We would ike to extend a sincere thank you to the volunteers that showed up to help us talk to bus riders and pass out information and comment cards about the changes. Our face-to-face efforts helped people understand the changes.
You may have seen or heard us on WUWM, TMJ4 or FOX6, or read us in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel discussing our concerns with the GreenLine MetroEXpress, the service that replaced Route 15 on Oakland Avenue. We compared the new GreenLine schedules to the Route 15 schedules (prior to the changed routing) and found that service was scheduled to run significantly slower than the previous Route 15 service on Oakland between Wisconsin and Bayshore, despite MCTS removing roughly a dozen stops in each direction and increasing frequency. It is our position that since this service was marketed as a faster trip than the 15, it should be. The transit system countered by their Route 15 schedules were incorrect (even though they had made no prior efforts to correct them) and that the new service would be faster – while offering no proof of this.
As it stands now, a trip on the GreenLine from Wisconsin to Bayshore takes approximately 35-45 minutes. Of the three current routes that go to Bayshore from Downtown to Bayshore, the GreenLine is actually the slowest.
| Bus Route | Travel Time |
| Rt. 10 Cass/Wisconsin to Bayshore(The bus hits Cass roughly 3 minutes after it leaves Water/Wisconsin) | 28-30 minutes |
| Rt. 15 Milwaukee/Wisconsin to Bayshore | 19-32 minutes |
| GreenLine Water/Wisconsin to Bayshore | 35-45 minutes |
Eliminating stops and increasing frequency should have the opposite effect. The other two express routes, the BlueLine and RedLine, have eliminated stops and boosted frequency and as a result buses are running faster. Why can’t riders on the new GreenLine expect the same?
We think it may have something to do with the planning. Unlike the Red and Blue lines, the GreenLine was not designed to run alongside a local route. On the RedLine, for instance, it operates alongside Route 62. While Route 62 can accomodate the short-trip neighborhood riders, the RedLine can accomodate long-distance crosstown riders. The end result: buses don’t have to stop so often. This does not exist for the GreenLine – there is no local route, so all riders have to ride one bus; a bus that will make frequent stops. This is not express service.
In the coming months we will continue working hard for better transit in the region, more outreach and accountability to riders and solutions to the budget problems of MCTS. These changes were a creative use of a two-year grant. If we do not address the funding problems that MCTS has, we will be back at square one in two years’ time.