‘These are things people with cars just don’t think about’: Potential MCTS cuts create anxiety in community | Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service
Caroline White
August 28, 2019
Melody McCurtis is worried.
The community organizer of Metcalfe Park Community Bridgesknows that anything that affects Milwaukeeans transportation to work is always acause for concern.
She says Uber or Lyft are often tooexpensive for those working on an hourly wage. Carpooling can be time-consumingfor coworkers who don’t live close to one another. And walking miles from a busstop is not an efficient option.
Anxiety in the community continuesto rise ever since the Milwaukee County Transit System recently
announced that 16 routes are in danger of being cut; two routes arepotentially being shortened; and some seasonal services will be eliminated becauseof proposed funding cuts in the 2020 Milwaukee County transportation budget.
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The routes facing cuts include sixFreeway Flyer lines, four UBUS routes, five shuttles, Route 52 and seasonalservices such as the Brewers Line. Route 55 and Route 80 could be shortened.
MCTS leaders say 97 percent ofridership will not be affected by cuts.
So long, JobsLines
In July, MCTS announced that Route57 would end
its service to Waukesha County on Aug. 24 because itstemporary funding has run out. The branch of the route, known as JobLines, includedstops in Menomonee Falls and Germantown. Now, the bus line will not extend pastMilwaukee County.
MCTS leaders say the majority of Route57 patrons do not ride to the stops in Germantown or Menomonee Falls and won’tbe affected by its absence.
The extension has only existedsince the beginning of this year. Before 2019, rides outside of MilwaukeeCounty were provided by Route 6 and Route 61.
A $13.5
million settlement funded the JobsLines routes from 2014 to 2018. Itstemmed from a lawsuit filed by the Milwaukee Inner-City Congregations Alliedfor Hope , or MICAH, and Black Health Coalition of Wisconsin, or BHCW, againstthe State of Wisconsin and the U.S. Department of Transportation over fundingfor the I-94 Zoo Interchange reconstruction in 2012.
The Milwaukee Country Board ofSupervisors was able to allocate funds in the 2019 county budget to allow Route57 to provide the service to Waukesha for a few months. Additional funding wassought from Waukesha County and the state to maintain the extension, but thoseefforts failed.
“When are we going to stop sayingwhat we don’t have the money for?” Lisa Jones, the lead organizer of MICAH, asked.“We say we want people to have jobs and we want them to be taxpayers, then wehave to find ways of being able to create that. Instead, we’re creatingimbalances and injustices that always impact folks of color the most.”
The mathematics of public transit
The county points to “fiscalconstraints” in the cash flow from the state to the county as the primaryreason for the possible changes.
Steve Hirshfeld, the transit planningprogram manager at the Wisconsin Department of Transportation, said public transithas a four-pronged funding model, including supplemental funds from thefederal, state and local levels and ride fares. It is highly unusual that aform of public transit would be funded only by ride fares— Hirshfeld likenedthat model to taxicabs.
In response to what the county hascalled “a looming crisis,” county leaders have developed a Fair
Deal for Milwaukee plan that calls for a larger piece of the shared taxrevenue divided among all Wisconsin counties. The proposal intends to lessenthe county’s budget gap, which is the reason for potentially reducing publictransportation.
Jones and McCurtis both emphasizedthat funding carries real-life consequences for some Milwaukee residents.
“Access to transportation is a realissue, and frankly it’s a social justice issue,” Jones said. Bus route “cutsare going to impact the most vulnerable folks that we have in our communities:people who are disabled, people who are living paycheck to paycheck that nowhave to figure out how to get to work. These are things people with cars justdon’t think about.”
McCurtis and Jones expressedconcern that cuts would further isolate communities of color.
“Black people in Milwaukee need tobe the beneficiary of their investment. They’re stakeholders. They spend moneyin these businesses, in these stores, to their landlords, but they aren’treceiving any benefits. We got to have some really serious conversations aboutthis,” McCurtis said.
On the subject of racial injustice,the requested budget reads: “Racial equity was also given deliberateconsideration in the preparation of this budget. While it was necessary toconsider service reductions, efforts were made to avoid changes that have adisparate impact on minority populations or cause a disproportionate burden onlow-income individuals.”
WHAT’S NEXT
The next Fair Deal Town Hall is 6 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 28 at theMcGovern Park Senior Center, 4500 W. Custer Ave.
The next Transportation, PublicWorks and Transit Committee meeting is 9
a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4 in Room 201B of the Milwaukee CountyCourthouse,  901 N. 9St.
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About Caroline White
Caroline attends MarquetteUniversity and is an intern
for NNS. You can reach her through email or call the newsroom at (414) 604-6397.
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