenses for a three-year trial expansion. After receiving an additional $2.5 million equipment grant, the agency ordered the trolleys.

The new service runs on two linear routes and decreases the pickup time from 20 to 10 minutes. The river route follows the Milwaukee River, carrying passengers from downtown to Milwaukee’s refurbished Water Street and Third Ward districts. The lake route runs down Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee’s main street. Both routes operate Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on weekends until 1 a.m.

Since the expanded service began in June 2000, residents and visitors have supported the trolleys, says Joe Caruso, marketing and communications manager for MCTS. During the summer, an average of 1,500 people rode the trolleys each day. Since implementing a less-extensive, non-summer service after Labor Day, the serv-ice has had 1,000 to 1,200 riders each day.

The trolley service receives funding from passenger fees and from an existing property tax to supplement the operations grant. Although the agency has not secured additional funding, the MCTS hopes to fund the trolley services with passenger fees after the three-year trial period.

– History repeating. In the “Afterword” to his 1976 book, “1876,” Gore Vidal wrote, “The year 1876 was probably the low point in our republic’s history, and knowing something about what happened then is, I think, useful to us now as times are again becoming rather too interesting for comfort.” “1876” is, of course, about the presidential race between Samuel Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes. In that race, Tilden won the popular vote and Hayes the electoral vote.

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