How does Milwaukee currently fund it’s transit system?
If you are a member of the Milwaukee Transit Riders Union or are otherwise familiar with the transit system and it’s myriad issues, you know that it’s a complicated issue. The transit system is reliant on a mix of funding sources, including the Milwaukee County property tax.
The property tax is widely acknowledged to be an outdated funding mechanism for the transit system; one that has brought on grave financial problems for the bus system. Every year transit has to compete with the County Sheriff’s Department, the parks and courts over a revenue source that only grows very slowly. Milwaukee must get transit off of the property tax or face the potential demise of the transit system.
Last year, due to cuts in state aid deep cuts were slated for MCTS. The County applied for a grant to replace some existing routes with the new MetroEXpress service in order to free up money to preserve other service. While this move was hardly ideal, it still had a lesser impact than the original cuts would have.
That said, the grant is a temporary (two-year) reprieve. The time for us to begin action on a permanent solution is now and that engaging and energizing transit-dependant people and community-based organizations is the way to get the ball rolling. We have organized this strategy session in order to decide what our next steps will be. We have the following tentative discussion points:
- What kind of dedicated funding mechanisms are available as realistic options right now?
- What steps would we need to take to make dedicated funding for transit a reality?
- How to engage bus riders in the process?
- Coalition-building and community involvement
This strategy session will take place on June 20, 2012 at 5:00pm at the ATU Local 998 hall, 734 N. 26th St. This event is open to everyone who rides public transit, works with transit-dependant people, organizes around transit issues, or who is pro-transit and has some ideas they want to add to the debate.
Bus directions
The hall is accessible via MCTS Routes 10, 27 and 30. Get off of either of these routes, and follow the walking directions below. To find out complete directions, including what route you may need to take in order to connect with Routes 10, 27 or 30, use the Google Transit trip planner on the front page of www.RideMCTS.com.
View Walking directions from 27th/Wisconsin to ATU 998 Hall in a larger map