Great news for Milwaukee bus riders: the Milwaukee County Transit System has announced a set of improvements to bus service set to take effect Sunday March 12, 2017.

Routes with service changes:

• 6 · New Berlin Industrial Park Express
• 27/PurpleLine · 27th Street
• 51 · Oklahoma Avenue
• 64 · South 60th Street

6 · New Berlin Industrial Park Express

What’s changing:

• Added trips between Brookfield Square and BuySeasons on weekdays.

The routes 6 and 61 were created as a result of a historic lawsuit filed by Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH) and the Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin over the exclusion of transit in plans for the Zoo Interchange reconstruction project. The routes, known as JobLines, are designed to connect the central city with jobs in the suburbs.

Employers located along the route include FedEx, BuySeasons, Shoeneck Containers,

27/PurpleLine · 27th Street

What’s changing:

• The limited service segment on the 27 and PurpleLine between Hampton and Florist is a now full service part of both routes. Riders on 27th will now be able to reliably connect with the Glendale Industrial Park, Bayshore Town Center and Route 63 Silver Spring-Port Washington.
• The PurpleLine will be extended south to Northwestern Mutual in Franklin (27th/Drexel) Monday-Friday 7:00am-6:00pm. The PurpleLine will be extended south to 27th/Riverwood (near Rawson) at all other times.
• The Route 27 will continue to go to Walmart at 27th/Sycamore.

64 · South 60th Street

What’s changing:

• Later service 7 days a week. Route 64 currently ends service at 6:00pm; it will now run until approximately 11:00pm Monday through Saturday and until 10:00pm on Sundays/Holidays.
• Bus service 7 days a week on Hawley Road; the 64 currently only runs between Southridge and 60th/Greenfield on weekends and holidays.

51 · Oklahoma Avenue

What’s changing: The extension to Packard/Howard is being eliminated to fund the extension of the 27/PurpleLine. Route 51 will now end at Oklahoma/New York (Delaware). The extension was not widely known and not well ridden. The area is still accessible on a limited basis from Route 48 South Shore Flyer. More info here.

The Milwaukee County Transit System deserves praise for implementing a comprehensive set of service improvements while in a tough financial situation.